{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"489d31e65622d124d277d2edae43e153bd0f0a553e1b06a187fb4642eb9a230a","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b","e62d25cdcffc417849c18755d79a1ac46d02b2d2784938595fced3b583859183"],"salt":"58d13313058544afd50bfef4c69e262b8276e4923a795d0b24c8b05050f1150b","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"classification","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"cm.disordered-frustrated-magnets.ybmggao4-ground-state","kind":"phenomenon","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"$\\mathrm{YbMgGaO_4}$ is a triangular-lattice magnet with no detected order and a broad continuum of spin excitations, first read as a spin-liquid signature. Its magnesium and gallium atoms are randomly mixed, which makes the couplings random, and that alone may produce the same data.","posed_since":"2015","precise":"In $\\mathrm{YbMgGaO_4}$ (effective $S = 1/2$ Yb3+ doublets on a triangular lattice, nearest-neighbor exchange of order 0.1 meV, random Mg/Ga site mixing), determine whether the $T \\to 0$ ground state is a quantum spin liquid with fractionalized spinons, a random-singlet (valence-bond glass) state, or a spin glass. An answer names the state with evidence that discriminates the three: the field and temperature scaling of $C$ and $\\chi$, ac-susceptibility freezing below 0.1 K, and whether the neutron continuum is reproduced by a disordered model without fractionalization.","problem_ref":"e62d25cdcffc417849c18755d79a1ac46d02b2d2784938595fced3b583859183","references":"","settled_by":"Neutron spectra, ac susceptibility below 0.1 K and thermal conductivity on the same crystals, compared quantitatively with simulations of the fitted anisotropic exchange model that include the measured distribution of random couplings.","status_note":"Zhu et al. (PRL 2017) reproduced the continuum by bond disorder acting on a model whose clean ground state is stripe ordered, Kimchi et al. (PRX 2018) proposed a random-singlet state, and Ma et al. (PRL 2018) found spin-glass freezing in the sister compound $\\mathrm{YbZnGaO_4}$.","title":"Is $\\mathrm{YbMgGaO_4}$ a spin liquid or a disorder-driven state?","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"87e6d8f66c5337621414498d51fe3af1e9c4fdf38c9de702d615d8f00fefce71","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"30558d5aa3140270ac32510cb74d51421d88f9ac066e034ee3be9fbc8afabf73","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"LjkbaAegwRRzBe9Uvcq8jlAvLnK6Dl2mcMgS_lTQfSJLLiNjumBSsf8DQJLIikK8KgTDjI5Y2NdmByGJA3whDg"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"87e6d8f66c5337621414498d51fe3af1e9c4fdf38c9de702d615d8f00fefce71","leaf_index":2756}