arXiv subjects

Naïmo Davier

Publications and source records attributed to Naïmo Davier.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Decorated cluster lattices: a natural framework for classical spin liquids and flat bands

Classical spin liquids are frustrated magnetic phases characterized by local constraints, flat bands in reciprocal space, and emergent gauge structures with distinctive signatures such as pinch points. These arise generally in \emph{cluster systems}, where spin interactions can be expressed as constraints on clusters of spins. In this work we present the different generic rules allowing to build such cluster systems together with a few tools allowing to quickly characterize it. We show that based on these rules, it is possible to conceive a tunable recipe for generating such models by decorating a parent lattice on its bonds and/or vertices with symmetry-compatible clusters. This approach highlights a key design trade-off: using fewer cluster types increases the number of flat bands and enhances spin-liquid behavior, but produces denser connectivity that is harder to realize experimentally. The framework is highly tunable, extends naturally to two and three dimensions, and provides a versatile toolbox for engineering new classical spin-liquid candidates with targeted features such as higher-rank pinch points or pinch lines. Importantly, decorated cluster lattices constitute an ideal playground for producing multiple flat bands-not only at the spectral bottom but also embedded within the spectrum. This proliferation of flat bands can be understood either from general connectivity arguments or, equivalently, by explicitly constructing compact localized eigenmodes in an associated hopping description.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Interacting-cluster spin liquids with robust flat bands evolving into higher-rank half-moon phases and topological Lifshitz transitions

Classical spin liquids are disordered magnetic phases, governed by local constraints that often give rise to flat-band ground states. When constraints take the form of a zero-divergence field within a cluster of spins, the spin liquid is often described by an emergent Coulomb gauge theory. Here we introduce an interaction $\eta$ between these clusters of spins which compete with the zero-divergence field. Using a framework embracing both the connectivity matrices of graph theory and the topology of band structures, we develop a generic theory of interacting-cluster Hamiltonians. We show how flat bands remain at zero energy up to finite interaction $\eta$, until a dispersive band becomes negative, stabilizing a spiral spin liquid with a hypersurface of ground-state manifold in reciprocal space. This hypersurface can be interpreted as an effective Fermi surface in the spectrum of the parent system, acting as a tunable energy selector despite the absence of particle filling. This effective Fermi surface serves as a mold for the apparition of the half-moon patterns in the equal-time structure factor. Our generic approach enables to extend the notion of half moons to the perturbation of higher-rank Coulomb fields and pinch-line spin liquids. In particular, multi-fold half moons appear when unconventional gauge charges, such as potential fractons, are stabilized in the ground state. Finally, half-moon phases can be tuned across the equivalent of a Lifshitz transition, when the hypersurface manifold changes topology.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Pinch-line spin liquids as layered Coulomb phases and applications to cubic models

Spin liquids form fluctuating magnetic textures which have to obey certain rules imposed by frustration. These rules can often be written in the form of a Gauss law, indicating the local conservation of an emergent electric field. In reciprocal space, these emergent Gauss laws appear as singularities known as pinch points, that are accessible to neutron-scattering measurements. But more exotic forms of electromagnetism have been stabilized in spin liquids, and in a few rare instances, these zero-dimensional singularities have been extended into one-dimensional pinch lines. Here we propose a simple framework for the design of pinch-line spin liquids in a layered structure of two-dimensional algebraic spin liquids. A plethora of models can be build within this framework, as exemplified by several concrete examples where our theory is confirmed by simulations, and where the rank of the tensorial gauge field is continuously varied along the pinch line, opening new avenues in fractonic matter. Then we use our framework to understand how the evolution of the singularity pinch point along the pinch line can be understood as the interference pattern of two emergent electric fields. Finally, we apply our intuition on these emergent electric fields in real space to generic pinch line models beyond our layered framework, and revisit the recently proposed pinch line model on the octochlore lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Electron states, bound to a texture in a Néel antiferromagnet

We study electron states, bound to topological textures such as skyrmions and domain walls in a Néel antiferromagnet. In certain limits, we find the dependence of bound states on the geometry of the texture, and estimate the bound-state contribution to its energy. This contribution proves significant compared with the purely magnetic energy, and substantially affects the equilibrium geometry of the texture. The bound-state contribution also induces a large shift of the transition line between the modulated and the uniform phase, extending the latter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Combined approach to analyze and classify families of classical spin liquids

Classical spin liquids have been a very active subject of research in the last few years. A very rich variety of cases have been shown to exist, including short-range and algebraic spin liquids displaying dipolar correlations at zero temperature. In this article, we investigate different families of classical spins liquids by combining analytical techniques and Monte Carlo simulations. Our study relies on the Luttinger-Tisza approximation (LTA), which is associated with the constraint vector function in momentum space, whose general properties allow for a classification of different spin liquids. We show that the general properties of the LTA provide a framework for identifying and accurately characterizing the different types of spin liquids in different geometries. We apply our approach to three different families of spin liquids defined on the checkerboard and kagome lattices, which exhibit a remarkable range of situations, including various cases of algebraic and short-range spin liquids. Additionally, we analyze the effective Gauss law emerging from different kinds of spin liquids and identify states that exhibit additional degeneracy lines. The presence of spin-liquid phases and pinch-point singularities are confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations validating our approach. Our study opens up avenues of research in the study of spin liquids, exploring algebraic spin liquids with higher-rank gauge fields and as critical points dividing different types of classical spin liquids.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Texture-induced spin-orbit coupling and Skyrmion-electron bound states in a Néel antiferromagnet

We derive effective-mass electron Hamiltonian for a Néel antiferromagnet in the presence of a smooth texture of the staggered magnetization. For certain locations of electron band extrema, the texture produces a peculiar and anomalously strong spin-orbit coupling of the scale $\hbar v / L$, with $v$ the Fermi velocity and $L$ the characteristic length scale of the texture. For a Skyrmion texture, this coupling generates electron bound states, whose energy scale is given by the gap $Δ$ in the electron spectrum. With dopant carriers, such bound states turn the Skyrmion into a charged particle, that can be manipulated by electric field.

cond-mat.str-el↗