Finite-temperature behavior of a classical spin-orbit-coupled model for ${\text{YbMgGaO}}_4$ with and without bond disorder

Abstract

We present the results of finite-temperature classical Monte Carlo simulations of a strongly spin-orbit-coupled nearest-neighbor triangular-lattice model for the candidate $\mathrm{U}(1)$ quantum spin liquid ${\mathrm{YbMgGaO}}_4$ at large system sizes. We find a single continuous finite-temperature stripe-ordering transition with slowly diverging heat capacity that completely breaks the sixfold ground-state degeneracy, despite the absence of a known conformal field theory describing such a transition. We also simulate the effect of random-bond disorder in the model, and find that even weak bond disorder destroys the transition by fragmenting the system into very large domains -- possibly explaining the lack of observed ordering in the real material. The Imry-Ma argument only partially explains this fragility to disorder, and we extend the argument with a physical explanation for the preservation of our system's time-reversal symmetry even under a disorder model that preserves the same symmetry.

arXiv comment16 pages, 13 figures

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Cited by in corpus (28)

• Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids
• Rare-earth chalcogenides: A large family of triangular lattice spin liquid candidate
• Gapless spin-liquid state in the structurally disorder-free triangular antiferromagnet NaYbO${}_2$
• Field-induced instability of the quantum-spin-liquid ground state in the $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2}$ triangular-lattice compound NaYbO${}_2$
• Anisotropic-Exchange Magnets on a Triangular Lattice: Spin Waves, Accidental Degeneracies, and Dual Spin Liquids
• Spin liquids in geometrically perfect triangular antiferromagnets
• Hierarchy of exchange interactions in the triangular-lattice spin-liquid YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Survival of itinerant excitations and quantum spin state transitions in YbMgGaO${}_4$ with chemical disorder
• Van Hove singularity in the magnon spectrum of the antiferromagnetic quantum honeycomb lattice
• Selective measurements of intertwined multipolar orders: non-Kramers doublets on a triangular lattice
• Realization of Quantum Dipoles in Triangular Lattice Crystal Ba3Yb(BO3)3
• Randomness induced spin-liquid-like phase in the spin-$1/2$ $J_1-J_2$ triangular Heisenberg model
• Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• The two-dimensional metallic triangular lattice antiferromagnet CeCd3P3
• Disorder-induced spin-liquid-like behavior in kagome-lattice compounds
• Cyclotron resonance inside the Mott gap: a fingerprint of emergent neutral fermions
• Disorder-induced broadening of the spin waves in a triangular-lattice quantum-spin-liquid candidate YbZnGaO${}_4$
• Comprehensive study of the global phase diagram in the triangular $J$-$K$-$\Gamma$ model
• Persistent spin dynamics and absence of spin freezing in the $H$-$T$ phase diagram of the 2D triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Exact diagonalization study of the anisotropic Heisenberg model related to YbMgGaO${}_4$
• The phase diagram of a frustrated Heisenberg model: from disorder to order and back again
• Phase Diagram of YbZnGaO4 in Applied Magnetic Field
• Dynamic magnetism in the disordered hexagonal double perovskite BaTi${}_{1/2}$Mn${}_{1/2}$O${}_3$
• Constraining the Parameter Space of a Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate in Applied Field with Iterative Optimization
• Signatures for spinons in the quantum spin liquid candidate Ca${}_{10}$Cr${}_7$O${}_{28}$
• Reinvestigation of the homogeneous spin model in YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Non-magnetic ion site disorder effects on the quantum magnetism of a spin-1/2 equilateral triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Scaling and data collapse of two-dimensional random singlet state in magnetic field