Broken vertex symmetry and finite zero-point entropy in the artificial square ice ground state

We study degeneracy and entropy in the ground state of artificial square ice. In theoretical models, individual nanomagnets are typically treated as single spins with only two degrees of freedom, leading to a twofold degenerate ground state with intensive entropy and thus no zero-point entropy. Here, we show that the internal degrees of freedom of the nanostructures can result, through edge bending of the magnetization and breaking of local magnetic symmetry at the vertices, in a transition to a highly degenerate ground state with finite zero-point entropy, similar to that of the pyrochlore spin ices. We find that these additional degrees of freedom have observable consequences in the resonant spectrum of the lattice, and predict the occurrence of edge “melting” above a critical temperature at which the magnetic symmetry is restored.