Classification of classical spin liquids: Typology and resulting landscape

Abstract

Classical spin liquids (CSL) lack long-range magnetic order and are characterized by an extensive ground-state degeneracy. We propose a classification scheme of CSLs based on the structure of the flat bands of their Hamiltonians. Depending on absence or presence of the gap from the flat band, the CSL are classified as algebraic or fragile topological, respectively. Each category is further classified: the algebraic case by the nature of the emergent Gauss's law at the gap-closing point(s), and the fragile topological case by the homotopy of the eigenvector winding around the Brillouin zone. Previously identified models of CSLs fit snugly into our scheme, on a landscape where algebraic CSLs are located at transitions between fragile topological ones. It also allows us to present new families of models illustrating this landscape, which hosts both fragile topological and algebraic CSLs, as well as transitions between them. Published by the American Physical Society 2024