Competing gauge fields and entropically driven spin liquid to spin liquid transition in non-Kramers pyrochlores.

ABSTRACT: Gauge theories are powerful theoretical physics tools that allow 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 behavior 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 intermed

SUBMITTER: Lozano-Gomez D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11388363 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature