Possible spin-liquid states on the triangular and kagomé lattices

Abstract

The frustrated quantum spin-one-half Heisenberg model on the triangular and kagomé lattices is mapped onto a single species of fermion carrying statistical flux θ=π. The corresponding Chern-Simons gauge theory is analyzed at the Gaussian level and found to be massive. This provides a new motivation for the spin-liquid Kalmeyer-Laughlin wave function. Good overlap of this wave function with the numerical ground state is found for small clusters.