Competing Gauge Fields and Entropically-Driven Spin Liquid to Spin Liquid Transition in non-Kramers Pyrochlores

Abstract

Gauge theories are powerful tools in theoretical physics, allowing complex phenomena to be reduced to simple principles, and are used in both high-energy and condensed matter physics. In the latter context, gauge theories are becoming increasingly popular for capturing the intricate spin correlations in spin liquids, exotic states of matter in which the dynamics of quantum spins never ceases, even at absolute zero temperature. We consider a spin system on a three-dimensional pyrochlore lattice where emergent gauge fields not only describe the spin liquid behaviour at zero temperature but crucially determine the system's temperature evolution, with distinct gauge fields giving rise to different spin liquid phases in separate temperature regimes. Focusing first on classical spins, in an intermediate temperature regime, the system shows an unusual coexistence of emergent vector and matrix gauge fields where the former is known from classical spin ice systems while the latter has been associated with fractonic quasiparticles, a peculiar type of excitation with restricted mobility. Upon cooling, the system transitions into a low-temperature phase where an entropic selection mechanism depopulates the degrees of freedom associated with the matrix gauge field, rendering the system spin ice like. We further provide numerical evidence that in the corresponding quantum model, a spin liquid with coexisting vector and matrix gauge fields has a finite window of stability in the parameter space of spin interactions down to zero temperature. Finally, we discuss the relevance of our findings for non-Kramers pyrochlore materials.

arXiv comment13 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Pseudo-fermion functional renormalization group for spin models
• A Classical Chiral Spin-Liquid from Chiral Interactions on the Pyrochlore Lattice
• Order-by-disorder without quantum zero-point fluctuations in the pyrochlore Heisenberg ferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions
• Higher-Rank Spin Liquids and Spin Nematics from Competing Orders in Pyrochlore Magnets
• 2-Form U(1) Spin Liquids: Classical Model and Quantum Aspects
• Quantum effects on pyrochlore higher-rank U(1) spin liquids: Pinch-line singularities, spin nematics, and connections to oxide materials
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• Keldysh pseudo-fermion functional renormalization group for quantum magnetism
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• Quantum Coulomb Liquids of Different Rank in the Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet