Classical Kitaev model in a magnetic field

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: McClarty, Paul A., Moessner, Roderich, Penc, Karlo, Rau, Jeffrey G.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author McClarty, Paul A.
Moessner, Roderich
Penc, Karlo
Rau, Jeffrey G.
author_facet McClarty, Paul A.
Moessner, Roderich
Penc, Karlo
Rau, Jeffrey G.
contents Motivated by experiments on spin-orbit coupled magnets with Kitaev exchange in magnetic fields, we present an analysis of the classical Kitaev honeycomb model in the presence of a magnetic field. We show that there is a spin liquid regime that exists within a finite window of fields from zero up to a finite threshold before transitioning into the polarized paramagnet. We uncover constraints that spins need to satisfy in the ground state and show that they determine the exact limiting zero temperature behavior of the heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility within the spin liquid as a function of field. When the field is finite, both the two-point spin and the quadrupolar correlations are short-ranged, in contrast to the zero-field case. We rationalize an effective mass for the quadrupolar correlations in terms of a coarse-grained theory with fluctuating effective charge degrees of freedom. Finally, we show that weak site-dilution does not change the magnetization within the spin liquid -- a kind of "perfect" compensation of the site dilution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10112
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Classical Kitaev model in a magnetic field
McClarty, Paul A.
Moessner, Roderich
Penc, Karlo
Rau, Jeffrey G.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Statistical Mechanics
Motivated by experiments on spin-orbit coupled magnets with Kitaev exchange in magnetic fields, we present an analysis of the classical Kitaev honeycomb model in the presence of a magnetic field. We show that there is a spin liquid regime that exists within a finite window of fields from zero up to a finite threshold before transitioning into the polarized paramagnet. We uncover constraints that spins need to satisfy in the ground state and show that they determine the exact limiting zero temperature behavior of the heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility within the spin liquid as a function of field. When the field is finite, both the two-point spin and the quadrupolar correlations are short-ranged, in contrast to the zero-field case. We rationalize an effective mass for the quadrupolar correlations in terms of a coarse-grained theory with fluctuating effective charge degrees of freedom. Finally, we show that weak site-dilution does not change the magnetization within the spin liquid -- a kind of "perfect" compensation of the site dilution.
title Classical Kitaev model in a magnetic field
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10112