Parton Mean-Field Theory of a Rydberg Quantum Spin Liquid induced by Density-Dependent Peierls Phases

TL;DR

This paper develops a parton mean-field theory for Rydberg excitations on a honeycomb lattice, providing evidence that the ground state is a chiral spin liquid with topological properties, supported by numerical and analytical results.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent mean-field approach for Rydberg systems with density-dependent hopping, demonstrating the realization of a chiral spin liquid state.

Findings

Mean-field Hamiltonian exhibits chiral spin liquid characteristics

Ground state shows twofold topological degeneracy on a torus

High overlap with exact diagonalization ground states

Abstract

We derive a parton mean-field Hamiltonian for Rydberg excitations on a honeycomb lattice with nearest and density-dependent, complex next-nearest neighbor hopping. Numerical results obtained from exact diagonalization of small systems have given indications for a ground state that is a chiral spin liquid (CSL) [Phys.Rev.Res. 5, 013157 (2023)]. Here we provide further evidence for this. Calculating the ground-state wavefunction self-consistently, we show that the mean-field Hamiltonian fulfills the requirements for a CSL ground state, resulting from a projected symmetry group classification and verify the expected twofold topological degeneracy on a torus. Furthermore we find very good overlap with the ground-state wavefunctions obtained by exact diagonalization of the original Hamiltonian.