Quantum dimer models were introduced to model the physics of resonating valence bond (RVB) states in lattice spin systems. The only degrees of freedom retained from the motivating spin systems are the valence bonds, represented as dimers which live on the lattice bonds. In typical dimer models, the dimers do not overlap ("hardcore constraint").

Typical phases of quantum dimer models tend to be valence bond crystals. However, on non-bipartite lattices, RVB liquid phases possessing topological order

Topological order

In physics, topological order is a new kind of order in a quantum state that is beyond the Landau symmetry-breaking description. It cannot be described by local order parameters and long range correlations...

 and fractionalized

Fractionalization

In physics, fractionalization is the phenomenon whereby the quasiparticles of a system cannot be constructed as combinations of its elementary constituents...

 spinon

Spinon

Spinons are one of two quasiparticles, along with holons, that electrons in solids are able to split into during the process of spin–charge separation, when extremely tightly confined at temperatures close to absolute zero....

s also appear. The discovery of topological order in quantum dimer models (more than a decade after the models were introduced) has led to new interest in these models.

Classical dimer models have been studied previously in statistical physics

Statistical physics

Statistical physics is the branch of physics that uses methods of probability theory and statistics, and particularly the mathematical tools for dealing with large populations and approximations, in solving physical problems. It can describe a wide variety of fields with an inherently stochastic...

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