Quantum spin liquid at finite temperature: Proximate dynamics and persistent typicality

Abstract

Quantum spin liquids are long-range entangled states of matter with emergent gauge fields and fractionalized excitations. While candidate materials, such as the Kitaev honeycomb ruthenate $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$, show magnetic order at low temperatures $T$, here we demonstrate numerically a dynamical crossover from magnonlike behavior at low $T$ and frequencies $\ensuremath{\omega}$ to long-lived fractionalized fermionic quasiparticles at higher $T$ and $\ensuremath{\omega}$. This crossover is akin to the presence of spinon continua in quasi-1D spin chains. It is further shown to go hand in hand with persistent typicality down to very low $T$. This aspect, which has also been observed in the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet, is a signature of proximate spin liquidity and emergent gauge degrees of freedom more generally, and can be the basis for the numerical study of many finite-$T$ properties of putative spin liquids.