Competing quantum spin liquids, gauge fluctuations, and anisotropic interactions in a breathing pyrochlore lattice

Abstract

We use the projective symmetry group analysis to classify the quantum spin liquids on the $S=1/2$ pyrochlore magnet with a breathing anisotropy. We find 40 $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquids and 16 $U(1)$ spin liquids that respect the $F\bar{4}3m$ space group and the time reversal symmetry. As an application, we consider the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, which is proposed to be the dominant interaction in the candidate material Ba$_3$Yb$_2$Zn$_5$O$_{11}$. Focusing on the $U(1)$ spin liquid ansatze, we find that only two of them are physical when restricted to this model. We present an analytical solution to the parton mean field theory for each of these two $U(1)$ spin liquids. It is revealed that one of them has gapless, while the other one has gapped, spinon excitations. The two $U(1)$ spin liquids are equal in energy regardless of the degree of breathing anisotropy, and they can be differentiated by the low-temperature heat capacity contribution from the quadratically-dispersing gapless spinons. We further show that the latter is unaffected by fluctuations of the $U(1)$ gauge field within the random phase approximation. Finally, we demonstrate that a small Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction lifts the degeneracy between the two $U(1)$ spin liquids, and it eventually causes the lattice to decouple into independent tetrahedra at strong coupling. While current model parameters for Ba$_3$Yb$_2$Zn$_5$O$_{11}$ place it indeed in the decoupled regime, other candidate materials may be synthesised in the near future that realize the spin liquid states discussed in our work.