8.
We study the exact low energy spectra of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on small samples of the
kagomé lattice of up to
N=36 sites. In agreement with the conclusions of previous authors, we find that these low energy spectra contradict the hypothesis
of Néel type long range order. Certainly, the ground state of this system is a spin liquid, but its properties are rather
unusual. The magnetic () excitations are separated from the ground state by a gap. However, this gap is filled with nonmagnetic () excitations. In the thermodynamic limit the spectrum of these nonmagnetic excitations will presumably develop into a gapless
continuum adjacent to the ground state. Surprisingly, the eigenstates of samples with an odd number of sites,
i.e. samples with an unsaturated spin, exhibit symmetries which could support long range chiral order. We do not know if these
states will be true thermodynamic states or only metastable ones. In any case, the low energy properties of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg
antiferromagnet on the
kagomé lattice clearly distinguish this system from either a short range RVB spin liquid or a standard chiral spin liquid. Presumably
they are facets of a generically new state of frustrated two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets.
Received: 27 November 1997 / Accepted: 29 January 1998
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