Vector boson excitations near deconfined quantum critical points

TL;DR

This paper predicts the existence of low-energy vector boson excitations near deconfined quantum critical points in 2D antiferromagnets, with universal damping effects, suggesting observable topological gauge phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces the prediction of emergent vector boson excitations and their damping near deconfined quantum critical points in quantum spin systems.

Findings

Identification of vector boson excitations near critical points

Calculation of universal damping due to spin-wave emission

Implication for detecting topological gauge excitations

Abstract

We show that the N\'eel states of two-dimensional antiferromagnets have low energy vector boson excitations in the vicinity of deconfined quantum critical points. We compute the universal damping of these excitations arising from spin-wave emission. Detection of such a vector boson will demonstrate the existence of emergent topological gauge excitations in a quantum spin system.