No Arabic abstract
We analyze emergent quantum multi-criticality for strongly interacting, massless Dirac fermions in two spatial dimensions ($d=2$) within the framework of Gross-Neveu-Yukawa models, by considering the competing order parameters that give rise to fully gapped (insulating or superconducting) ground states. We focus only on those competing orders, which can be rotated into each other by generators of an exact or emergent chiral symmetry of massless Dirac fermions, and break $O(S_1)$ and $O(S_2)$ symmetries in the ordered phase. Performing a renormalization group analysis by using the $epsilon=(3-d)$ expansion scheme, we show that all the coupling constants in the critical hyperplane flow toward a new attractive fixed point, supporting an emph{enlarged} $O(S_1+S_2)$ chiral symmetry. Such a fixed point acts as an exotic quantum multi-critical point (MCP), governing the emph{continuous} semimetal-insulator as well as insulator-insulator (for example antiferromagnet to valence bond solid) quantum phase transitions. In comparison with the lower symmetric semimetal-insulator quantum critical points, possessing either $O(S_1)$ or $O(S_2)$ chiral symmetry, the MCP displays enhanced correlation length exponents, and anomalous scaling dimensions for both fermionic and bosonic fields. We discuss the scaling properties of the ratio of bosonic and fermionic masses, and the increased dc resistivity at the MCP. By computing the scaling dimensions of different local fermion bilinears in the particle-hole channel, we establish that most of the four fermion operators or generalized density-density correlation functions display faster power law decays at the MCP compared to the free fermion and lower symmetric itinerant quantum critical points. Possible generalization of this scenario to higher dimensional Dirac fermions is also outlined.
Progress in the understanding of quantum critical properties of itinerant electrons has been hindered by the lack of effective models which are amenable to controlled analytical and numerically exact calculations. Here we establish that the disorder driven semimetal to metal quantum phase transition of three dimensional massless Dirac fermions could serve as a paradigmatic toy model for studying itinerant quantum criticality, which is solved in this work by exact numerical and approximate field theoretic calculations. As a result, we establish the robust existence of a non-Gaussian universality class, and also construct the relevant low energy effective field theory that could guide the understanding of quantum critical scaling for many strange metals. Using the kernel polynomial method (KPM), we provide numerical results for the calculated dynamical exponent ($z$) and correlation length exponent ($ u$) for the disorder-driven semimetal (SM) to diffusive metal (DM) quantum phase transition at the Dirac point for several types of disorder, establishing its universal nature and obtaining the numerical scaling functions in agreement with our field theoretical analysis.
Quasi-two dimensional itinerant fermions in the Anti-Ferro-Magnetic (AFM) quantum-critical region of their phase diagram, such as in the Fe-based superconductors or in some of the heavy-fermion compounds, exhibit a resistivity varying linearly with temperature and a contribution to specific heat or thermopower proportional to $T ln T$. It is shown here that a generic model of itinerant AFM can be canonically transformed such that its critical fluctuations around the AFM-vector $Q$ can be obtained from the fluctuations in the long wave-length limit of a dissipative quantum XY model. The fluctuations of the dissipative quantum XY model in 2D have been evaluated recently and in a large regime of parameters, they are determined, not by renormalized spin-fluctuations but by topological excitations. In this regime, the fluctuations are separable in their spatial and temporal dependence and have a dynamical critical exponent $z =infty.$ The time dependence gives $omega/T$-scaling at criticality. The observed resistivity and entropy then follow directly. Several predictions to test the theory are also given.
Quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions is an effective gauge theory for the so called algebraic quantum liquids. A new type of such a liquid, the algebraic charge liquid, has been proposed recently in the context of deconfined quantum critical points [R. K. Kaul {it et al.}, Nature Physics {bf 4}, 28 (2008)]. In this context, we show by using the renormalization group in $d=4-epsilon$ spacetime dimensions, that a deconfined quantum critical point occurs in a SU(2) system provided the number of Dirac fermion species $N_fgeq 4$. The calculations are done in a representation where the Dirac fermions are given by four-component spinors. The critical exponents are calculated for several values of $N_f$. In particular, for $N_f=4$ and $epsilon=1$ ($d=2+1$) the anomalous dimension of the Neel field is given by $eta_N=1/3$, with a correlation length exponent $ u=1/2$. These values change considerably for $N_f>4$. For instance, for $N_f=6$ we find $eta_Napprox 0.75191$ and $ uapprox 0.66009$. We also investigate the effect of chiral symmetry breaking and analyze the scaling behavior of the chiral holon susceptibility, $G_chi(x)equiv<bar psi(x)psi(x)bar psi(0)psi(0)>$.
At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. An exception are quantum spin-liquids, where fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. While such states are possibly realized in two-dimensional organic compounds, they have remained elusive in experimentally relevant microscopic two-dimensional models. Here, we show by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of correlated fermions on the honeycomb lattice, a structure realized in graphene, that a quantum spin-liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for high temperature superconductors. Therefore, the possibility of unconventional superconductivity through doping arises. We foresee its realization with ultra-cold atoms or with honeycomb lattices made with group IV elements.
The $1994$ first discovery of a metal-insulator transition in two dimensions and series of $1997-1998$ experiments on two dimensional metal-insulator transitions in various samples of MOSFETs changed the paradigm of Anderson localization that metals cannot exist in two dimensions. Unfortunately, this delocalization physics of the diffusive regime does not apply to the effective hydrodynamic regime of quantum criticality. In the present study, we investigate effects of mutual correlations between hydrodynamic fluctuations and weak-localization corrections on Anderson localization, based on the renormalization group analysis up to the two-loop order. As a result, we find that the absence of quantum coherence in two-particle composite excitations gives rise to a novel disordered non-Fermi liquid metallic state near two dimensional nematic quantum criticality with nonmagnetic disorders. This research would be the first step in understanding the $T-$linear electrical resistivity as a characteristic feature of non-Fermi liquids and the origin of unconventional superconductivity from effective hydrodynamics of quantum criticality.