Hubbard Model on the Pyrochlore Lattice: a 3D Quantum Spin Liquid

Abstract

We demonstrate that the insulating one-band Hubbard model on the pyrochlore lattice contains, for realistic parameters, an extended quantum spin-liquid phase. This is a three-dimensional spin liquid formed from a highly degenerate manifold of dimer-based states, which is a subset of the classical dimer coverings obeying the ice rules. It possesses spinon excitations, which are both massive and deconfined, and on doping it exhibits spin-charge separation. We discuss the realization of this state in effective S = 1/2 pyrochlore materials with and without spin-orbit coupling.

5 + 5 pages, 5 + 4 figures; improvements to figures, significant extensions to i) discussion of loop construction, variational wavefunction and bilayer degeneracy and ii) proof of spin-liquid nature

References in corpus (3)

• "Deconfined" quantum critical points
• Correlated quantum phenomena in the strong spin-orbit regime
• On the stability of U(1) spin liquids in two dimensions

Cited by in corpus (16)

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• Signatures of a gearwheel quantum spin liquid in a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ pyrochlore molybdate Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• Quantum disordered insulating phase in the frustrated cubic-lattice Hubbard model
• Thermodynamics of the pyrochlore Heisenberg ferromagnet with arbitrary spin $S$
• Mott-Hubbard transition and spin-liquid state on the pyrochlore lattice
• A resonant valence bond spin liquid in the dilute limit of doped frustrated Mott insulators
• Fermionic spinon and holon statistics in the pyrochlore quantum spin liquid
• Exact Solution and Correlations of a Quantum Dimer Model on the Checkerboard Lattice
• Finite-Temperature Signatures of Spin Liquids in Frustrated Hubbard Model
• Broken-Symmetry Ground States of the Heisenberg model on the Pyrochlore Lattice
• Order, Disorder and Monopole Confinement in the Spin-$1/2$ XXZ Model on a Pyrochlore Tube
• Local spin dynamics in geometrically frustrated Mo pyrochlore antiferromagnet Lu${}_2$Mo${}_2$O${}_{5-y}$N${}_2$
• Dynamics of magnetic collective modes in the square and triangular lattice Mott insulators at finite temperature