Frustration-Induced 1/6-Vortex-Paired Phase in a Kagome XY Model
Abstract
Geometric frustration can fractionalize vortices in two-dimensional XY systems, but a given frustrated model usually hosts only a single type of fractional vortex. Here we study a kagome XY model in which an antiferromagnetic coupling J1 and a second-harmonic coupling K favor two competing frustrated ground-state manifolds. For K/J1<1/9, the ground states map onto those of the kagome three-state Potts antiferromagnet and support 1/3 vortices; for K/J1>1/9, they map onto those of the kagome Ising antiferromagnet and support 1/2 vortices. At K/J1=1/9, the two manifolds become degenerate, and bends in the domain walls between them carry 1/6-vortex excitations. Tensor-network calculations show that a finite-temperature phase with quasi-long-range order only in e6iθ emerges from this degenerate point, separating the 1/3- and 1/2-vortex-paired phases. This 1/6-vortex-paired phase has no counterpart in either parent manifold, showing that competing frustrated manifolds provide a route to new fractional-vortex-paired phases.
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BibTeX
@misc{lin2026frustrationinduced,
title = {{Frustration-Induced $1/6$-Vortex-Paired Phase in a Kagome XY Model}},
author = {Tong-Yu Lin and Guang-Ming Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.41161},
eprint = {2610.41161},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41161},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Frustration-Induced 1/6-Vortex-Paired Phase in a Kagome XY Model
AU - Tong-Yu Lin
AU - Guang-Ming Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.41161
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41161
AB - Geometric frustration can fractionalize vortices in two-dimensional XY systems, but a given frustrated model usually hosts only a single type of fractional vortex. Here we study a kagome XY model in which an antiferromagnetic coupling J_1 and a second-harmonic coupling K favor two competing frustrated ground-state manifolds. For K/J_1<1/9, the ground states map onto those of the kagome three-state Potts antiferromagnet and support 1/3 vortices; for K/J_1>1/9, they map onto those of the kagome Ising antiferromagnet and support 1/2 vortices. At K/J_1=1/9, the two manifolds become degenerate, and bends in the domain walls between them carry 1/6-vortex excitations. Tensor-network calculations show that a finite-temperature phase with quasi-long-range order only in e^6iθ emerges from this degenerate point, separating the 1/3- and 1/2-vortex-paired phases. This 1/6-vortex-paired phase has no counterpart in either parent manifold, showing that competing frustrated manifolds provide a route to new fractional-vortex-paired phases.
ER -