Is the kagome dipolar XY Rydberg magnet a Dirac spin liquid?
In plain words
Rydberg atoms can swap excitations with their neighbours, which makes a magnet with competing interactions on a kagome lattice. Calculations predict a spin liquid with massless particle-like excitations, and a 2026 experiment reported a candidate.
Precise statement
Antiferromagnetic dipolar XY model H = J sum_i<j (a/r_ij)^3 (S_i^x S_j^x + S_i^y S_j^y), J > 0, on the kagome lattice, realized by resonant dipolar exchange between Rydberg states. Determine whether the ground state is the gapless $U(1)$ Dirac spin liquid predicted by DMRG (Bintz et al., arXiv:2406.00098), and whether finite arrays reach entropy low enough to distinguish it from a thermal paramagnet. Answer: correlation functions showing power-law decay with exponents matching the Dirac spin liquid (described by quantum electrodynamics in $2+1$ dimensions), or identification of a competing ordered state.
What would settle it
Larger-cylinder numerics fixing the ground state, plus measurements on arrays of a few hundred atoms with independent thermometry showing the predicted correlation exponents.
Status in the literature
Unverified note
A 114-atom experiment reported a Dirac spin liquid candidate (Bornet et al., arXiv:2602.14323, 2026), while a 2026 thermometry analysis concluded that further experimental effort is needed to reach the putative spin liquid regime (Fitzner, Lesanovsky, Sbierski, arXiv:2604.22743).