Quantum spin liquids are fascinating phases of matter, hosting fractionalized
spin excitations and unconventional long-range quantum entanglement. These
exotic properties, however, also render their experimental characterization
challenging, and finding ways to diagnose quantum spin liquids is therefore a
pertinent challenge. Here, we numerically compute the spectral function of a
single hole doped into the half-filled Hubbard model on the triangular lattice
using techniques based on matrix product states. At half-filling the system has
been proposed to realize a chiral spin liquid at intermediate interaction
strength, surrounded by a magnetically ordered phase at strong interactions and
a superconducting/metallic phase at weak interactions. We find that the spectra
of these phases exhibit distinct signatures. By developing appropriate parton
mean-field descriptions, we gain insight into the relevant low-energy features.
While the magnetic phase is characterized by a dressed hole moving through the
ordered spin background, we find indications of spinon dynamics in the chiral
spin liquid. Our results suggest that the hole spectral function, as measured
by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, provides a useful tool to
characterize quantum spin liquids.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures (published version