It is shown that one of the class of variational spin-liquid wave functions recently derived by Wen, Wilczek, and Zee [Phys. Rev. B 39, 11413 (1989)] is identical to the fractional-quantum-Hall analog state proposed by Kalmeyer and Laughlin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 2095 (1987); Phys. Rev. B 39, 11 879 (1989)] and Laughlin [Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 191, 163 (1989)], and that the neutral spin-1/2 excitations of the two states are also the same. The 1/2 fractional statistics obeyed by these particles is demonstrated explicitly. The spin-spin correlation function and quasiparticle profile for the Wen-Wilczek-Zee states are calculated both numerically and by a hypernetted-chain procedure. Both are consistent with the idea that spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry is an essential feature of any spin state lacking magnetic order. A version of this state for a three-dimensional spin system is reported and shown to have similar properties. A case is made that the neutral spin-1/2 excitations of the three-dimensional spin liquid behave like anisotropic monopoles.

• Received 22 June 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.41.664