Fractionalized Fermionic Quantum Criticality in Spin-Orbital Mott Insulators

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Quantum Materials Science

Background:

• Topological phases of matter exhibit unique properties arising from their global structure.
• Mott insulators with coupled spin and orbital degrees of freedom are candidates for exotic quantum phenomena.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate transitions between topological phases in 2D Mott insulators.
• Characterize emergent fractionalized excitations and their associated quantum critical points.

Main Methods:

• Utilized (2+1)-dimensional fermionic quantum critical points within fractionalized Gross-Neveu universality classes.
• Employed exact mapping to a t-V model for a square-lattice system, leveraging large-scale numerical results.
• Applied epsilon-expansion and large-N methods for a honeycomb-lattice model analysis.

Main Results:

• Identified distinct energy spectra in topological phases compared to ordinary Gross-Neveu models.
• Demonstrated that these models realize fractionalized Gross-Neveu universality classes.
• Estimated critical behavior using established theoretical techniques.

Conclusions:

• The study provides insights into the nature of topological phase transitions and fractionalization.
• Results are relevant for understanding Mott insulators with specific electronic configurations and strong spin-orbit coupling.
• Findings may apply to advanced material systems like twisted bilayer Kitaev materials.