Topological spin liquids: Robustness under perturbations

Abstract

We study the robustness of the paradigmatic kagome resonating valence bond (RVB) spin liquid and its orthogonal version, the quantum dimer model. The nonorthogonality of singlets in the RVB model and the induced finite length scale not only makes it difficult to analyze, but can also significantly affect its physics, such as how much noise resilience it exhibits. Surprisingly, we find that this is not the case: The amount of perturbations which the RVB spin liquid can tolerate is not affected by the finite correlation length, making the dimer model a viable model for studying RVB physics under perturbations. Remarkably, we find that this is a universal phenomenon protected by symmetries: First, the dominant correlations in the RVB are spinon correlations, making the state robust against doping with visons. Second, reflection symmetry stabilizes the spin liquid against doping with spinons, by forbidding mixing of the initially dominant correlations with those which lead to the breakdown of topological order.