Resonating color state and emergent chromodynamics in the kagome antiferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper explores how spin-wave breakdown in the kagome antiferromagnet leads to an emergent gauge theory resembling chromodynamics, revealing new quantum states and potential deconfinement transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge theory framework for the kagome antiferromagnet's quantum dynamics and predicts a specific magnetic order for integer spins based on gauge mode fluctuations.

Findings

Ground state instability leads to emergent gauge dynamics.

Predicted sqrt(3)×sqrt(3) Neel state for integer spins.

Possible deconfinement transition at accessible temperatures.

Abstract

We argue that the spin-wave breakdown in the Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnet signals an instability of the ground state and leads, through an emergent local constraint, to a quantum dynamics described by a gauge theory similar to that of chromodynamics. For integer spins, we show that the quantum fluctuations of the gauge modes select the sqrt(3)xsqrt(3) Neel state with an on-site moment renormalized by color resonances. We find non-magnetic low-energy excitations that may be responsible for a deconfinement "transition" at experimentally accessible temperatures which we estimate.