We show that the liquid-to-crystal quantum phase transition in the Rokhsar--Kivelson dimer model on the two-dimensional triangular lattice occurs as a condensation of vortex-like excitations called ``visons''. This conclusion is drawn from the numerical studies of the vison spectrum in the liquid phase by using the Green's function Monte Carlo method. We find that visons remain the lowest excitation throughout the liquid phase and that their gap decreases continuously to zero at the phase transition. The nature of the crystal phase and the second order of the phase transition are in agreement with the earlier prediction of Moessner and Sondhi [Phys. Rev. B 63, 224401 (2001)].
The Hubbard model in the strong-coupling regime is studied by the Kondo-lattice theory. If no symmetry is broken at a sufficiently low temperature in sufficiently low dimensions, an electron liquid is stabilized by the Fock-type exchange effect of the superexchange interaction. Since the stabilization mechanism is none other than the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) mechanism, the electron liquid is none other than an RVB electron liquid. The RVB electron liquid in the Hubbard model is adiabatically connected to the RVB spin liquid in the Heisenberg model.
We explore the phase diagram and the low-energy physics of three Heisenberg antiferromagnets which, like the kagome lattice, are networks of corner-sharing triangles but contain two sets of inequivalent short-distance resonance loops. We use a combination of exact diagonalization, analytical strong-coupling theories, and resonating valence bond approaches, and scan through the ratio of the two inequivalent exchange couplings. In one limit, the lattices effectively become bipartite, while at the opposite limit heavily frustrated nets emerge. In between, competing tunneling processes result in s…
We propose and study an SU(3) trimer resonating-valence-bond (tRVB) state with $C_{4v}$ point-group symmetry on the square lattice. By devising a projected entangled-pair state representation, we show that all (connected) correlation functions between local operators in this SU(3) tRVB state decay exponentially, indicating its gapped nature. We further calculate the modular $S$ and $T$ matrices by constructing all nine topological sectors on a torus and establish the existence of $\mathbb{Z}_3$ topological order in this SU(3) tRVB state.
We propose resonating valence bond wave functions for a spin-1 system on the torus that realize a non-Abelian chiral spin liquid. The wave functions take the form of infinite dimensional matrix product states constructed from conformal blocks of the $\mathrm{SO}(3)_{1}$ Wess-Zumino-Witten model. This means that they are lattice analogues of the bosonic Moore-Read state introduced in fractional quantum Hall systems. The topological order of this system is revealed by explicit construction of three-fold degenerate ground states and analytical computation of the modular S and T matrices.
With extensive variational Monte Carlo simulation, we show that the uniform resonating valence bond state(U-RVB) on square lattice is actually antiferromagnetic long range ordered. The ordered moment is estimated to be $m\approx 0.17$. Finite size scaling analysis on lattice up to lattice size of $50\times 50$ shows that the spin structure factor at the antiferromagnetic ordering wave vector follows perfectly the $\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{q}=(π,π)} \simeq S_{0}+α(1/L)^{5/4}$ behavior, where $L$ is linear scale of the lattice. Such a behavior is quite unexpected from the slave Boson mean field treat…
The spin-orbital model for triply degenerate t_2g electrons on a triangular lattice has been shown to be dominated by dimers: the phase diagram contains both strongly resonating, compound spin-orbital dimer states and quasi-static, spin-singlet valence-bond (VB) states. To elucidate the nature of the true ground state in these different regimes, the model is mapped to a number of quantum dimer models (QDMs), each of which has three dimer colors. The generic multicolored QDM, illustrated for the two- and three-color cases, possesses a topological color structure, "color vison" excitations, and …
On the triangular and kagome lattices, short-ranged resonating valence bond (RVB) wave functions can be sampled without the sign problem using a recently-developed Pfaffian Monte Carlo scheme. In this paper, we study the Renyi entanglement entropy in these wave functions using a replica-trick method. Using various spatial bipartitions, including the Levin-Wen construction, our finite-size scaled Renyi entropy gives a topological contribution consistent with $γ= \text{ln}(2)$, as expected for a gapped $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ quantum spin liquid. We prove that the mutual statistics are consistent with …
