Dirac fermions with plaquette interactions. II. SU(4) phase diagram with Gross-Neveu criticality and quantum spin liquid

Abstract

At sufficiently low temperatures, interacting electron systems tend to develop orders. Exceptions are quantum critical point (QCP) and quantum spin liquid (QSL), where fluctuations prevent the highly entangled quantum matter to an ordered state down to the lowest temperature. While the ramification of these states may have appeared in high-temperature superconductors, ultra-cold atoms, frustrated magnets and quantum Moir\'e materials, their unbiased presence remain elusive in microscopic two-dimensional lattice models. Here, we show by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of correlated electrons on the $\pi$-flux square lattice subjected to extended Hubbard interaction, that a Gross-Neveu QCP separating massless Dirac fermions and an columnar valence bond solid at finite interaction, and a possible Dirac QSL at the infinite yet tractable interaction limit emerge in a coherent sequence. These unexpected novel quantum states resides in this simple-looking model, unifying ingredients including emergent symmetry, deconfined fractionalization and the dynamic coupling between emergent matter and gauge fields, will have profound implications both in quantum many-body theory and understanding of the aforementioned experimental systems.