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Strongly enhanced quantum fluctuations often lead to a rich variety of quantum-disordered states. A representative case is liquid helium, in which zero-point vibrations of the helium atoms prevent its solidification at low temperatures. A similar behaviour is found for the internal degrees of freedom in electrons. Among the most prominent is a quantum spin liquid (QSL), in which localized spins are highly correlated but fluctuate even at absolute zero. Recently, a coupling of spins with other degrees of freedom has been proposed as an innovative approach to generate even more fascinating QSLs such as orbital--spin liquids. However, such ideas are limited to the internal degrees of freedom in electrons. Here, we demonstrate that a coupling of localized spins with the zero-point motion of hydrogen atoms (proton fluctuations) in a hydrogen-bonded organic Mott insulator provides a new class of QSLs. We find that a divergent dielectric behaviour towards a hydrogen-bond order is suppressed by the quantum proton fluctuations, resulting in a quantum paraelectric (QPE) state. Furthermore, our thermal-transport measurements reveal that a QSL state with gapless spin excitations rapidly emerges upon entering the QPE state. These findings indicate that the quantum proton fluctuations give rise to a novel QSL --- a quantum-disordered state of magnetic and electric dipoles --- through the coupling between the electron and proton degrees of freedom., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

To elucidate the pressure evolution of the electronic structure in an antiferromagnetic dimer-Mott (DM) insulator ${\beta}^{\prime}$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$ICl$_2$, which exhibits superconductivity at 14.2 K under 8 GPa, we measured the polarized infrared (IR) optical spectra under high pressure. At ambient pressure, two characteristic bands due to intra- and interdimer charge transfers have been observed in the IR spectra, supporting that this salt is a typical half-filled DM insulator at ambient pressure. With increasing pressure, however, the intradimer charge transfer excitation shifts to much lower energies, indicating that the effective electronic state changes from half-filled to 3/4-filled as a result of weakening of dimerization. This implies that the system approaches a charge-ordered state under high pressure, in which charge degrees of freedom emerge as an important factor. The present results suggest that charge fluctuation inside of dimers plays an important role in the high-temperature superconductivity., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review B

The terahertz (THz) response in 10-100 cm^-1 was investigated in an organic dimer-Mott (DM) insulator kappa-(ET)_2Cu_2(CN)_3 that exhibits a relaxor-like dielectric anomaly. 30 cm^-1 band in the optical conductivity was attributable to collective excitation of the intra-dimer electric dipoles which are formed by an electron correlation. We succeeded in observing photoinduced enhancement of this 30 cm^-1 band, reflecting the growth of the electric dipole cluster in the DM phase. Such optical responses in kappa-(ET)_2Cu_2(CN)_3 reflect instability near the boundary between the DM-ferroelectric charge ordered phases., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, Accepted Phys. Rev. Lett. Jan. 16, 2013

We study a doubly-degenerate orbital model on a honeycomb attice. This is a model for orbital states in multiferroic layered iron oxides. The classical and quantum models are analyzed by spin-wave approximation, Monte-Carlo simulation and Lanczos method. A macroscopic number of degeneracy exists in the classical ground state. In the classical model, a peak in the specific heat appears at a temperature which is much lower than the mean-field ordering one. Below this temperature, angle of orbital pseudo-spin is fixed, but conventional orbital orders are not suggested. The degeneracy in the ground state is partially lifted by thermal fluctuation. We suggest a role of zero-dimensional fluctuation in hexagons on a low-temperature orbital structure. Lifting of the degeneracy also occurs at zero temperature due to the quantum zero-point fluctuation. We show that the ground-state wave function is well represented by a linear combination of the states where a honeycomb lattice is covered by nearest-neighboring pairs of orbitals with the minimum bond energy., Comment: 12 pages, 22 figures

A layered iron oxide \rfeo ($R$: rare-earth elements) is an exotic dielectric material with charge-order (CO) driven electric polarization and magnetoelectric effect caused by spin-charge coupling. In this paper, a theory of electronic structure and dielectric property in \rfeo is presented. Charge frustration in paired-triangular lattices allows a charge imbalance without inversion symmetry. Spin frustration induces reinforcement of this polar CO by a magnetic ordering. We also analyze an orbital model for the Fe ion which does not show a conventional long-range order., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We study Ricci-flat metrics on non-compact manifolds with the exceptional holonomy $Spin(7), G_2$. We concentrate on the metrics which are defined on ${\bf R} \times G/H$. If the homogeneous coset spaces $G/H$ have weak $G_2$, SU(3) holonomy, the manifold ${\bf R} \times G/H$ may have $Spin(7), G_2$ holonomy metrics. Using the formulation with vector fields, we investigate the metrics with $Spin(7)$ holonomy on ${\bf R}\times Sp(2)/Sp(1), {\bf R}\times SU(3)/U(1)$. We have found the explicit volume-preserving vector fields on these manifold using the elementary coordinate parameterization. This construction is essentially dual to solving the generalized self-duality condition for spin connections. We present most general differential equations for each coset. Then, we develop the similar formulation in order to calculate metrics with $G_2$ holonomy, Comment: 29 pages, no figure; (v2) Errors are corrected ; (v3) Some explanations are added. More general differential equations for SU(3)/U(1) coset are given