Spin dynamics of the planar kagome lattice ferromagnet with four-site ring exchange processes

Abstract

By means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations, combined with a stochastic analytic continuation, we examine the spin dynamics of the spin-1/2 planar (XY) ferromagnet on the kagome lattice with additional four-site ring exchange terms. Such exchange processes were previously considered to lead into an extended $Z_2$ quantum spin liquid phase beyond a quantum critical point from the XY-ferromagnet. We examine the dynamical spin structure factor in the non-magnetic regime and probe for signatures of spin fractionalization. Furthermore, we contrast our findings and the corresponding energy scales of the excitation gaps in the ring exchange model to those emerging in a related Balents-Fisher-Girvin model with a $Z_2$ quantum spin liquid phase, and monitor the softening of the magnon mode upon approaching the quantum critical point from the XY-ferromagnetic regime.