Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag3LiIr2O6

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

doi:10.1038/s42005-023-01403-w

Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag₃LiIr₂O₆

Journal Article · Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Communications Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01403-w· OSTI ID:2338177

^[1]; Bahrami, Faranak ^[2]; Lee, Sangyun ^[3]; ^[3]; Chen, Xiao ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States); Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States); Boston College
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

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 Ag₃LiIr₂O₆. 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.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0023124

OSTI ID:: 2338177

Journal Information:: Communications Physics, Journal Name: Communications Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2399-3650

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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