Z₂ flux excitations and Majorana fermion fractionalization on the honeycomb lattice
Kitaev's exactly-solvable honeycomb model hosts a quantum spin liquid ground state with emergent Majorana fermions and Z₂ gauge fluxes (visons). Each plaquette carries a conserved Z₂ flux W_p = ±1. Flux excitations (W_p = −1) are created in pairs by acting with a bond operator — click plaquettes to toggle flux defects. In the gapless phase (Jx=Jy=Jz), the Majorana spectrum is gapless; in gapped phases one coupling dominates.