We perform a density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) study of the $S=\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice to identify the conjectured spin liquid ground state. Exploiting SU(2) spin symmetry, which allows us to keep up to 16 000 DMRG states, we consider cylinders with circumferences up to 17 lattice spacings and find a spin liquid ground state with an estimated per site energy of $-0.4386(5)$, a spin gap of $0.13(1)$, very short—range decay in spin, dimer and chiral correlation functions, and finite topological entanglement $\gamma$ consistent with $\gamma ={log}_{2}2$, ruling out gapless, chiral, or nontopological spin liquids in favor of a topological spin liquid of quantum dimension 2, with strong evidence for a gapped topological ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ spin liquid.

• Received 22 May 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.067201