Classical spin liquids in the kagome Ising model, and their link with magnetoelasticity

We investigate a nearest-neighbor Ising model on the kagome lattice coupled to elastic lattice distortions. By integrating out the lattice degrees of freedom, we derive an approximate spin-only description in terms of a kagome $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ Ising model with interactions extending to third nearest-neighbors. Using tensor network methods complemented by classical Monte Carlo simulations, we revisit its zero-temperature phase diagram and characterize the ground states studied more than thirty years ago. We discover three phases with extensive zero-temperature entropy and algebraically decaying spin correlations. Importantly, these states are not confined to fine-tuned points or frontiers between phases, but occupy extended areas of parameter space. Their quasi long-range order is reflected in Bragg-like peaks in the structure factors; we relate this, and other properties, to diverse phases found in Ising and Heisenberg models. Finally, we trace the trajectories generated by the magnetoelastic coupling through the effective-model phase diagram, explaining the emergence of self-frustration for the unfrustrated magnetoelastic model with ferromagnetic interactions.