2024/06/27 by Vitor Dantas, Dantas, Vitor, Wen-Han Kao +3 · 1 citation
Chemical Engineering · Decision Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Personal Information Management and User Behavior #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.19140
openalex publication_date 2024/06/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The Kitaev honeycomb model provides a paradigmatic example of an exactly solvable quantum spin liquid (QSL), in which the spin degrees of freedom fractionalize into itinerant Majorana fermions coupled to a static background of ℤ2 gauge fluxes. This model has attracted significant attention in recent years due to the possibility of its experimental realization in some spin-orbit Mott insulators such as α-RuCl 3 . Among various experimental probes, ultrasound experiments measuring sound attenuation have emerged as a promising avenue to unveil the fractionalization of spins in these materials. Yet, candidate materials often deviate from the ideal Kitaev model due to the presence of disorder, leading to the emergence of localized modes governing low-energy physics. To provide further insight into the effects of these defect-induced modes on the phonon dynamics, we calculate the sound attenuation coefficient in the site-disordered Kitaev honeycomb model with an applied magnetic field, which breaks the time-reversal symmetry. In order to obtain a more accurate perspective on the temperature-dependent sound attenuation in this model, the impact of thermally excited fluxes on the disordered system is also analyzed.