Dynamically-Induced Frustration as a Route to a Quantum Spin Ice State in Tb2Ti2O7 via Virtual Crystal Field Excitations and Quantum Many-Body Effects
Abstract
The Tb
2
Ti
2
O
7
pyrochlore magnetic material is attracting much attention for its {\em spin liquid} state, failing to develop long range order down to 50 mK despite a Curie-Weiss temperature
θ
CW
∼−14
K. In this paper we reinvestigate the theoretical description of this material by considering a quantum model of independent tetrahedra to describe its low temperature properties. The naturally-tuned proximity of this system near a Néel to spin ice phase boundary allows for a resurgence of quantum fluctuation effects that lead to an important renormalization of its effective low energy spin Hamiltonian. As a result, Tb
2
Ti
2
O
7
is argued to be a {\em quantum spin ice}. We put forward an experimental test of this proposal using neutron scattering on a single crystal.