{
  "abstract": "The star lattice hosts the Yao-Kivelson chiral spin liquid, an exactly solvable Kitaev spin liquid that breaks time reversal spontaneously and is non-Abelian or Abelian depending on the ratio of its two couplings. A density-matrix renormalization group study found that an added Heisenberg exchange leaves it a wide stability window for ferromagnetic but only a narrow one for antiferromagnetic Kitaev coupling. Using projective symmetry groups (PSGs) of fermionic partons, we show that the chirality is not a peculiarity of the solvable point: whenever the $π$ spin rotations act on the partons as in the exact solution (spin-gauge locking), a time-reversal-symmetric mean-field state has no amplitude on the triangles, at any range, so a Kitaev-type spin liquid on this lattice must break time reversal. The Abelian and non-Abelian liquids of both signs share a single chiral PSG, within which their transition is a band inversion. The Klein duality, which reverses the Heisenberg coupling, permutes the PSGs and leaves exactly the locked ones unchanged; a $Z_2$ spin-liquid phase mapped onto itself is therefore locked and, if it spans a connected range of couplings, contains a Kitaev point. Unprojected mean-field theory in Kitaev's Majorana representation treats both signs alike. Exact second-order perturbation theory about the Kitaev points locates the asymmetry: the triangles respond identically for both signs, whereas on the bonds between triangles the two off-diagonal Heisenberg terms create the same four visons and interfere constructively for antiferromagnetic and almost destructively for ferromagnetic coupling, admixing a low-energy four-vison state $82$ times more strongly on the antiferromagnetic side. The PSG results rest on a classification of $352$ $Z_2$ PSGs with spin-orbit-coupled amplitudes, which also identifies the fermionic partners of the known Schwinger-boson spin liquids.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.29278",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Harsh Raj"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yasir Iqbal"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6c0z51r9gee7r.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.29278",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6c0z51r9gee7r",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29278",
  "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.str-el"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3104|Advanced Condensed Matter Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223233648",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.29278",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6c0z51r9gee7r.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:34:19Z",
      "native_id": "2610.29278",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29278"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.str-el",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Chirality, Klein duality, and the stability of Kitaev spin liquids on the star lattice",
  "title_text": "Chirality, Klein duality, and the stability of Kitaev spin liquids on the star lattice",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:34:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6c0z51r9gee7r",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}