Chiral fixed point in a junction of critical spin-1 chains

Junctions of one-dimensional systems are of great interest to the development of synthetic materials that harbor topological phases. We study a junction of three gapless spin-1 chains described by the SU(2)(2) Wess-Zumino-Wittten model and coupled by exchange and chiral three-spin interactions. We show that a chiral fixed point appears as a special point on the transition line separating two regimes described by open boundary conditions, corresponding to decoupled chains and the formation of a boundary spin singlet state. Along this transition line, the junction behaves as a tunable spin circulator as the spin conductance varies continuously with the coupling constant of a marginal boundary operator. Since the spectrum of the junction contains fractional excitations such as Majorana fermions, in this paper, we set the stage for network constructions of non-Abelian chiral spin liquids.

Automated summary

This paper studies the junction of three gapless spin-1 chains and discovers a special point where the junction behaves like a tunable spin circulator. Moreover, the paper sets the stage for network constructions of non-Abelian chiral spin liquids.