Semionic resonating valence bond states

Understand

The nature of the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HAFM) is under ongoing debate.

• While recent evidence points towards a Z_2 topological spin liquid, the exact nature of the topological phase is still unclear.
• In this paper, we introduce semionic Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) states, this is, Resonating Valence Bond states which are in the Z_2 ordered double-semion phase, and study them using Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS).
• We investigate their physics and study their suitability as an ansatz for the HAFM, as compared to a conventional RVB state which is in the Toric Code Z_2 topological phase.