Majorana-fermion mean field theories of Kitaev quantum spin liquids

Abstract

We determine the phase diagrams of anisotropic Kitaev-Heisenberg models on the honeycomb lattice using parton mean-field theories based on different Majorana fermion representations of the S=1/2 spin operators. First, we use a two-dimensional Jordan-Wigner transformation (JWT) involving a semi-infinite snake string operator. To ensure that the fermionized Hamiltonian remains local, we consider the limit of extreme Ising exchange anisotropy in the Heisenberg sector. Second, we use the conventional Kitaev representation in terms of four Majorana fermions subject to local constraints, which we enforce through Lagrange multipliers. For both representations, we self-consistently decouple the interaction terms in the bond and magnetization channels and determine the phase diagrams as a function of the anisotropy of the Kitaev couplings and the relative strength of the Ising exchange. While both mean-field theories produce identical phase boundaries for the topological phase transition between the gapless and gapped Kitaev quantum spin liquids, the JWT fails to correctly describe the magnetic instability and finite-temperature behavior. Our results show that the magnetic phase transition is first order at low temperatures but becomes continuous above a certain temperature. At this energy scale, we also observe a finite-temperature crossover on the quantum-spin-liquid side, from a fractionalized paramagnet at low temperatures, in which gapped flux excitations are frozen out, to a conventional paramagnet at high temperatures. Published by the American Physical Society 2024