Critical colored-RVB states in the frustrated quantum Heisenberg model on the square lattice

Abstract

We consider a family of SU(2)-symmetric Projected Entangled Paired States (PEPS) on the square lattice, defining colored-Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) states, to describe the quantum disordered phase of the J1 − J2 frustrated Heisenberg model. For J2/J1 ∼ 0.55 we show the emergence of critical (algebraic) dimer-dimer correlations – typical of Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) points of quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices – while, simultaneously, the spin-spin correlation length remains short. Our findings are consistent with a spin liquid or a weak Valence Bond Crystal in the neighborhood of an RK point.