Distinguishing thermodynamics and spectroscopy for octupolar U(1) spin liquid of Ce-pyrochlores

TL;DR

This paper clarifies how thermodynamic and spectroscopic measurements differently probe excitations in octupolar U(1) spin liquids of Ce-pyrochlores, aiding the identification of fractionalized excitations.

Contribution

It distinguishes the roles of thermodynamics and spectroscopy in probing spinon excitations in octupolar U(1) spin liquids, providing a framework for experimental identification.

Findings

Susceptibility and spectroscopic measurements probe spinon excitations.

Specific heat measures all excitations, including pairs.

Distinct excitation gaps relate to different measurement types.

Abstract

Inspired by the progress on the spin liquid candidates Ce$_2$Sn$_2$O$_7$ and Ce$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$ where the Ce ions carry the dipole-octupole doublets, we analyze the distinction between the thermodynamic and spectroscopic measurements for the octupolar U(1) spin liquid. Due to the peculiar properties of octupolar U(1) spin liquid and the selective Zeeman coupling, both uniform susceptibility and the spectroscopic measurements only probe the spinon excitations, while the specific heat measures all excitations. After clarifying the contents in each measurement, we observe that, thermodynamics carries the information of single spinon, while the spectroscopy is associated with spinon pairs. Such distinction immediately leads to the multiplicity relation of the excitation gaps from different measurements that include the uniform susceptibility, Knight shift and $1/T_1$ spin lattice relaxation of NMR and $\mu$SR, and the inelastic neutron scattering measurements. We hope this work provides a useful recipe for the identification of fractionalization in the octupolar U(1) spin liquid and other spin liquids.