Symmetry Breaking on the Three-Dimensional Hyperkagome Lattice of Na_4Ir_3O_8

Abstract

We study the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the highly frustrated, three-dimensional, hyperkagome lattice of Na_4Ir_3O_8 using a series expansion method. We propose a valence bond crystal with a 72 site unit cell as a ground state that supports many, very low lying, singlet excitations. Low energy spinons and triplons are confined to emergent lower-dimensional motifs. Here, and for analogous kagome and pyrochlore states, we suggest finite temperature signatures, including an Ising transition, in the magnetic specific heat due to a multistep breaking of discrete symmetries.