Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: We investigate a simple variant of spin ice whose degenerate ground states are densely packed monopole configurations. An applied field drives this model through a Z2 confinement transition, in absence of any local order parameter. Instead, this hidden order turns out to be diagnosed by a string order invisible to any local probe. We describe the transition in terms of a bosonic field theory with a pairing term, as well as a Kramers-Wannier duality into a 3D Ising model, which establishes its Z2 nature. This topological transition can be thought of as a variant of the celebrated U(1) Kasteleyn transition; but instead of the traditional '3/2'-order kink, the system shows critical scaling expected near a 3D Ising transition. Remarkably, however, the magnetic response scales with the critical exponent not of the susceptibility, but of the specific heat.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
DOI: 10.1103/m7ck-5bz2
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Awards: Moment Fragmentation in Frustrated Magnetism, G1750626284, G2152757567, FOR 5522: Quantenthermalisierung, Lokalisierung und eingeschränkte Dynamik mit wechselwirkenden ultrakalten Atomen, G2744928646, G3010527862, G3398237449, G4656594441, G4689434848, G5020422105, Designing frustration: surface effects and disorder, EXC 2147: Komplexität und Topologie in Quantenmaterialien (CT.QMAT), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Topological phases and phase transitions in frustrated magnets, Next-gen frustrated magnetism
OpenAlex ID: W4399695873