A quantum spin liquid is a phase of interacting quantum spins whose ground-state behavior avoids conventional magnetic order through quantum fluctuations and can exhibit long-range quantum entanglement and fractionalized excitations. Absence of a measured average magnetization alone is insufficient: thermal disorder or averaging over ordered states can also give a zero average.
An exactly solvable example is the honeycomb model with bond-dependent , and interactions. Its solution expresses the spin problem using fermions coupled to a discrete gauge field and yields phases whose excitations are anyons. Such a model makes fractionalization precise, beyond the informal picture of spins merely continuing to fluctuate.[ref]
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Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are a fascinating state of matter characterized by the presence of fluctuating spins that do not order even at absolute zero temperature. Unlike conventional magnets, where spins align in a regular pattern, quantum spin liquids maintain a disordered state due to strong interactions and quantum mechanical effects.