Anomalous suppression of large-scale density fluctuations in classical and quantum spin liquids

TL;DR

This paper reveals that classical and quantum spin liquids exhibit a hidden hyperuniformity, suppressing large-scale density fluctuations, which can be used to identify and distinguish quantum spin liquids from other phases.

Contribution

It uncovers the hyperuniformity property in classical and quantum spin liquids and demonstrates its robustness and potential as a diagnostic tool for identifying QSLs.

Findings

Classical dimer ensembles are perfectly hyperuniform.

Quantum RVB states maintain hyperuniformity despite excitations.

Hyperuniformity metrics can distinguish QSLs from other phases.

Abstract

Classical spin liquids (CSLs) are intriguing states of matter that do not exhibit long-range magnetic order and are characterized by an extensive ground-state degeneracy. Adding quantum fluctuations, which induce dynamics between these different classical ground states, can give rise to quantum spin liquids (QSLs). QSLs are highly entangled quantum phases of matter characterized by fascinating emergent properties, such as fractionalized excitations and topological order. One such exotic quantum liquid is the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ QSL, which can be regarded as a resonating valence bond (RVB) state formed from superpositions of dimer coverings of an underlying lattice. In this work, we unveil a \textit{hidden} large-scale structural property of archetypal CSLs and QSLs known as hyperuniformity, i.e., normalized infinite-wavelength density fluctuations are completely suppressed in these systems. In particular, we first demonstrate that classical ensembles of close-packed dimers and their corresponding quantum RVB states are perfectly hyperuniform in general. Subsequently, we focus on a ruby-lattice spin liquid that was recently realized in a Rydberg-atom quantum simulator, and show that the QSL remains effectively hyperuniform even in the presence of a finite density of spinon and vison excitations, as long as the dimer constraint is still largely preserved. Moreover, we demonstrate that metrics based on the framework of hyperuniformity can be used to distinguish the QSL from other proximate quantum phases. These metrics can help identify potential QSL candidates, which can then be further analyzed using more advanced, computationally-intensive quantum numerics to confirm their status as true QSLs.