Two quantum spin liquid states coexisting in the kagome antiferromagnet herbertsmithite
Abstract
Herbertsmithite (ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2) is one of the most extensively studied quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidates, yet the precise nature of its ground state remains unresolved. Here, we compare the results of high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering on single crystals of herbertsmithite (ZnxCu4−x(OD)6Cl2, x≃ 0.85) with large-scale density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and dynamical DMRG simulations to benchmark the spin Hamiltonian and uncover fundamental properties of the ground state. The measured spin correlations determine an energy density for the Heisenberg model that closely matches simulations, an essential verification of the Hamiltonian. In parallel, DMRG simulations reveal two nearly degenerate QSL states. Both preserve translational symmetry, but one retains the lattice point-group symmetries whereas the other develops anisotropic spin correlations that break point-group symmetry. These two QSLs have distinct spin structure factors, and, remarkably, close agreement with the neutron spectra is achieved with an admixture of the two states. Our results establish a quantitative correspondence between neutron scattering and simulations, and suggest that herbertsmithite realizes a regime in which two proximate gapped QSL states coexist.
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BibTeX
@misc{campello2026quantum,
title = {{Two quantum spin liquid states coexisting in the kagome antiferromagnet herbertsmithite}},
author = {Arthur C. Campello and Shengtao Jiang and Wei He and Jiajia Wen and Daniel M. Pajerowski and Steven A. Kivelson and Hong-Chen Jiang and Young S. Lee},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.24065},
eprint = {2610.24065},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24065},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Two quantum spin liquid states coexisting in the kagome antiferromagnet herbertsmithite
AU - Arthur C. Campello
AU - Shengtao Jiang
AU - Wei He
AU - Jiajia Wen
AU - Daniel M. Pajerowski
AU - Steven A. Kivelson
AU - Hong-Chen Jiang
AU - Young S. Lee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.24065
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24065
AB - Herbertsmithite (ZnCu_3(OH)_6Cl_2) is one of the most extensively studied quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidates, yet the precise nature of its ground state remains unresolved. Here, we compare the results of high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering on single crystals of herbertsmithite (Zn_xCu_4−x(OD)_6Cl_2, x≃ 0.85) with large-scale density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and dynamical DMRG simulations to benchmark the spin Hamiltonian and uncover fundamental properties of the ground state. The measured spin correlations determine an energy density for the Heisenberg model that closely matches simulations, an essential verification of the Hamiltonian. In parallel, DMRG simulations reveal two nearly degenerate QSL states. Both preserve translational symmetry, but one retains the lattice point-group symmetries whereas the other develops anisotropic spin correlations that break point-group symmetry. These two QSLs have distinct spin structure factors, and, remarkably, close agreement with the neutron spectra is achieved with an admixture of the two states. Our results establish a quantitative correspondence between neutron scattering and simulations, and suggest that herbertsmithite realizes a regime in which two proximate gapped QSL states coexist.
ER -