{
  "abstract": "The Yb delafossites NaYbSe$_2$, KYbSe$_2$, CsYbSe$_2$ and NaYbO$_2$ are candidates for the U(1) Dirac spin liquid (DSL) of the triangular lattice. Strong spin-orbit coupling gives their exchange an XXZ anisotropy $Δ$ and bond-dependent couplings $J_{\\pm\\pm}$, $J_{z\\pm}$ that lock the spin frame to the lattice. We show that, within a single layer of a stable Heisenberg DSL, these couplings generate no relevant Lorentz-scalar operator of their own. Inversion at the bond centers removes the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya channel that gaps the kagome DSL, so the locked symmetry forbids a mass, density or current at any order and, assuming continuity, any new monopole term through charge three. Every Lorentz-scalar four-fermion operator induced by spin-orbit coupling shares an SU(4) multiplet, and hence its scaling dimension, with a Heisenberg-allowed one, and the nine non-scalar quartics without such a partner arise only at second order and are irrelevant at large $N$. The Heisenberg DSL itself allows a Lorentz-vector quartic of large-$N$ dimension 2.92, which a stable phase must also render irrelevant. Beyond a single layer, spin-orbit coupling opens an interlayer monopole channel in rhombohedral stacking. If the Heisenberg DSL is instead multicritical, an anisotropy as small as that of KYbSe$_2$ matters only below tens of mK. At the transition to 120$^\\circ$ order the anisotropy is relevant, and exact diagonalization indicates that easy-plane anisotropy selects the chiral-Ising class. Existing KYbSe$_2$ neutron data below $J$ do not yet fix the K-point exponent, and gapless out-of-plane spin fluctuations at the K point would test the chiral-Ising selection.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2611.04607",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yasir Iqbal"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/14kj7gz6hvhjd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2611.04607",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "14kj7gz6hvhjd",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.04607",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.mtrl-sci"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.str-el"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2611.04607",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/14kj7gz6hvhjd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T15:21:25Z",
      "native_id": "2611.04607",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.04607"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.mtrl-sci",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Why strong spin-orbit coupling does not destabilize the Dirac spin liquid in the Yb delafossites",
  "title_text": "Why strong spin-orbit coupling does not destabilize the Dirac spin liquid in the Yb delafossites",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T18:21:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/14kj7gz6hvhjd",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}