Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: By explicit microscopic construction involving a mapping to a quantum vertex model subject to the "ice rule," we show that an electronically "trivial" band insulator with suitable vibrational (phonon) degrees of freedom can host a "resonating valence-bond" state-a quantum phase with emergent gauge fields. This type of band insulator is identifiable by the existence of emergent gapless "photon" modes and deconfined excitations, the latter of which carry nonquantized mobile charges. We suggest that such phases may exist in the quantum regimes of various nearly ferroelectric materials.
Authors: Zhaoyu Han, Steven A. Kivelson
Institution: Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409219837