# Kitaev honeycomb models in magnetic fields: Dynamical response and hidden symmetries

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical properties and hidden symmetries of field-induced intermediate phases in Kitaev honeycomb models, revealing new phases relevant to materials like $ ext{RuCl}_3$ and their distinct nature from known spin liquids.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of the dynamical response and hidden symmetries in field-induced phases of Kitaev models, connecting theoretical models to experimental observations in $ ext{RuCl}_3$.

## Key findings

- Identification of a new field-induced phase in Kitaev models.
- Demonstration of hidden symmetries and dualities relating different phases.
- Relevance of the intermediate phase to experimental results in $ ext{RuCl}_3$.

## Abstract

Motivated by recent reports of a field-induced intermediate phase (IP) in the antiferromagnetic honeycomb Kitaev model that may be a spin liquid whose nature is distinct from the Kitaev Z2 phase, we present a detailed numerical study on the nature and dynamical response (such as dynamical spin-structure factors and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering intensities) of this field-induced IP and neighboring phases in a family of Kitaev-based models related by hidden symmetries and duality transformations. We further show that the same field-induced IP can appear in models relevant for $\alpha$-RuCl${_3}$, which exhibit a ferromagnetic Kitaev coupling and additional interactions. In $\alpha$-RuCl${_3}$, the IP represents a new phase, that is likely independent from the putative field-induced (spin-liquid) phase recently reported from thermal Hall conductivity measurements.