Frustrating quantum spin ice: a tale of three spin liquids and hidden order

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:17060054,
            doi = {10.48660/17060054},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/17060054},
            author = {Shannon, Nicholas},
            keywords = {Condensed Matter},
            language = {en},
            title = {Frustrating quantum spin ice: a tale of three spin liquids and hidden order},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2017},
            month = {jun},
            note = {PIRSA:17060054 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

"Quantum spin ice" materials have been widely discussed in terms of an XXZ model on a pyrochlore lattice, which is accessible to quantum Monte Carlo simulation for unfrustrated interactions J_\pm > 0. Here we argue that the properties of this model may become even more interesting once it is "frustrated". Using a combination of large-scale classical Monte Carlo simulation, semi-classical molecular dynamics, symmetry analysis and analytic field theory we explore the new phases which arise for J_\pm < 0. We find that the model supports not one, but three distinct forms of spin liquid: spin ice, a U(1) spin liquid; a disguised version of the U(1) x U(1) x U(1) spin-liquid found in the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a pyrochlore lattice; and another entirely new form of spin liquid described by a U(1) x U(1) gauge group. At low temperatures this novel spin liquid undergoes a thermodynamic phase transition into a ground state with hidden, spin-nematic order. We present explicit predictions for inelastic neutron scattering experiments carried out on the three different spin liquids [M. Taillefumier et al., arXiv:1705.00148].