Projected-BCS wave functions for resonating valence bond spin liquids

Gutzwiller projected BCS states are a physically transparent representation of a resonating valence bond (RVB) spin liquid. Here we show that this class of wave functions provides a very accurate ansatz of the non-magnetic phase of the J(1) - J(2) Heisenberg model. This wave function is proposed to represent the generic spin-half RVB ground state in spin liquids. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.