On bipartite Rokhsar-Kivelson points and Cantor deconfinement

TL;DR

This paper explores phase transitions and exotic deconfined phases in bipartite quantum dimer models near Rokhsar-Kivelson points, revealing complex phenomena like a devil's staircase and incommensurate states with gapless excitations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of perturbations around RK points, uncovering new types of phase transitions and deconfined phases in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions.

Findings

First order transition between valence bond crystal phases in 2+1D.

Existence of a nearly deconfined incommensurate phase with gapless photon in 2+1D.

Continuous transition between U(1) RVB and staggered VBS in 3+1D.

Abstract

Quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices exhibit Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) points with exactly known critical ground states and deconfined spinons. We examine generic, weak, perturbations around these points. In d=2+1 we find a first order transition between a ``plaquette'' valence bond crystal and a region with a devil's staircase of commensurate and incommensurate valence bond crystals. In the part of the phase diagram where the staircase is incomplete, the incommensurate states exhibit a gapless photon and deconfined spinons on a set of finite measure, almost but not quite a deconfined phase in a compact U(1) gauge theory in d=2+1! In d=3+1 we find a continuous transition between the U(1) resonating valence bond (RVB) phase and a deconfined staggered valence bond crystal. In an appendix we comment on analogous phenomena in quantum vertex models, most notably the existence of a continuous transition on the triangular lattice in d=2+1.