SU(2)-invariant Majorana spin liquid with stable parton Fermi surfaces in an exactly solvable model

Abstract

We construct an exactly solvable spin-orbital model on a decorated square lattice that realizes an SU(2)-invariant Majorana spin liquid with parton Fermi surfaces, of the kind discussed recently by Biswas et al. [Phys. Rev. B. 83 245131 (2011)]. We find power-law spin correlations as well as power-law spin-nematic correlations with the same dominant 1/|r|^3 envelope. The model is solvable also in the presence of Zeeman magnetic field. One fermion species carries S^z = 0 quantum number and its Fermi surface is not altered in the field, while the Fermi surfaces of the other species evolve and can disappear. In particular, we find an interesting half magnetization plateau phase in which spin excitations are gapful while there remain spinless gapless excitations that still produce metal-like thermal properties. In the fully magnetized phase, the model reduces to the one proposed by Baskaran et al. [e-print arXiv:0908.1614 (to be published)] in terms of the orbital degrees of freedom.