Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag3LiIr2O6

Detecting Majorana fermions in experimental realizations of the Kitaev honeycomb model is often complicated by non-trivial interactions inherent to potential spin liquid candidates. In this work, we identify several distinct thermodynamic signatures of massive, itinerant Majorana fermions within the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications physics 2023-11, Vol.6 (1), p.348-13, Article 348
Main Authors: Heath, Joshuah T., Bahrami, Faranak, Lee, Sangyun, Movshovich, Roman, Chen, Xiao, Tafti, Fazel, Bedell, Kevin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/119/995
639/301/119/997
639/766/119/999
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Condensed matter physics
Electronic properties and materials
Electrons
Excitation
Fermi liquids
Fermi surfaces
Fermions
Ground state
Heat
Magnetic fields
Magnetic properties and materials
Materials selection
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Qualitative analysis
Quantum fluids and solids
Signatures
Spin liquid
Temperature
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Summary:Detecting Majorana fermions in experimental realizations of the Kitaev honeycomb model is often complicated by non-trivial interactions inherent to potential spin liquid candidates. In this work, we identify several distinct thermodynamic signatures of massive, itinerant Majorana fermions within the well-established analytical paradigm of Landau-Fermi liquid theory. We find a qualitative and quantitative agreement between the salient features of our Landau-Majorana liquid theory and the Kitaev spin liquid candidate Ag 3 LiIr 2 O 6 . Our study presents strong evidence for a Fermi liquid-like ground state in the fundamental excitations of a honeycomb iridate, and opens new experimental avenues to detect itinerant Majorana fermions in condensed matter systems. While Majorana excitations are often considered to be a cornerstone for proposed quantum devices, their experimental detection has proven to be a significant challenge. Here, the authors theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that the Kitaev candidate material Ag 3 LiIr 2 O 6 may support a Majorana-Fermi surface, which could potentially serve as a “smoking gun” for a quantum spin liquid ground state through the lens of specific heat data.
ISSN:2399-3650
2399-3650
DOI:10.1038/s42005-023-01403-w