English

Classification and correlation signatures of chiral spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2026-04-15 v1

Abstract

We present a systematic classification and variational study of chiral quantum spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice based on fermionic parton constructions. Focusing on chiral U(1)\mathrm{U(1)} and Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 spin-liquid Ans\"atze, we characterize their symmetry properties, flux structures, and low-energy spinon spectra within a projective symmetry group framework, and incorporate gauge fluctuations through Gutzwiller-projected wave functions studied by variational Monte Carlo. From the equal-time spin structure factor, we develop correlation-based diagnostics that distinguish gauge-dominated Coulomb phases from states with substantial matter-field and short-range contributions. Distinct chiral flux sectors, though close in energy, exhibit markedly different degrees of emergent U(1)\mathrm{U(1)} gauge-field dominance, reflected in the geometry and contrast of pinch-point singularities. Although these states are not competitive ground states of the nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model, they define a physically meaningful family of proximate chiral phases relevant to extended pyrochlore Hamiltonians.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.11880,
  title  = {Classification and correlation signatures of chiral spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice},
  author = {Chunxiao Liu and Leon Balents and Yasir Iqbal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.11880},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

28 pages, 6 figures, 11 tables