Events

Abstract: Quantum fluctuations can inhibit long-range ordering in frustrated magnets and potentially lead to quantum spin liquid (QSL) phases. A prime example are gapless “Dirac” QSLs with emergent U(1) gauge fields which may emerge on triangular-lattice J1-J2 Heisenberg models. Despite several promising candidate materials, however, a complicating factor for their realisation is the presence of other degrees of freedom, as well as the absence of unambiguous thermodynamic or spectral signatures. In this talk, I will present our recent work which predicts that the U(1) DSL exhibits a spin-Peierls instability to valence bond solid order upon coupling the the lattice. We investigate the stability for realistic systems using both field-theoretical and various computational methods, and argue that emergent monopoles drive the spin-lattice transition. Finally, I will discuss the prediction of this system’s spectral properties including the effects of strong spinon interactions and gauge field fluctuations. We highlight that both spinon-bound states and monopoles contribute strongly to the spin structure factor as well as the phonon self-energy.