{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"a22d451187bc25caf0cb20bfd91010f96493f089fe2dc2943a5709ecee6a9234","created":"2026-10-03T07:18:00Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"7f390c08cdc66f7b36b1266652a79feafe161690e9f825a5a892610a5a04b64c","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"classification","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"cm.kitaev-materials.intermediate-field-phase","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"1","parents":[],"plain":"An in-plane magnetic field destroys the zigzag magnetic order of $\\alpha$-RuCl3 near 70 to 80 kOe, and at higher field the spins line up with the field. Whether a separate spin-liquid phase exists between these regimes, or the observed features come from a smooth crossover and from structurally different pieces of the crystal, is unresolved.","posed_since":"2017","precise":"For in-plane fields between the zigzag critical field H_c1 (about 70 to 80 kOe) and full polarization, determine whether a distinct thermodynamic phase bounded by phase transitions (in specific heat, magnetocaloric effect, magnetostriction) exists, whether its excitations form a fractionalized continuum or multi-magnon bound states, and whether the oscillatory features of $\\kappa_{xx}(H)$ at $T < 1\\ \\mathrm{K}$ in this window mark intrinsic transitions or shifted phase boundaries of stacking inclusions. An answer is a phase diagram with identified boundaries and a classification of the intermediate state.","problem_ref":null,"references":"","settled_by":"Thermodynamic measurements resolving or excluding a second transition above H_c1 on stacking-controlled crystals, combined with neutron and THz spectra fitted by a calibrated spin model.","status_note":"2025 and 2026 neutron and model studies (arXiv:2504.11458, arXiv:2601.16850) report intermediate regimes, while the $\\kappa_{xx}$ oscillations of Czajka et al. (Nature Physics 2021) were attributed to field-induced transitions (Bruin et al., APL Materials 2022) and a 2026 preprint (arXiv:2605.13444) traces features beyond the zigzag regime to shifted antiferromagnetic boundaries of structural inclusions rather than nonmagnetic phases.","title":"Is there a field-induced spin-liquid phase in $\\alpha$-RuCl3?","topic_ref":"8a920d20c87cdaf1da8d81ec58f05a8787f99b7ca6e234e7f5eef3a4d6c67048"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"3523c269088e6bf0666d32be0c86dd4df282efbdd5f4e2ac9df1adf7fd1b6282","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"459a720b8d70b2b30078794074a7bda1799d9f6e46db0c55b40d090e517635ee","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"SYm29qxBj5-IgK5ly0p_u2j508tmBhsRyD0QULLxDI3t98c75JkncRyww5AoOnKzuCDPc942HoesP4-X7v0KCQ"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"3523c269088e6bf0666d32be0c86dd4df282efbdd5f4e2ac9df1adf7fd1b6282","leaf_index":1055}