
- Select a language for the TTS:
- UK English Female
- UK English Male
- US English Female
- US English Male
- Australian Female
- Australian Male
- Language selected: (auto detect) - EN
Play all audios:
ABSTRACT At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. A notable exception to this behaviour is the case of quantum spin liquids, in which quantum
fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. There have now been tentative observations of such states in some two-dimensional organic compounds,
yet quantum spin liquids remain elusive in microscopic two-dimensional models that are relevant to experiments. Here we show, by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of
correlated fermions on a honeycomb lattice (a structure realized in, for example, graphene), that a quantum spin liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an
antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence-bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for
high-temperature superconductors: the possibility of unconventional superconductivity through doping therefore arises in our system. We foresee the experimental realization of this model
system using ultra-cold atoms, or group IV elements arranged in honeycomb lattices. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via
your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue Learn more Buy this
article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in
* Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS QUANTUM LOOP STATES IN SPIN-ORBITAL MODELS ON THE HONEYCOMB
LATTICE Article Open access 21 May 2021 TRIMER QUANTUM SPIN LIQUID IN A HONEYCOMB ARRAY OF RYDBERG ATOMS Article Open access 14 December 2023 MULTINODE QUANTUM SPIN LIQUIDS IN EXTENDED
KITAEV HONEYCOMB MODELS Article Open access 26 November 2024 REFERENCES * Weinberg, S. _The Quantum Theory of Fields Vol. 1 Foundations_ 1–48 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005) MATH Google
Scholar * Novoselov, K. et al. Two-dimensional gas of massless Dirac fermions in graphene. _Nature_ 438, 197–200 (2005) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Zhang, Y., Tan, Y.-W., Stormer,
H. & Kim, P. Experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect and Berry’s phase in graphene. _Nature_ 438, 201–204 (2005) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Zhang, H. et al.
Topological insulators in Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 with a single Dirac cone on the surface. _Nature Phys._ 5, 438–442 (2009) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Chen, Y. L. et al.
Experimental realization of a three-dimensional topological insulator, Bi2Te3 . _Science_ 325, 178–181 (2009) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Castro Neto, A. H., Guinea, F., Peres, N.
M. R., Novoselov, K. S. & Geim, A. K. The electronic properties of graphene. _Rev. Mod. Phys._ 81, 109–162 (2009) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Herbut, I. F. Interactions and
phase transitions on graphene’s honeycomb lattice. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 97, 146401 (2006) Article ADS Google Scholar * Drut, J. E. & Lähde, T. A. Is graphene in vacuum an insulator?
_Phys. Rev. Lett._ 102, 026802 (2009) Article ADS Google Scholar * Lee, P. A., Nagaosa, N. & Wen, X.-G. Doping a Mott insulator: physics of high-temperature superconductivity. _Rev.
Mod. Phys._ 78, 17–85 (2006) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Jördens, R., Strohmaier, N., Günter, K., Moritz, H. & Esslinger, T. A Mott insulator of fermionic atoms in an optical
lattice. _Nature_ 455, 204–207 (2008) Article ADS Google Scholar * Schneider, U. et al. Metallic and insulating phases of repulsively interacting fermions in a 3D optical lattice.
_Science_ 322, 1520–1525 (2008) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Lee, S.-S. & Lee, P. A. U(1) gauge theory of the Hubbard model: spin liquid states and possible application to
_κ_-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3 . _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 95, 036403 (2005) Article ADS Google Scholar * Hermele, M. SU(2) gauge theory of the Hubbard model and application to the honeycomb lattice.
_Phys. Rev. B_ 76, 035125 (2007) Article ADS Google Scholar * Raghu, S., Qi, X.-L., Honerkamp, C. & Zhang, S.-C. Topological Mott insulators. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 100, 156401 (2008)
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Kane, C. L. & Mele, E. J. Quantum spin Hall effect in graphene. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 95, 226801 (2005) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Uchoa, B.
