Monopole operators are studied in a large family of quantum critical points between Dirac and topological quantum spin liquids (QSLs): chiral and Z$_{2}$ QSLs. These quantum phase transitions are described by conformal field theories (CFTs): quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions with 2N flavors of two-component massless Dirac fermions and a four-fermion interaction. For the transition to a chiral spin liquid, it is the Gross-Neveu interaction (QED$_{3}$-GN), while for the transitions to Z$_{2}$ QSLs it is a superconducting pairing term with general spin/valley structure (generalized QED$_{3}$-Z$_{2}$GN). Using the state-operator correspondence, we obtain monopole scaling dimensions to sub-leading order in 1/N. For monopoles with a minimal topological charge q=1/2, the scaling dimension is 2N*0.26510 at leading-order, with the quantum correction being 0.118911(7) for the chiral spin liquid, and 0.102846(9) for the simplest Z$_{2}$ case (the expression is also given for a general pairing term). Although these two anomalous dimensions are nearly equal, the underlying quantum fluctuations possess distinct origins. The analogous result in QED$_{3}$ is also obtained and we find a sub-leading contribution of -0.038138(5), which differs slightly from the value first obtained in the literature. The scaling dimension of a QED$_{3}$-GN monopole with minimal charge is very close to the scaling dimensions of other operators predicted to be equal by a conjectured duality between QED$_{3}$-GN with 2N=2 flavors and the CP$^{1}$ model. Additionally, non-minimally charged monopoles on both sides of the duality have similar scaling dimensions. By studying the large-q asymptotics of the scaling dimensions in QED$_{3}$, QED$_{3}$-GN, and QED$_{3}$-Z$_{2}$GN we verify that the constant O(q$^{0}$) coefficient precisely matches the universal non-perturbative prediction for CFTs with a global U(1) symmetry.
Quantum spin liquids host novel emergent excitations, such as monopoles of an emergent gauge field. Here, we study the hierarchy of monopole operators that emerges at quantum critical points (QCPs) between a two-dimensional Dirac spin liquid and various ordered phases. This is described by a confinement transition of quantum electrodynamics in two spatial dimensions (QED3 Gross-Neveu theories). Focusing on a spin ordering transition, we get the scaling dimension of monopoles at leading order in a large-N expansion, where 2N is the number of Dirac fermions, as a function of the monopole's total…
We study monopole operators with the lowest possible topological charge $q=1/2$ at the infrared fixed point of scalar electrodynamics in $2+1$ dimension (scalar QED$_3$) with $N$ complex scalars and Chern-Simons coupling $|k|=N$. In the large $N$ expansion, monopole operators in this theory with spins $\ell<O(\sqrt{N})$ and associated flavor representations are expected to have the same scaling dimension to sub-leading order in $1/N$. We use the state-operator correspondence to calculate the scaling dimension to sub-leading order with the result $N-0.2789+O(1/N)$, which improves on existing le…
Berry's phase, which is associated with the slow cyclic motion with a finite period, looks like a Dirac monopole when seen from far away but smoothly changes to a dipole near the level crossing point in the parameter space in an exactly solvable model. This topology change of Berry's phase is visualized as a result of lensing effect; the monopole supposed to be located at the level crossing point appears at the displaced point when the variables of the model deviate from the precisely adiabatic movement. The effective magnetic field generated by Berry's phase is determined by a simple geometri…
We investigate numerically the effect of regulating fermions in the presence of singular background fields in three dimensions. For this, we couple free lattice fermions to a background compact U(1) gauge field consisting of a monopole-anti-monopole pair of magnetic charge $\pm Q$ separated by a distance $s$ in a periodic $L^3$ lattice, and study the low-lying eigenvalues of different lattice Dirac operators under a continuum limit defined by taking $L\to\infty$ at fixed $s/L$. As the background gauge field is parity even, we look for a two-fold degeneracy of the Dirac spectrum that is expecte…
We study the quantum phase transition from a Dirac spin liquid to an antiferromagnet driven by condensing monopoles with spin quantum numbers. We describe the transition in field theory by tuning a fermion interaction to condense a spin-Hall mass, which in turn allows the appropriate monopole operators to proliferate and confine the fermions. We compute various critical exponents at the quantum critical point (QCP), including the scaling dimensions of monopole operators by using the state-operator correspondence of conformal field theory. We find that the degeneracy of monopoles in QED3 is lif…
The interplay of symmetry and topology has been at the forefront of recent progress in quantum matter. Here we uncover an unexpected connection between band topology and the description of competing orders in a quantum magnet. Specifically we show that aspects of band topology protected by crystalline symmetries determine key properties of the Dirac spin liquid (DSL) which can be defined on the honeycomb, square, triangular and kagomé lattices. At low energies, the DSL on all these lattices is described by an emergent Quantum Electrodynamics (QED$_3$) with $N_f=4$ flavors of Dirac fermions cou…
Dirac spin liquids represent a class of highly-entangled quantum phases in two dimensional Mott insulators, featuring exotic properties such as critical correlation functions and absence of well-defined low energy quasi-particles. Existing numerical works suggest that the spin-orbital $SU(4)$ symmetric Kugel-Khomskii model of Mott insulators on the honeycomb lattice realizes a Dirac spin-orbital liquid, described at low energy by $(2+1)d$ quantum electrodynamics (QED$_3$) with $N_f=8$ Dirac fermions. We generalize methods previously developed for $SU(2)$ spin systems to analyze the symmetry pr…
Dirac Strings and Magnetic Monopoles in Spin Ice Dy2Ti2O7
虽然磁场的来源--磁单极子--到目前为止被证明是难以捉摸的基本粒子，但最近在凝聚态物理中已经提出了几种类似单极子的新兴准粒子的方案。一个特别简单的命题涉及到在高度受挫的烧绿石晶格上旋转冰。自旋冰态被认为可以用类似螺线管的偶极子网络来描述--经典的、可观测的狄拉克弦。在这些管子结束的地方，产生的缺陷看起来像一个磁性磁铁。我们证明，通过漫中子散射，存在这样的字符串在自旋冰Dy 2 Ti 2 O 7。这是通过施加一个破磁磁场来实现的，我们可以用它来操纵弦的密度和方向。反过来，热容量由磁单极子通过磁库仑相互作用相互作用的气体描述。
Dirac Spin liquids (DSLs) are gapless featureless states, yet interesting by virtue of the effective field theory describing them -- (2+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED$_3$). Further, a DSL is known to be a "parent state" of various seemingly unrelated ordered states, such as antiferromagnets and valence bond solids in the sense that one can obtain ordered states by condensing magnetic monopoles of the emergent gauge field. Can operators in the effective field theory, such as the emergent electric field, be externally induced and measured? In this work, we exploit the parent state p…
