- Letter
Multiple Dirac spin-orbital liquids in SU(4) Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the honeycomb lattice
Phys. Rev. B 113, L201110 – Published 12 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kwsx-mc4n
Abstract
Motivated by transition-metal trihalides, we study the strong-coupling model of honeycomb lattice systems in the large spin-orbit coupled limit. By considering different possible hopping pathways, SU(4) symmetry is found to emerge at multiple points in the parameter space of the hopping parameters. The resultant Dirac spin-orbital liquids, within the parton mean-field description, provide distinct realizations of symmetry fractionalization. The calculated dynamical spin-structure factor fingerprints this distinctive nature, measurable in experiments. The conclusions are found to be perturbatively robust upon inclusion of low-energy gauge fluctuations.