& Castro Neto, A. H. Superconducting states of pure and doped graphene. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 98, 146801 (2007) Article ADS Google Scholar * Anderson, P. W. Resonating valence bonds: a
new kind of insulator? _Mater. Res. Bull._ 8, 153–160 (1973) Article CAS Google Scholar * Fazekas, P. & Anderson, P. W. On the ground state properties of the anisotropic triangular
antiferromagnet. _Phil. Mag._ 30, 423–440 (1974) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Anderson, P. W. The resonating valence bond state in La2CuO4 and superconductivity. _Science_ 235,
1196–1198 (1987) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Kivelson, S. A., Rokhsar, D. S. & Sethna, J. P. Topology of the resonating valence-bond state: solitons and high-_T_ c
superconductivity. _Phys. Rev. B_ 35, 8865–8868 (1987) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Rokhsar, D. S. & Kivelson, S. A. Superconductivity and the quantum hard-core dimer gas. _Phys.
Rev. Lett._ 61, 2376–2379 (1988) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Moessner, R., Sondhi, S. L. & Fradkin, E. Short-ranged resonating valence bond physics, quantum dimer models, and
Ising gauge theories. _Phys. Rev. B_ 65, 024504 (2001) Article ADS Google Scholar * Moessner, R. & Raman, K. S. Quantum dimer models. Preprint at 〈http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.3051〉
(2008) * Cahangirov, S., Topsakal, M., Aktürk, E., Şahin, H. & Ciraci, S. Two- and one-dimensional honeycomb structures of silicon and germanium. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 102, 236804 (2009)
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Duan, L.-M., Demler, E. & Lukin, M. Controlling spin exchange interactions of ultracold atoms in optical lattices. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 91, 090402
(2003) Article ADS Google Scholar * Sorella, S. & Tosatti, E. Semi-metal-insulator transition of the Hubbard model in the honeycomb lattice. _Europhys. Lett._ 19, 699–704 (1992)
Article ADS Google Scholar * Paiva, T., Scalettar, R. T., Zheng, W., Singh, R. R. P. & Otimaa, J. Ground-state and finite-temperature signatures of quantum phase transitions in the
half-filled Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice. _Phys. Rev. B_ 72, 085123 (2005) Article ADS Google Scholar * Ryu, S., Mudry, C., Hou, C.-Y. & Chamon, C. Masses in graphene-like
two-dimensional electronic systems: topological defects in order parameters and their fractional exchange statistics. _Phys. Rev. B_ 80, 205319 (2009) Article ADS Google Scholar *
Haldane, F. D. M. Model for a quantum Hall effect without Landau levels: condensed-matter realization of the “parity anomaly”. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 61, 2015–2018 (1988) Article ADS CAS
Google Scholar * Assaad, F. F., Hanke, W. & Scalapino, D. J. Flux quantization in the two-dimensional repulsive and attractive Hubbard models. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 71, 1915–1918 (1993)
Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Byers, N. & Yang, C. N. Theoretical considerations concerning quantized magnetic flux in superconducting cylinders. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 7, 46–49
(1961) Article ADS Google Scholar * Pauling, L. _The Nature of the Chemical Bond_ 183–220 (Cornell Univ. Press, 1960) Google Scholar * Rantner, W. & Wen, X. G. Spin correlations in
the algebraic spin liquid: implications for high-_T_ c superconductors. _Phys. Rev. B_ 66, 144501 (2002) Article ADS Google Scholar * Hermele, M. et al. On the stability of U(1) spin
liquids in two dimensions. _Phys. Rev. B_ 70, 214437 (2004) Article ADS Google Scholar * Assaad, F. F. Phase diagram of the half-filled two-dimensional SU(N) Hubbard-Heisenberg model: a
quantum Monte Carlo study. _Phys. Rev. B_ 71, 075103 (2005) Article ADS Google Scholar * Mizusaki, T. & Imada, M. Gapless quantum spin liquid, stripe, and antiferromagnetic phases in
frustrated Hubbard models in two dimensions. _Phys. Rev. B_ 74, 014421 (2006) Article ADS Google Scholar * Moessner, R. & Sondhi, S. L. Resonating valence bond phase in the triangular
lattice quantum dimer model. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 86, 1881–1884 (2001) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Fradkin, E., Huse, D. A., Moessner, R., Oganesyan, V. & Sondhi, S. L. Bipartite
Rokhsar-Kivelson points and Cantor deconfinement. _Phys. Rev. B_ 69, 224415 (2004) Article ADS Google Scholar * Wen, X. G. Mean-field theory of spin-liquid states with finite energy gap
and topological orders. _Phys. Rev. B_ 44, 2664–2672 (1991) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Lieb, E. H. Two theorems on the Hubbard model. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 62, 1201–1204 (1989)
Article ADS MathSciNet CAS Google Scholar * Shimizu, Y., Miyagawa, K., Kanoda, K., Maesato, M. & Saito, G. Spin liquid state in an organic Mott insulator with a triangular lattice.
