Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1004.2693

Schwinger Boson Mean Field Theories of Spin Liquid States on Honeycomb Lattice: Projective Symmetry Group Analysis and Critical Field Theory

Abstract

Motivated by the recent numerical evidence[1] of a short-range resonating valence bond state in the honeycomb lattice Hubbard model, we consider Schwinger boson mean field theories of possible spin liquid states on honeycomb lattice. From general stability considerations the possible spin liquids will have gapped spinons coupled to Z$_2$ gauge field. We apply the projective symmetry group(PSG) method to classify possible Z$_2$ spin liquid states within this formalism on honeycomb lattice. It is found that there are only two relevant Z$_2$ states, differed by the value of gauge flux, zero or $\pi$, in the elementary hexagon. The zero-flux state is a promising candidate for the observed spin liquid and continuous phase transition into commensurate N\'eel order. We also derive the critical field theory for this transition, which is the well-studied O(4) invariant theory[2-4], and has an irrelevant coupling between Higgs and boson fields with cubic power of spatial derivatives as required by lattice symmetry. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional theory[5], where such transition generically leads to non-colinear incommensurate magnetic order. In this scenario the Z$_2$ spin liquid could be close to a tricritical point. Soft boson modes will exist at seven different wave vectors. This will show up as low frequency dynamical spin susceptibility peaks not only at the $\Gamma$ point (the N\'eel order wave vector) but also at Brillouin zone edge center $M$ points and twelve other points. Some simple properties of the $\pi$-flux state are studies as well. Symmetry allowed further neighbor mean field ansatz are derived in Appendix which can be used in future theoretical works along this direction.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Fa Wang. 2010-04-15. Schwinger Boson Mean Field Theories of Spin Liquid States on Honeycomb Lattice: Projective Symmetry Group Analysis and Critical Field Theory. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.82.024419

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Competing Interlayer Loop Currents and Superconductivity in the Bilayer $t$-$J_\perp$-$V$ Model

The recent discovery of high-$T_c$ superconductivity in pressurized and thin-film bilayer nickelates, featuring a strong interlayer exchange coupling, and their potential similarities with cuprate superconductors, has made this a very active topic in condensed matter physics. In the present paper we study the strongly correlated one-orbital ($d_{x^2-y^2}$) bilayer $t$-$J_\perp$-$V$ model for nickelates, where $V$ denotes the Coulomb interactions, using a controlled large-$N$ expansion at and beyond the mean-field level. Focusing on the out-of-plane spin exchange interaction ($J_\perp$), we find that it triggers both out-of-plane $s$-wave superconductivity and an out-of-plane bond-order phase ($z$-BOP) instability. The $z$-BOP gives rise to a complex $z$-axis hopping dominated by its imaginary component, which drives out-of-plane currents and induces in-plane ones, spontaneously forming on the vertical plaquettes a loop-current state that breaks time-reversal symmetry. Competition between this loop-current phase and superconductivity yields a dome-shaped superconducting region, with optimal superconductivity occurring near the $z$-BOP quantum critical point. The resulting phase diagram features a pure loop-current region, a low-doping coexistence phase, a pure superconducting state at higher doping, and a correlated metallic state.

cond-mat.str-el

Optically induced metallic state with persistent monoclinic symmetry in NdNiO$_3$

Understanding whether electronic and structural order remain coupled under nonequilibrium conditions is a central challenge in correlated materials. Here, we simultaneously track metallicity and symmetry across the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition in NdNiO$_3$ using time-resolved optical reflectivity and symmetry-sensitive second-harmonic generation. We find that metallic reflectivity emerges at significantly lower excitation fluence than restoration of the orthorhombic high-temperature symmetry. As a result, optical excitation stabilizes a metastable state that combines the reflectivity of the metallic phase with the monoclinic symmetry of the insulating phase, revealing an optically induced monoclinic metal. Only at substantially higher fluences does the symmetry fully recover to that of the high-temperature phase. These results demonstrate a nonequilibrium decoupling of metallicity and structural symmetry and establish simultaneous multiprobe spectroscopy as a powerful approach for identifying emergent phases in correlated materials.

cond-mat.str-el

Instabilities in self-consistent diagrammatic approaches and how to cure them

While self-consistent diagrammatic approaches are widely used to compute the physical properties of correlated quantum materials, their applicability may get severely hindered precisely in the parameter regions, where the most exciting physics is observed. One of the major issues, referred to as "misleading convergence", is the tendency of iterative schemes to converge to unphysical fixed points for intermediate-to-strong electronic interactions, regardless of numerical accuracy of the computation. Here, we explicitly verify that the origin of this problem in several established self-consistent many-electron approaches, defined in the general diagrammatic framework of the boson-exchange formalism, resides exclusively in the stability condition of the respective iteration schemes, and not in an intrinsic breakdown of their self-consistent diagrammatic description. This insight enables a simple and general remedy, as recently proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 016502 (2026): The redefinition of the iterative procedure, by inverting the unstable eigendirections of the Jacobian associated to the fixed point of the self-consistent algorithm. We illustrate the successful outcome of this procedure by means of systematic calculations performed on testbed, exactly solvable, models. Our results demonstrate that the physical fixed point of the diagrammatic schemes we considered can be stabilized, de facto, across the entire parameter range, including the most challenging nonperturbative/strong-coupling regimes.

cond-mat.str-el