Phase diagram of the chiral SU(3) antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice

Motivated by the search for chiral spin liquids (CSL), we consider a simple model defined on the kagome lattice of interacting SU(3) spins (in the fundamental representation) including two-site and three-site permutations between nearest neighbor sites and on triangles, respectively. By combining analytical methods and various numerical techniques, namely, exact Lanczos diagonalizations and tensor network variational approaches, we find a rich phase diagram with short-range entangled (i.e., nontopological) and topological (possibly chiral) gapped spin liquids (SLs). Short-range entangled spin liquids include an Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT)-like phase—argued to be a Symmetry-Protected Topological (SPT) phase—and a trimerized phase breaking the inversion center between the up and down triangles of the kagome lattice. A topological SL is stabilized in a restricted part of the phase diagram by the time-reversal symmetry breaking (complex) three-site permutation term. Analyzing the chiral edge modes of this topological SL on long cylinders or on finite disks, we have come up with two competing scenarios, either a CSL or a double Chern-Simons SL characterized by a single or by two counter-propagating Wess-Zumino-Witten SU⁢(3)₁ chiral mode(s), respectively. In the vicinity of the extended ferromagnetic region, we have found a magnetic phase corresponding either to a modulated canted ferromagnet or to a uniform partially magnetized ferromagnet.