Fractionalized Z_{2} Classical Heisenberg Spin Liquids.

Abstract

Quantum spin systems are by now known to exhibit a large number of different classes of spin liquid phases. By contrast, for classical Heisenberg models, only one kind of fractionalized spin liquid phase, the so-called Coulomb or U(1) spin liquid, has until recently been identified: This exhibits algebraic spin correlations and impurity moments, "orphan spins," whose size is a fraction of that of the underlying microscopic degrees of freedom. Here, we present two Heisenberg models exhibiting fractionalization in combination with exponentially decaying correlations. These can be thought of as a classical continuous spin version of a Z_{2} spin liquid. Our work suggests a systematic search and classification of classical spin liquids as a worthwhile endeavor.