Huh, YejinPunk, MatthiasSachdev, Subir2012-01-182011Huh, Yejin, Matthias Punk, and Subir Sachdev. 2011. Vison states and confinement transitions of \(Z_2\) spin liquids on the kagome lattice. Physical Review B 84(9): 094419.1550-235X1098-0121http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:7756896We present a projective symmetry group (PSG) analysis of the spinless excitations of \(Z_2\) spin liquids on the kagome lattice. In the simplest case, vortices carrying \(Z_2\) magnetic flux (“visons”) are shown to transform under the 48 element group \(GL(2,Z_3)\). Alternative exchange couplings can also lead to a second case with visons transforming under 288-element group \(GL(2,Z_3)×D_3\). We study the quantum phase transition in which visons condense into confining states with valence bond solid order. The critical field theories and confining states are classified using the vison PSGs.en-USJournal Article2012-01-1810.1103/PhysRevB.84.094419