Er2Ti2O7:: Evidence of quantum order by disorder in a frustrated antiferromagnet -: art. no. 020401

Er2Ti2O7 has been suggested to be a realization of the frustrated <111> XY pyrochlore lattice antiferromagnet, for which theory predicts fluctuation-induced symmetry breaking in a highly degenerate ground state manifold. We present a theoretical analysis of the classical model compared to neutron scattering experiments on the real material, both below and above T-N=1.173(2) K. The model correctly predicts the ordered magnetic structure, suggesting that the real system has order stabilized by zero-point quantum fluctuations that can be modeled by classical spin wave theory. However, the model fails to describe the excitations of the system, which show unusual features.