Classical Kitaev model in a magnetic field

ORAL

Abstract

We study the classical version of Kitaev's honeycomb model in the presence of a magnetic field. For an anti-ferromagnetic Kitaev coupling a classical spin liquid phase persists over a large window of field strength, independent of field direction. We characterize this phase using analytic arguments, a coarse-grained theory and via Monte Carlo simulations, finding the Coulomb correlations present at zero-field are immediately destroyed when the field is applied. We further probe the nature of this phase via the introduction of vacancies. Over a wide field range we find removing a site leaves the magnetization unchanged, the liquid exactly compensating the missing spin. Finally, we speculate on implications for the quantum model in the semi-classical limit.

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Presenters

  • Jeffrey G. Rau

    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems

Authors

  • Jeffrey G. Rau

    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems

  • Paul A. McClarty

    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems

  • Karlo Penc

    • Hungarian Academy of Sciences
    • Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
    • Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME, Budapest, Hungary

  • Roderich Moessner

    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
    • MPIPKS Dresden
    • MPIpks, Max Planck Institut
    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden
    • Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik komplexer Systeme
    • MPI-PkS Dresden
    • Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, 01187 Dresden, Germany