_Phys. Rev. Lett._ 91, 107001 (2003) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Yamashita, M. et al. Thermal-transport measurements in a quantum spin-liquid state of the frustrated triangular
magnet _κ_-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3 . _Nature Phys._ 5, 44–47 (2009) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Chayes, J. T., Chayes, L. & Kivelson, S. A. Valence bond ground states in a
frustrated two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet. _Commun. Math. Phys._ 123, 53–83 (1989) Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar * Nam, M.-S., Ardavan, A., Blundell, S. J.
& Schlueter, J. A. Fluctuating superconductivity in organic molecular metals close to the Mott transition. _Nature_ 449, 584–587 (2007) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Kopnin, N. B.
& Sonin, E. B. BCS superconductivity of Dirac electrons in graphene layers. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 100, 246808 (2008) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Nakano, H. et al. Soft synthesis
of single-crystal silicon monolayer sheets. _Angew. Chem._ 118, 6451–6454 (2006) Article ADS Google Scholar * Sugiyama, G. & Koonin, S. E. Auxiliary field Monte-Carlo for quantum
many-body ground states. _Ann. Phys._ 168, 1–26 (1986) Article ADS Google Scholar * Furukawa, N. & Imada, M. Optimization of initial state vector in the ground state algorithm of
lattice fermion simulations. _J. Phys. Soc. Jpn_ 60, 3669–3674 (1991) Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar * Assaad, F. F. & Evertz, H. G. _Computational Many-Particle Physics_
277–356 (Lect. Notes Phys. 739, Springer, 2008) Book Google Scholar * Feldbacher, M. & Assaad, F. F. Efficient calculation of imaginary-time-displaced correlation functions in the
projector auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. _Phys. Rev. B_ 63, 073105 (2001) Article ADS Google Scholar Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank L. Balents, S. Capponi,
A. H. Castro Neto, A. Georges, M. Hermele, A. Läuchli, E. Molinari, Y. Motome, S. Sachdev, K. P. Schmidt and S. Sorella for discussions. We are grateful to S. A. Kivelson for thoroughly
reading our manuscript and providing important suggestions. F.F.A. is grateful to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California, Santa Barbara, for hospitality
and acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through grants AS120/4-3 and FG1162. A.M. thanks the Aspen Center for Physics for hospitality and acknowledges partial
support by the DFG through grant SFB/TRR21. S.W. acknowledges support by the DFG through grants SFB/TRR21 and WE3649. We thank the John von Neumann Institute for Computing, Jülich; the
Hochleistungsrechenzentrum, Stuttgart; the BW Grid; and the Leibniz-Rechenzentrum, München, for the allocation of CPU time. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS F.F.A. developed the simulation codes; Z.Y.M.
and T.C.L. performed the simulations and analyses and prepared the figures; F.F.A., A.M. and S.W. directed the investigation and wrote the paper. The manuscript reflects the contributions
of all authors. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany , Z. Y. Meng, S.
Wessel & A. Muramatsu * Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany , T. C. Lang & F. F. Assaad Authors * Z. Y. Meng
View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * T. C. Lang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * S.
Wessel View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * F. F. Assaad View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google
Scholar * A. Muramatsu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Z. Y. Meng. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING
INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION This file contains Supplementary Discussions which comprises: 1
Green's function and single particle gap; 2 Spin correlations and SAF; 3 Spin excitation gaps; 4 Density correlations; 5 Dimer-dimer correlations - charge sector; 6 Dimer-dimer
correlations - spin sector, 7 Flux quantization measurement for superconductivity; 8 Order parameters for superconductivity and it also includes Supplementary Figures 1-11 with legends. (PDF
438 kb) POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 3 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 4 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions
ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Meng, Z., Lang, T., Wessel, S. _et al._ Quantum spin liquid emerging in two-dimensional correlated Dirac fermions. _Nature_ 464, 847–851 (2010).
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08942 Download citation * Received: 30 October 2009 * Accepted: 17 February 2010 * Published: 08 April 2010 * Issue Date: 08 April 2010 * DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08942 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently
available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative