Spin-liquid ground state of the S = 1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Science. 2011 Jun 3;332(6034):1173-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1201080. Epub 2011 Apr 28.

Abstract

We use the density matrix renormalization group to perform accurate calculations of the ground state of the nearest-neighbor quantum spin S = 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. We study this model on numerous long cylinders with circumferences up to 12 lattice spacings. Through a combination of very-low-energy and small finite-size effects, our results provide strong evidence that, for the infinite two-dimensional system, the ground state of this model is a fully gapped spin liquid.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.