Square ice Coulomb phase as a percolated vertex lattice

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Coraux, Johann, Rougier, Nicodème, Canals, Benjamin, Rougemaille, Nicolas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910713524518912
author Coraux, Johann
Rougier, Nicodème
Canals, Benjamin
Rougemaille, Nicolas
author_facet Coraux, Johann
Rougier, Nicodème
Canals, Benjamin
Rougemaille, Nicolas
contents The square ice is a canonical example of a Coulomb phase in two dimensions: Its ground state is extensively degenerate and satisfies a local constraint on the spin arrangement (the so-called ice rule). In this paper, we use a loop flip algorithm to explore the properties of this ground state that we analyze not in terms of a spin texture, but rather in terms of a spatial distribution of ice-rule satisfying vertices. More specifically, we determine for various lattice sizes the average vertex populations characterizing the ice manifold, the pairwise vertex correlations, and the size distribution of vertex clusters. Comparing these results to those obtained from random, constraint-free vertex tilings, the square ice manifold is found to resemble an almost ideal vertex gas, and the cluster size distribution of ice-rule satisfying vertices is well approximated by percolation theory. Remarkably, this description remains reasonably accurate when monopoles are present in a dilute amount, allowing a direct comparison with experiments. Revising former experimental results on two artificial square ice systems, we illustrate the interest of our approach to spot the presence of a Coulomb phase from a vertex analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_16533
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Square ice Coulomb phase as a percolated vertex lattice
Coraux, Johann
Rougier, Nicodème
Canals, Benjamin
Rougemaille, Nicolas
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
The square ice is a canonical example of a Coulomb phase in two dimensions: Its ground state is extensively degenerate and satisfies a local constraint on the spin arrangement (the so-called ice rule). In this paper, we use a loop flip algorithm to explore the properties of this ground state that we analyze not in terms of a spin texture, but rather in terms of a spatial distribution of ice-rule satisfying vertices. More specifically, we determine for various lattice sizes the average vertex populations characterizing the ice manifold, the pairwise vertex correlations, and the size distribution of vertex clusters. Comparing these results to those obtained from random, constraint-free vertex tilings, the square ice manifold is found to resemble an almost ideal vertex gas, and the cluster size distribution of ice-rule satisfying vertices is well approximated by percolation theory. Remarkably, this description remains reasonably accurate when monopoles are present in a dilute amount, allowing a direct comparison with experiments. Revising former experimental results on two artificial square ice systems, we illustrate the interest of our approach to spot the presence of a Coulomb phase from a vertex analysis.
title Square ice Coulomb phase as a percolated vertex lattice
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.16533