Implementation of the hardcore-dimer Hilbert space in cold Rydberg-atom simulators opens a new route of investigating real-time dynamics of dimer liquids under Hamiltonian quench. Here, we consider an initial Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) state on the square lattice realizing a critical Coulomb phase with algebraic and dipolar correlations. Using its representation as a special point of a broad manifold of SU($2$)-symmetric, translationnally invariant, Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS), we compute its non-equilibrium dynamics upon turning on inter-site Heisenberg interactions. We show tha…
We study the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1/2 J1-J2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice with an accurate Bosonic resonating valence-bond (RVB) wave function. In contrast to the RVB ansatz based on Schwinger Fermions, the representation based on Schwinger Bosons, supplemented by a variational Monte Carlo technique enforcing the exact projection onto the physical subspace, is able to describe a fully gapped spin liquid in the strongly frustrated regime. In particular, a fully symmetric Z2 spin liquid is stable between two antiferromagnetic phases; a continuous transition at J2=0.4J1…
We study a short-range resonating valence bond (RVB) wave function with diagonal links on the square lattice that permits sign-problem free wave function Monte-Carlo studies. Special attention is given to entanglement properties, in particular, the study of minimum entropy states (MES) according to the method of Zhang et. al. [Physical Review B {\bf 85}, 235151 (2012)]. We provide evidence that the MES associated with the RVB wave functions can be lifted from an associated quantum dimer picture of these wave functions, where MES states are certain linear combinations of eigenstates of a 't Hoo…
We apply a variational wave function capable of describing qualitatively and quantitatively the so called "resonating valence bond" in realistic materials, by improving standard ab initio calculations by means of quantum Monte Carlo methods. In this framework we clearly identify the Kekulé and Dewar contributions to the chemical bond of the benzene molecule, and we establish the corresponding resonating valence bond energy of these well known structures ($\simeq 0.01$eV/atom). We apply this method to unveil the nature of the chemical bond in undoped graphene and show that this picture remains …
A one-parameter family of long-range resonating valence bond (RVB) state on the square lattice was previously proposed to describe a critical spin liquid (SL) phase of the spin-$1/2$ frustrated Heisenberg model. We provide evidence that this RVB state in fact also realises a topological (long-range entangled) $\mathbb{Z}_2$ SL, limited by two transitions to critical SL phases. The topological phase is naturally connected to the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge symmetry of the local tensor. This work shows that, on one hand, spin-$1/2$ topological SL with $C_{4v}$ point group symmetry and $SU(2)$ spin rota…
Resonating valence bond wave function for the two dimensional fractional spin liquid
用自旋液体波函数解释了最近在${\rm Cs_2 Cu Cl_4}$中子散射实验中观察到的非常规低位自旋激发。色散关系以及无公度自旋关联的波矢在BCS能隙函数节点附近具有无能隙和分数自旋-1/2激发的投影BCS波函数内得到很好的再现。所提出的波函数对一维自旋为1/2的体系是非常精确的，并且在对应于${\rm Cs_2 Cu Cl_4}$的二维模型中也保持同样的精确性，从而为描述二维自旋分馏提供了一个很好的分析方法.
The frustrated Heisenberg $J_{1}-J_{2}$ model on a square lattice is numerically investigated by variational Monte Carlo simulations. We propose a antiferromagnetic fermion resonating-valence-bond (AF-fRVB) state that has ability to examine the entire phase diagram in the $J_{1}-J_{2}$ model. Two phase transition points, the second order around $J_{2}/J_{1}=0.45$ and the first order around $J_{2}/J_{1}=0.6$, can be extracted more clearly than the conventional bosonic RVB state. At the maximally frustrated point ($J_{2}/J_{1}=0.5$), the AF-fRVB state shows the variational ground-state energy in…
Quantum dimer models exhibit quantum critical points and liquid states when the ground state is the resonating-valence bond (RVB) state. We construct SU(2)-invariant spin-1/2 Hamiltonians with the same RVB ground state. The main technical obstacle overcome is the fact that different "dimer" configurations in the spin model are not orthogonal to each other. We show that the physics depends on how dimers are related to the spins, and find a Hamiltonian that may be quantum critical.
