Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Higher-dimensional generalization of the Kitaev spin liquid

Po-Jui Chen1,* and Piers Coleman1,2

  • *Contact author: pc863@physics.rutgers.edu

Phys. Rev. B 113, 155140 – Published 20 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fvjg-pb5k

Abstract

We construct an exactly solvable model of a four-dimensional Kitaev spin liquid. The lattice structure is orthorhombic and each unit cell contains six sublattice degrees of freedom. We demonstrate that the Fermi surface of the model is made up of two-dimensional surfaces. Additionally, we evaluate the energy cost of creating visons using scattering theory. The positive bond-flip energy suggests that the flux-free state is locally stable. Our model sheds light on the realization of high-dimensional fractionalization.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (50)

  1. P. W. Anderson, The resonating valence bond state in La2CuO4 and superconductivity, Science 235, 1196 (1987).
  2. P. Anderson, Resonating valence bonds: A new kind of insulator? Mater. Res. Bull. 8, 153 (1973).
  3. L. Savary and L. Balents, Quantum spin liquids: a review, Rep. Prog. Phys. 80, 016502 (2017).
  4. L. Balents, Spin liquids in frustrated magnets, Nature (London) 464, 199 (2010).
  5. J. Wen, S.-L. Yu, S. Li, W. Yu, and J.-X. Li, Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids, npj Quantum Mater. 4, 12 (2019).
  6. A. Kitaev, Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond, Ann. Phys. 321, 2 (2006).
  7. V. Lahtinen and J. K. Pachos, A short introduction to topological quantum computation, SciPost Phys. 3, 021 (2017).
  8. C. Nayak, S. H. Simon, A. Stern, M. Freedman, and S. Das Sarma, Non-Abelian anyons and topological quantum computation, Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 1083 (2008).
  9. S. Mandal and N. Surendran, Exactly solvable Kitaev model in three dimensions, Phys. Rev. B 79, 024426 (2009).
  10. M. Hermanns and S. Trebst, Quantum spin liquid with a Majorana Fermi surface on the three-dimensional hyperoctagon lattice, Phys. Rev. B 89, 235102 (2014).
  11. M. Hermanns, K. O'Brien, and S. Trebst, Weyl spin liquids, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 157202 (2015).
  12. K. O'Brien, M. Hermanns, and S. Trebst, Classification of gapless Z2 spin liquids in three-dimensional Kitaev models, Phys. Rev. B 93, 085101 (2016).
  13. M. G. Yamada, V. Dwivedi, and M. Hermanns, Crystalline Kitaev spin liquids, Phys. Rev. B 96, 155107 (2017).
  14. T. Eschmann, P. A. Mishchenko, K. O'Brien, T. A. Bojesen, Y. Kato, M. Hermanns, Y. Motome, and S. Trebst, Thermodynamic classification of three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids, Phys. Rev. B 102, 075125 (2020).
  15. S. S. Jahromi, H. Yarloo, and R. Orús, Thermodynamics of three-dimensional Kitaev quantum spin liquids via tensor networks, Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 033205 (2021).
  16. M. G. Yamada, Topological Z2 invariant in Kitaev spin liquids: Classification of gapped spin liquids beyond projective symmetry group, Phys. Rev. Res. 3, L012001 (2021).
  17. P. Coleman, A. Panigrahi, and A. Tsvelik, Solvable 3D Kondo lattice exhibiting pair density wave, odd-frequency pairing, and order fractionalization, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 177601 (2022).
  18. A. M. Tsvelik and P. Coleman, Order fractionalization in a Kitaev-Kondo model, Phys. Rev. B 106, 125144 (2022).
  19. A. Panigrahi, A. Tsvelik, and P. Coleman, Breakdown of order fractionalization in the CPT model, Phys. Rev. B 110, 104520 (2024).
  20. S.-H. Do, S.-Y. Park, J. Yoshitake, J. Nasu, Y. Motome, Y. Kwon, D. T. Adroja, D. J. Voneshen, K. Kim, T.-H. Jang, J.-H. Park, K.-Y. Choi, and S. Ji, Majorana fermions in the Kitaev quantum spin system α−RuCl3, Nat. Phys. 13, 1079 (2017).
  21. K. Mehlawat, A. Thamizhavel, and Y. Singh, Heat capacity evidence for proximity to the Kitaev quantum spin liquid in A2IrO3 (A=Na, Li), Phys. Rev. B 95, 144406 (2017).
  22. S. M. Winter, A. A. Tsirlin, M. Daghofer, J. van den Brink, Y. Singh, P. Gegenwart, and R. Valentí, Models and materials for generalized Kitaev magnetism, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 29, 493002 (2017).
  23. T. Takayama, A. Kato, R. Dinnebier, J. Nuss, H. Kono, L. S. I. Veiga, G. Fabbris, D. Haskel, and H. Takagi, Hyperhoneycomb iridate β−Li2IrO3 as a platform for Kitaev magnetism, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 077202 (2015).
