Kagome Antiferromagnet

Geometric Frustration · Macroscopic Degeneracy · Spin Ice Rules

Parameters

H = J Σ Sᵢ·Sⱼ + J₂ Σ Sᵢ·Sₖ − h Σ Sᵢ
Kagome: 3 sites/cell, corner-sharing ▷◁
Ground state: Σ_triangle Sᵢ = 0
The kagome lattice has a macroscopic ground-state degeneracy: any configuration satisfying Σ_triangle = 0 is ground-state energy. This "flat band" in the spin wave spectrum leads to a residual entropy S ≈ 0.502 kB per spin. Related to spin-ice and quantum spin-liquid physics.
E/J: — | M: — | frustrated: —