We investigate the ground state of the $d^1$ spin-orbital model for triply degenerate $t_{2g}$ orbitals on a triangular lattice which unifies intrinsic frustration of spin and orbital interactions with geometrical frustration. Using full or Lanczos exact diagonalization of finite clusters we establish that the ground state of the spin-orbital model which interpolates between the superexchange and direct exchange interactions on the bonds is characterized by valence-bond correlations. In the absence of Hund's exchange the model describes a competition between various possible valence-bond state…
The trimer resonating valence bond (tRVB) state consisting of an equal-weight superposition of trimer coverings on a square lattice is proposed. A model Hamiltonian of the Rokhsar-Kivelson type for which the tRVB becomes the exact ground state is written. The state is shown to have $9^g$ topological degeneracy on genus g surface and support $Z_3$ vortex excitations. Correlation functions show exponential behavior with a very short correlation length consistent with the gapped spectrum. The classical problem of the degeneracy of trimer configurations is investigated by the transfer matrix metho…
We study maximal bipartite entanglement in valence-bond states and show that the average bipartite entanglement $E_v^2$, between a sub-system of two spins and the rest of the system, can be maximized through a homogenized superposition of the valence-bond states. Our derived maximal $E_v^2$ rapidly increases with system size and saturates at its maximum allowed value. We also demonstrate that our maximal $E^2_v$ states are ground states of an infinite range Heisenberg model (IRHM) and represent a new class of resonating-valence-bond (RVB) states. The entangled RVB states produced from our IRHM…
It is well known that in quantum spin liquids and other magnetically disordered systems, the tunneling amplitudes between different nearest-neighbor valence bond (NNVB) configurations drop exponentially in the length L of the tunneling loops. Here we show that virtual excursions outside the NNVB basis can alter completely this fundamental quantum-mechanical notion even in extreme cases where the minimal NNVB truncation appears very robust. This paradigm shift is demonstrated for the quantum spin-1/2 square-kagome, where strong geometric frustration, similar to the two-dimensional kagome, preve…
Gapped $Z_{2}$ spin liquid as the simplest spin liquid has been proved to be the most difficult to realize in realistic models. Here we show that the frustration from a third-neighbor exchange $J_{3}$ on the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ $J_{1}-J_{2}$ model on the square lattice may serve to stabilize such a long-sought state. We argue that a Bosonic RVB description is more appropriate than a Fermonic RVB description for such a gapped spin liquid phase. We show that while the mean field ansatz of the proposed state has a $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, the gauge fluctuation spectrum on it is actually gapped and t…
We construct energy-optimized resonating valence bond wavefunctions as a means to sketch out the zero-temperature phase diagram of the square-lattice quantum Heisenberg model with competing nearest- (J1) and next-nearest-neighbour (J2) interactions. Our emphasis is not on achieving an accurate representation of the magnetically disordered intermediate phase (centred on a relative coupling g = J2/J1 ~ 1/2 and whose exact nature is still controversial) but on exploring whether and how the Marshall sign structure breaks down in the vicinity of the phase boundaries. Numerical evaluation of two- an…
We relate properties of nearest-neighbour resonating valence bond (nnRVB) wavefunctions for $SU(g)$ spin systems on two dimensional bipartite lattices to those of fully-packed classical dimer models with potential energy $V$ on the same lattice. We define a cluster expansion of $V$ in terms of $n$-body potentials $V_n$, which are recursively determined from the nnRVB wavefunction on {\em finite subgraphs} of the original lattice. The magnitude of the $n$-body interaction $V_n$ ($n>1$) is of order ${\mathcal O}(g^{-(n-1)})$ for small $g^{-1}$, while $V_1$ reduces to a constant due to the fully-…
We investigate the behavior of bipartite as well as genuine multipartite entanglement of a resonating valence bond state on a ladder. We show that the system possesses significant amounts of bipartite entanglement in the steps of the ladder while no substantial bipartite entanglement is present in the rails. Genuine multipartite entanglement present in the system is negligible. The results are in stark contrast with the entanglement properties of the same state on isotropic lattices in two and higher dimensions, indicating that the geometry of the lattice can have important implications on the…
We show that the mean-field resonating valence bond approximation proposed in 1987 by Baskaran, Zou, and Anderson describes gapless charge pair excitations confined to the boundaries of the spinon Brillouin zone. The existence of such pairs accounts for all the essential anomalous electronic properties of cuprates, with superconductivity arising due to the charge drag by the spinon superflow. This mechanism may be relevant to other unconventional superconductors.
The nature of the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HAFM) is under ongoing debate. While recent evidence points towards a Z_2 topological spin liquid, the exact nature of the topological phase is still unclear. In this paper, we introduce semionic Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) states, this is, Resonating Valence Bond states which are in the Z_2 ordered double-semion phase, and study them using Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS). We investigate their physics and study their suitability as an ansatz for the HAFM, as compared to a conventional RVB state which is in the Toric Code Z_2 topolog…
We study bond and spin correlations of the nearest-neighbour resonating valence bond (RVB) wavefunction for a SU($2$) symmetric $S=1/2$ antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice. We find that spin correlations in this wavefunction are short-ranged, while the bond energy correlation function takes on an oscillatory power-law form $D(\vec{r}) \sim \cos({\mathbf Q}\cdot {\vec{r}}) /|{\vec{r}}|^{η_w(2)}$, where ${\mathbf Q} = (2π/3, -2π/3)$ is the wavevector corresponding to "columnar" valence-bond solid order on the honeycomb lattice, and $η_w(2) \approx 1.49(3)$. We use a recently introduced larg…
Coexistence of antiferromagnetism and d-wave superconductivity within a CuO_2 plane was recently observed in a wide doping region for multilayer high-temperature cuprate superconductors. We find that the experimental phase diagram is well reproduced in the slave-boson mean-field scheme of the two-dimensional t-J model by including antiferromagnetic order. We argue that weak three dimensionality coming from a multilayer structure is sufficient to stabilize antiferromagnetic order and its coexistence with superconductivity.
The ground state (GS) properties of the quasi-one-dimensional $AB_2$ Hubbard model are investigated taking the effects of charge and spin quantum fluctuations on equal footing. In the strong-coupling regime, we derive a low-energy Lagrangian suitable to describe the ferrimagnetic phase at half filling and the phases in the hole-doped regime. At half filling, a perturbative spin-wave analysis allows us to find the GS energy, sublattice magnetizations, and Lieb total spin per unit cell of the effective quantum Heisenberg model, in very good agreement with previous results. In the challenging hol…
We develop a quantum spin liquid theory for quantum magnets with easy-plane ferromagnetic exchange. These strongly entangled quantum states are obtained by dimer coverings of 2D lattices with triplet $S = 1, m_z = 0$ bonds, forming a triplet resonating valence bond (tRVB) state. We discuss the conditions and the procedure to transfer well-known results from conventional singlet resonating valence bond theory to tRVB. Additionally, we present mean field theories of Abrikosov fermions on 2D triangular and square lattices, which can be controlled in an appropriate large $N$ limit. We also incorpo…
Resonating valence bond (RVB) theory of high Tc superconductivity, an electron correlation based mechanism, began as an insightful response by Anderson, to Bednorz and Muller's discovery of high Tc superconductivity in cuprates in late 1986. Shortly a theoretical framework for quantum spin liquids and superconductivity was developed. This theory adresses a formidable strong coupling quantum manybody problem, in modern times. It is built on certain key experimental facts: i) survival of a dynamical Mott localization in a metallic state, ii) proliferation of bond singlets and iii) absence of fer…
A central idea in strongly correlated systems is that doping a Mott insulator leads to a superconductor by transforming the resonating valence bonds (RVBs) into spin-singlet Cooper pairs. Here, we argue that a spin-triplet RVB (tRVB) state, driven by spatially, or orbitally anisotropic ferromagnetic interactions can provide the parent state for triplet superconductivity. We apply this idea to the iron-based superconductors, arguing that strong onsite Hund's interactions develop intra-atomic tRVBs between the t$_{2g}$ orbitals. On doping, the presence of two iron atoms per unit cell allows thes…
