Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid
Abstract We show that certain crystalline topological defects in the gapless Kitaev honeycomb spin liquid model generate a chirality and Majorana fermion orbital magnetization that depends in a universal manner on their emergent flux. Focusing on 5–7 dislocations as building blocks, consisting of pe...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | npj Quantum Materials |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00765-4 |
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| author | Fay Borhani Arnab Seth Itamar Kimchi |
| author_facet | Fay Borhani Arnab Seth Itamar Kimchi |
| author_sort | Fay Borhani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We show that certain crystalline topological defects in the gapless Kitaev honeycomb spin liquid model generate a chirality and Majorana fermion orbital magnetization that depends in a universal manner on their emergent flux. Focusing on 5–7 dislocations as building blocks, consisting of pentagon and heptagon disclinations, we identify the Kitaev bond label configurations that preserve solvability. By computing two formulations of local markers M(r) we find that the 5 and 7 lattice defects generate a real-space contribution to Chern number and an associated Majorana fermion orbital magnetization proportional to M(r). The sign of the M(r) contribution from each 5/7 defect, i.e. its q M = ± 1 chirality, is determined by the defect Frank angle sign F and emergent gauge field flux W = ± i through the expression q M = − i F W. Remarkably, though lattice curvature and torsion can interplay with the surrounding gapless background to modify the profile of M(r), its sign q M is determined locally, implying that crystalline defects in the Kitaev spin liquid can generate a robust and observable chirality. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cb8abddcdf744fdda2ad31543c9e2896 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2397-4648 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Quantum Materials |
| spelling | doaj-art-cb8abddcdf744fdda2ad31543c9e28962025-08-20T02:20:06ZengNature Portfolionpj Quantum Materials2397-46482025-04-011011910.1038/s41535-025-00765-4Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquidFay Borhani0Arnab Seth1Itamar Kimchi2School of Physics, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Physics, Georgia Institute of TechnologySchool of Physics, Georgia Institute of TechnologyAbstract We show that certain crystalline topological defects in the gapless Kitaev honeycomb spin liquid model generate a chirality and Majorana fermion orbital magnetization that depends in a universal manner on their emergent flux. Focusing on 5–7 dislocations as building blocks, consisting of pentagon and heptagon disclinations, we identify the Kitaev bond label configurations that preserve solvability. By computing two formulations of local markers M(r) we find that the 5 and 7 lattice defects generate a real-space contribution to Chern number and an associated Majorana fermion orbital magnetization proportional to M(r). The sign of the M(r) contribution from each 5/7 defect, i.e. its q M = ± 1 chirality, is determined by the defect Frank angle sign F and emergent gauge field flux W = ± i through the expression q M = − i F W. Remarkably, though lattice curvature and torsion can interplay with the surrounding gapless background to modify the profile of M(r), its sign q M is determined locally, implying that crystalline defects in the Kitaev spin liquid can generate a robust and observable chirality.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00765-4 |
| spellingShingle | Fay Borhani Arnab Seth Itamar Kimchi Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid npj Quantum Materials |
| title | Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid |
| title_full | Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid |
| title_fullStr | Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid |
| title_full_unstemmed | Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid |
| title_short | Real-space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the Kitaev spin liquid |
| title_sort | real space chirality from crystalline topological defects in the kitaev spin liquid |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00765-4 |
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