Kitaev materials and time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory - Livestream

As a rare example of an exactly solvable 2D quantum spin system, the Kitaev model has generated considerable theoretical interest as a playground for anyonic, neither fermionic nor bosonic, physics. Engineering the peculiar bond-dependent Ising interactions in a material initially seemed challenging, but today there is a collection of “Kitaev materials” known to host significant Kitaev interactions.  In all such materials, however, other spin-spin interactions remain significant and whether or not the Kitaev spin-liquid is found in some region of their phase diagram remains an open question. In this talk, we will discuss our approach using time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory to compute the results of inelastic neutron scattering experiments in models near, but beyond, the Kitaev model. We find that features in the exact model are more robust than previously thought, perhaps implying that the materials are farther from the Kitaev model than expected.

Speaker: Tessa Cookmeyer, UC Berkeley

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