We study resonating valence bond (RVB) states in the Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS) formalism. Based on symmetries in the PEPS description, we establish relations between the toric code state, the orthogonal dimer state, and the SU(2) singlet RVB state on the kagome lattice: We prove the equivalence of toric code and dimer state, and devise an interpolation between the dimer state and the RVB state. This interpolation corresponds to a continuous path in Hamiltonian space, proving that the RVB state is the four-fold degenerate ground state of a local Hamiltonian on the (finite) kagome l…
The Kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet is mapped onto an effective Hamiltonian on the star superlattice by Contractor Renormalization. Comparison of ground state energies on large lattices to Density Matrix Renormalization Group justifies truncation of effective interactions at range 3. Within our accuracy, magnetic and translational symmetries are not broken (i.e. a spin liquid ground state). However, we discover doublet spectral degeneracies which signal the onset of p6 - chirality symmetry breaking. This is understood by simple mean field analysis. Experimentally, the p6 chiral order paramet…
Short-range resonating-valence bond states in an orbitally degenerate magnet on a honeycomb lattice is studied. A quantum-dimer model is derived from the Hamiltonian which represents the superexchange interaction and the dynamical Jahn-Teller (JT) effect. We introduce two local units termed "spin-orbital singlet dimer", where two spins in a nearest-neighbor bond form a singlet state associated with an orbital polarization along the bond, and "local JT singlet", where an orbital polarization is quenched due to the dynamical JT effect. A derived quantum-dimer model consists of the hopping of the…
Since its proposal by Anderson, resonating valence bonds (RVB) formed by a superposition of fluctuating singlet pairs have been a paradigmatic concept in understanding quantum spin liquids (QSL). Here, we show that excitations related to singlet breaking on nearest-neighbor bonds describe the high-energy part of the excitation spectrum in YbMgGaO4, the effective spin-1/2 frustrated antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice, as originally considered by Anderson. By a thorough single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering (INS) study, we demonstrate that nearest-neighbor RVB excitations account fo…
The Hubbard model in $D$ dimensions, with the on-site repulsion $U$ and the transfer integral between nearest neighbors $-t/\sqrt{D}$, is studied on the basis of the Kondo-lattice theory. If $U/|t| \gg 1$, $|n - 1| \lesssim |t|/(DU)$, where $n$ is the number of electrons per unit cell, and $D$ is so small that $|J|/D \gg k_{\rm B}T_c$, where $J = -4t^2/U$ and $T_c$ is $0 {\rm K}$ for $D = 1$ and is the highest critical temperature among possible ones for $D \ge 2$, a low-$T$ phase where $T_c < T \ll |J|/(k_{\rm B}D)$ is a frustrated electron liquid. Since the liquid is stabilized by the Kondo …
We study resonating-valence-bond (RVB) states on the square lattice of spins and of dimers, as well as SU(N)-invariant states that interpolate between the two. These states are ground states of gapless models, although the SU(2)-invariant spin RVB state is also believed to be a gapped liquid in its spinful sector. We show that the gapless behavior in spin and dimer RVB states is qualitatively similar by studying the Rényi entropy for splitting a torus into two cylinders, We compute this exactly for dimers, showing it behaves similarly to the familiar one-dimensional log term, although not iden…
