title: Spinon Walk in Quantum Spin Ice.
abstract: We study a minimal model for the dynamics of spinons in quantum spin ice. The model captures the essential strong coupling between the spinon and the disordered background spins. We demonstrate that the spinon motion can be mapped to a random walk with an entropy-induced memory in imaginary time. Our numerical simulation of the spinon walk indicates that the spinon propagates as a massive quasiparticle at low energy despite its strong coupling to the spin background at the microscopic energy scale. We discuss the experimental implications of our findings.
authors.affiliation: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrasquilla
authors.affiliation: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
authors.forename: Roger G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Melko