Quantum spin liquid with seven elementary particles

Journal Article · 17 April 2017 · Physical Review B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.95.144425 · OSTI ID:1535891

Wang, Haoyu ^[1]; Changlani, Hitesh J. ^[2]; Wan, Yuan ^[3]; Tchernyshyov, Oleg ^[2]

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1. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; DOE/OSTI
2. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
3. Perimeter Inst. for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON (Canada)

We present an exactly solvable model of a quantum spin liquid with Abelian anyons in d = 2 spatial dimensions. With spins 1/2 on a triangular lattice and six-body interactions, our model has zero spin correlation length and localized elementary excitations like the toric codes of Kitaev and Wen. In contrast to those earlier models, it has more elementary particles—four bosons and three fermions—and higher topological degeneracy of 64 on a torus. Elementary excitations are boson-fermion pairs that come in 12 distinct flavors. We use string operators to expose the topological nature of the model.

• Research Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: FG02-08ER46544
• OSTI ID: 1535891
• Journal Information: Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 95; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English