  24. A. Banerjee, J. Yan, J. Knolle, C. A. Bridges, M. B. Stone, M. D. Lumsden, D. G. Mandrus, D. A. Tennant, R. Moessner, and S. E. Nagler, Neutron scattering in the proximate quantum spin liquid RuCl3, Science 356, 1055 (2017).
  25. A. Glamazda, P. Lemmens, S.-H. Do, Y. S. Choi, and K.-Y. Choi, Raman spectroscopic signature of fractionalized excitations in the harmonic-honeycomb iridates β- and γ−Li2IrO3, Nat. Commun. 7, 12286 (2016).
  26. L. J. Sandilands, Y. Tian, K. W. Plumb, Y.-J. Kim, and K. S. Burch, Scattering continuum and possible fractionalized excitations in α−RuCl3, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 147201 (2015).
  27. S.-C. Zhang and J. Hu, A four-dimensional generalization of the quantum Hall effect, Science 294, 823 (2001).
  28. R. Chen, X.-X. Yi, and B. Zhou, Four-dimensional topological Anderson insulator with an emergent second Chern number, Phys. Rev. B 108, 085306 (2023).
  29. Z.-R. Liu, R. Chen, and B. Zhou, Four-dimensional Floquet topological insulator with an emergent second Chern number, Phys. Rev. B 109, 125303 (2024).
  30. B. Lian and S.-C. Zhang, Weyl semimetal and topological phase transition in five dimensions, Phys. Rev. B 95, 235106 (2017).
  31. B. Lian and S.-C. Zhang, Five-dimensional generalization of the topological Weyl semimetal, Phys. Rev. B 94, 041105(R) (2016).
  32. H. M. Price, O. Zilberberg, T. Ozawa, I. Carusotto, and N. Goldman, Four-dimensional quantum Hall effect with ultracold atoms, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 195303 (2015).
  33. D. Jukić and H. Buljan, Four-dimensional photonic lattices and discrete tesseract solitons, Phys. Rev. A 87, 013814 (2013).
  34. T. Ozawa, H. M. Price, N. Goldman, O. Zilberberg, and I. Carusotto, Synthetic dimensions in integrated photonics: From optical isolation to four-dimensional quantum Hall physics, Phys. Rev. A 93, 043827 (2016).
  35. Y. Wang, H. M. Price, B. Zhang, and Y. D. Chong, Circuit implementation of a four-dimensional topological insulator, Nat. Commun. 11, 2356 (2020).
  36. R. Yu, Y. X. Zhao, and A. P. Schnyder, 4D spinless topological insulator in a periodic electric circuit, Natl. Sci. Rev. 7, 1288 (2020).
  37. A. Panigrahi, P. Coleman, and A. Tsvelik, Analytic calculation of the vison gap in the Kitaev spin liquid, Phys. Rev. B 108, 045151 (2023).
  38. J. Knolle, D. L. Kovrizhin, J. T. Chalker, and R. Moessner, Dynamics of fractionalization in quantum spin liquids, Phys. Rev. B 92, 115127 (2015).
  39. J. Nasu, M. Udagawa, and Y. Motome, Thermal fractionalization of quantum spins in a Kitaev model: Temperature-linear specific heat and coherent transport of Majorana fermions, Phys. Rev. B 92, 115122 (2015).
  40. F. J. Wegner, Duality in generalized Ising models and phase transitions without local order parameters, J. Math. Phys. 12, 2259 (1971).
  41. E. Fradkin and S. H. Shenker, Phase diagrams of lattice gauge theories with Higgs fields, Phys. Rev. D 19, 3682 (1979).
  42. H. Yao and D.-H. Lee, Fermionic magnons, non-Abelian spinons, and the spin quantum Hall effect from an exactly solvable spin-1/2 Kitaev model with Su(2) symmetry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 087205 (2011).
  43. P. Jordan and E. Wigner, Über das Paulische Äquivalenzverbot, Z. Phys. 47, 631 (1928).
  44. J.-T. Jin, J.-J. Miao, and Y. Zhou, Lacing topological orders in two dimensions: Exactly solvable models for Kitaev's sixteen-fold way, SciPost Phys. 14, 087 (2023).
  45. X.-Y. Feng, G.-M. Zhang, and T. Xiang, Topological characterization of quantum phase transitions in a spin-1/2 model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 087204 (2007).
  46. H.-D. Chen and Z. Nussinov, Exact results of the Kitaev model on a hexagonal lattice: spin states, string and brane correlators, and anyonic excitations, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41, 075001 (2008).
  47. F. D. M. Haldane, Model for a quantum Hall effect without Landau levels: Condensed-matter realization of the “parity anomaly”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2015 (1988).
  48. S. Chulliparambil, U. F. P. Seifert, M. Vojta, L. Janssen, and H.-H. Tu, Microscopic models for Kitaev's sixteenfold way of anyon theories, Phys. Rev. B 102, 201111 (2020).
  49. P.-J. Chen and P. Coleman, Dataset for “a higher dimensional generalization of the Kitaev spin liquid, Zenodo (2026), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19199451.
  50. E. H. Lieb, Flux phase of the half-filled band, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2158 (1994).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation