No Arabic abstract
In a recent preprint [cond-mat/0204040] Khveshchenko questioned the validity of our computation of the gauge invariant fermion propagator in QED3, which we employed as an effective theory of high-T_c cuprate superconductors [cond-mat/0203333]. We take this opportunity to further clarify our procedure and to show that criticism voiced in the above preprint is unwarranted.
We study the gauge covariance of the fermion propagator in Maxwell-Chern-Simons planar quantum electrodynamics (QED$_3$) considering four-component spinors with parity-even and parity-odd mass terms both for fermions and photons. Starting with its tree level expression in the Landau gauge, we derive a non perturbative expression for this propagator in an arbitrary covariant gauge by means of its Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformation (LKFT). We compare our findings in the weak coupling regime with the direct one-loop calculation of the two-point Green function and observe perfect agreement up to a gauge independent term. We also reproduce results derived in earlier works as special cases of our findings.
Theories that support dynamical generation of a fermion mass gap are of widespread interest. The phenomenon is often studied via the Dyson-Schwinger equation (DSE) for the fermion self energy; i.e., the gap equation. When the rainbow truncation of that equation supports dynamical mass generation, it typically also possesses a countable infinity of simultaneous solutions for the dressed-fermion mass function, solutions which may be ordered by the number of zeros they exhibit. These features can be understood via the theory of nonlinear Hammerstein integral equations. Using QED3 as an example, we demonstrate the existence of a large class of gap equation truncations that possess solutions with damped oscillations. We suggest that there is a larger class, quite probably including the exact theory, which does not. The structure of the dressed-fermion--gauge-boson vertex is an important factor in deciding the issue.
We grew single crystals of the recently discovered heavy fermion superconductor UTe2, and measured the resistivity, specific heat and magnetoresistance. Superconductivity (SC) was clearly detected at Tsc=1.65K as sharp drop of the resistivity in a high quality sample of RRR=35. The specific heat shows a large jump at Tsc indicating strong coupling. The large Sommerfeld coefficient, 117mJ K-2mol-1 extrapolated in the normal state and the temperature dependence of C/T below Tsc are the signature of unconventional SC. The discrepancy in the entropy balance at Tsc between SC and normal states points out that hidden features must occur. Surprisingly, a large residual value of the Sommerfeld coefficient seems quite robust (gamma_0/gamma ~ 0.5). The large upper critical field Hc2 along the three principal axes favors spin-triplet SC. For H // b-axis, our experiments do not reproduce the huge upturn of Hc2 reported previously. This discrepancy may reflect that Hc2 is very sensitive to the sample quality. A new perspective in UTe2 is the proximity of a Kondo semiconducting phase predicted by the LDA band structure calculations.
We report the observation of heavy-fermion superconducitivity in CeCoIn5 at Tc =2.3 K. When compared to the pressure-induced Tc of its cubic relative CeIn3 (Tc ~200 mK), the Tc of CeCoIn5 is remarkably high. We suggest that this difference may arise from magnetically mediated superconductivity in the layered crystal structure of CeCoIn5 .
Anisotropic, spatially textured electronic states often emerge when the symmetry of the underlying crystalline structure is lowered. However, the possibility recently has been raised that novel electronic quantum states with real-space texture could arise in strongly correlated systems even without changing the underlying crystalline structure. Here we report evidence for such texture in the superconducting quantum fluid that is induced by pressure in the heavy-fermion compound CeRhIn5. When long-range antiferromagnetic order coexists with unconventional superconductivity, there is a significant temperature difference between resistively- and thermodynamically-determined transitions into the superconducting state, but this difference disappears in the absence of magnetism. Anisotropic transport behaviour near the superconducting transition in the coexisting phase signals the emergence of textured superconducting planes that are nucleated preferentially along the {100} planes and that appear without a change in crystal symmetry. We show that CeRhIn5 is not unique in exhibiting a difference between resistive and bulk superconducting transition temperatures, indicating that textured superconductivity may be a general consequence of coexisting orders.