Unexpected Phenomenology in Particle-Based Ice Absent in Magnetic Spin Ice

TL;DR

This paper reveals that particle-based ices exhibit unique phenomena not found in magnetic spin ices, due to their coupling with a background field, leading to new behaviors like topological charge transfer and glassiness.

Contribution

It demonstrates the exact correspondence between particle-based ices and spin ices with a background field, uncovering novel phenomenology in non-trivial geometries.

Findings

Particle-based ices correspond to spin ices coupled to a background field.

In trivial geometries, particle and spin ices are thermodynamically equivalent.

Non-trivial geometries exhibit phenomena like ice rule fragility and glassiness.

Abstract

While particle-based ices are often considered essentially equivalent to magnet-based spin ices, the two differ essentially in frustration and energetics. We show that at equilibrium particle-based ices correspond exactly to spin ices coupled to a background field. In trivial geometries, such a field has no effect, and the two systems are indeed thermodynamically equivalent. In other cases, however, the field controls a richer phenomenology, absent in magnetic ices, and still largely unexplored: ice rule fragility, topological charge transfer, radial polarization, decimation induced disorder, and glassiness.