Phases of quantum dimer magnets with strong spin-orbit coupling

Quantum dimer magnets are among the simplest examples of a quantum magnet, which are phases that cannot be understood without including the effects of entanglement. Typically, dimer magnets are characterized by spin singlet ground states that exhibit field-driven phase transitions in which bosonic (triplon) excitations are forced to condense. These phase transitions are naturally understood in the language of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), and give rise to symmetric dome-like structures separating phases in the magnetic field - temperature plane. Recent data on the strongly spin-orbit coupled dimer magnet Ytterbium Silicate has revealed an asymmetric BEC dome, with an additional unexpected phase transition within the dome. We present a model which reproduces the essential elements of this experimental data, and shed light on the nature of the universal physics associated with the unexpected phase transition. We argue that a weak breaking of crystallographic (inversion) symmetry is crucial to the observed physics. Via mappings onto hardcore bosons, we also comment more generally on the nature of phase transitions of dimer magnets with anisotropic interactions.