Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag$_3$LiIr$_2$O$_6$

Joshuah T. Heath; Faranak Bahrami; Sangyun Lee; Roman Movshovich; Xiao Chen; Fazel Tafti; Kevin S. Bedell

doi:10.1038/s42005-023-01403-w

paper

Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$

arXiv:2108.03246 · doi:10.1038/s42005-023-01403-w

Abstract

Detecting Majorana fermions in experimental realizations of the Kitaev honeycomb model is often complicated by non-trivial interactions inherent to potential spin liquid candidates. In this work, we identify several distinct thermodynamic signatures of massive, itinerant Majorana fermions within the well-established analytical paradigm of Landau-Fermi liquid theory. We find a qualitative and quantitative agreement between the salient features of our Landau-Majorana liquid theory and the Kitaev spin liquid candidate Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$ . Our study presents strong evidence for a Fermi liquid-like ground state in the fundamental excitations of a honeycomb iridate, and opens new experimental avenues to detect itinerant Majorana fermions in condensed matter systems.

40 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (13)

Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
Spin Dynamics of the Spin-1/2 Kagome Lattice Antiferromagnet ZnCu_3(OH)_6Cl_2
Possible proximity of the Mott insulating Iridate Na2IrO3 to a topological phase: Phase diagram of the Heisenberg-Kitaev model in a magnetic field
Possible valence-bond condensation in the frustrated cluster magnet LiZn2Mo3O8
Thermodynamic Evidence of Proximity to a Kitaev Spin-Liquid in Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$
Dominant Kitaev interactions in the honeycomb materials Na $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$ and Na $_{2}$ Co $_{2}$ TeO $_{6}$
Impact of off-diagonal exchange interactions on the Kitaev spin liquid state of $α$ -RuCl $_{3}$
Effect of structural disorder on the Kitaev magnet Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$
Strong antiferromagnetic interaction owing to a large trigonal distortion in the spin-orbit-coupled honeycomb lattice iridate CdIrO $_{3}$
Nearly itinerant electronic groundstate in the intercalated honeycomb iridate Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$
NMR Investigation on Honeycomb Iridate Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$
Field evolution of low-energy excitations in the hyperhoneycomb magnet $β$ -Li $_{2}$ IrO $_{3}$
Magnetic field dependent specific heat and enhanced Wilson ratio in strongly correlated layered cobalt oxide

Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag3​LiIr2​O6​

Abstract

References in corpus (13)

Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag $_{3}$ LiIr $_{2}$ O $_{6}$