Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid
Abstract We propose a mechanism to explain the emergence of an intermediate gapless spin liquid phase in the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in an externally applied magnetic field, sandwiched between the well-known gapped chiral spin liquid and the gapped partially polarized phase. We propose that,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56789-8 |
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| _version_ | 1850039853168721920 |
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| author | Penghao Zhu Shi Feng Kang Wang Tao Xiang Nandini Trivedi |
| author_facet | Penghao Zhu Shi Feng Kang Wang Tao Xiang Nandini Trivedi |
| author_sort | Penghao Zhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We propose a mechanism to explain the emergence of an intermediate gapless spin liquid phase in the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in an externally applied magnetic field, sandwiched between the well-known gapped chiral spin liquid and the gapped partially polarized phase. We propose that, in moderate fields, π-fluxes nucleate in the ground state and trap Majorana zero modes. As these fluxes proliferate with increasing field, the Majorana zero modes overlap creating an emergent $${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}$$ Z 2 quantum Majorana metallic state with a “Fermi surface” at zero energy. We further show that the Majorana spectral function captures the dynamical spin and dimer correlations obtained by the infinite Projected Entangled Pair States method, thereby validating our variational approach. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e9e61a3b3bcd4a60b10dd68badaa939c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-e9e61a3b3bcd4a60b10dd68badaa939c2025-08-20T02:56:12ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-03-011611810.1038/s41467-025-56789-8Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquidPenghao Zhu0Shi Feng1Kang Wang2Tao Xiang3Nandini Trivedi4Department of Physics, The Ohio State UniversityDepartment of Physics, The Ohio State UniversityBeijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesDepartment of Physics, The Ohio State UniversityAbstract We propose a mechanism to explain the emergence of an intermediate gapless spin liquid phase in the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in an externally applied magnetic field, sandwiched between the well-known gapped chiral spin liquid and the gapped partially polarized phase. We propose that, in moderate fields, π-fluxes nucleate in the ground state and trap Majorana zero modes. As these fluxes proliferate with increasing field, the Majorana zero modes overlap creating an emergent $${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}$$ Z 2 quantum Majorana metallic state with a “Fermi surface” at zero energy. We further show that the Majorana spectral function captures the dynamical spin and dimer correlations obtained by the infinite Projected Entangled Pair States method, thereby validating our variational approach.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56789-8 |
| spellingShingle | Penghao Zhu Shi Feng Kang Wang Tao Xiang Nandini Trivedi Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid Nature Communications |
| title | Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| title_full | Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| title_fullStr | Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| title_short | Emergent quantum Majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| title_sort | emergent quantum majorana metal from a chiral spin liquid |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56789-8 |
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