Quantum spin liquid (source code)

= Quantum spin liquid

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 $XX$, $YY$ and $ZZ$ 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.<Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond by A. Yu. Kitaev>[Abstract and spin-model construction]{ref}