Spinon Fermi surface U(1) spin liquid in the spin-orbit-coupled triangular-lattice Mott insulator YbMgGaO4

Abstract

Motivated by the recent progress on the spin-orbit-coupled triangular lattice spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4, we carry out a systematic projective symmetry group analysis and mean-field study of candidate U(1) spin liquid ground states. Due to the spin-orbital entanglement of the Yb moments, the space group symmetry operation transforms both the position and the orientation of the local moments, and hence brings different features for the projective realization of the lattice symmetries from the cases with spin-only moments. Among the eight U(1) spin liquids that we find with the fermionic parton construction, only one spin liquid state, that was proposed and analyzed in Yao Shen, et al, Nature 540, 559-562 (2016) and labeled as U1A00 in the present work, stands out and gives a large spinon Fermi surface and provides a consistent explanation for the spectroscopic results in YbMgGaO4. Further connection of this spinon Fermi surface U(1) spin liquid with YbMgGaO4 and the future directions are discussed. Finally, our results may apply to other spin-orbit-coupled triangular lattice spin liquid candidates, and more broadly, our general approach can be well extended to spin-orbit-coupled spin liquid candidate materials.