Loop condensation in the triangular lattice quantum dimer model

Abstract

We study the mechanism of loop condensation in the quantum dimer model (QDM) on the triangular lattice. The triangular lattice QDM displays a topologically ordered quantum liquid phase in addition to conventionally ordered phases with broken symmetry. In the context of systems with extended loop-like degrees of freedom, the formation of such topological order can be described in terms of loop condensation. Using Monte Carlo calculations with local and directed-loop updates, we compute the geometric properties of the transition graph loop distributions of several triangular lattice quantum dimer wavefunctions that display dimer–liquid to dimer–crystal transitions and characterize these in terms of loop condensation.