The paradigmatic example of a continuous quantum phase transition is the transverse field Ising ferromagnet. In contrast to classical critical systems, whose properties depend only on symmetry and the dimension of space, the nature of a quantum phase
transition also depends on the dynamics. In the transverse field Ising model, the order parameter is not conserved and increasing the transverse field enhances quantum fluctuations until they become strong enough to restore the symmetry of the ground state. Ising pseudo-spins can represent the order parameter of any system with a two-fold degenerate broken-symmetry phase, including electronic nematic order associated with spontaneous point-group symmetry breaking. Here, we show for the representative example of orbital-nematic ordering of a non-Kramers doublet that an orthogonal strain or a perpendicular magnetic field plays the role of the transverse field, thereby providing a practical route for tuning appropriate materials to a quantum critical point. While the transverse fields are conjugate to seemingly unrelated order parameters, their non-trivial commutation relations with the nematic order parameter, which can be represented by a Berry-phase term in an effective field theory, intrinsically intertwines the different order parameters.
Nematic order has manifested itself in a variety of materials in the cuprate family. We propose an effective field theory of a layered system with incommensurate, intertwined spin- and charge-density wave (SDW and CDW) orders, each of which consists
of two components related by $C_4$ rotations. Using a variational method (which is exact in a large $N$ limit), we study the development of nematicity from partially melting those density waves by either increasing temperature or adding quenched disorder. As temperature decreases we first find a transition to a nematic phase, but depending on the range of parameters (e.g. doping concentration) the strongest fluctuations associated with this phase reflect either proximate SDW or CDW order. We also discuss the changes in parameters that can account for the differences in the SDW-CDW interplay between the (214) family and the other hole-doped cuprates.
In the context of the relaxation time approximation to Boltzmann transport theory, we examine the behavior of the Hall number, $n_H$, of a metal in the neighborhood of a Lifshitz transition from a closed Fermi surface to open sheets. We find a univer
sal non-analytic dependence of $n_H$ on the electron density in the high field limit, but a non-singular dependence at low fields. The existence of an assumed nematic transition produces a doping dependent $n_H$ similar to that observed in recent experiments in the high temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$.
Using an exact numerical solution and semiclassical analysis, we investigate quantum oscillations (QOs) in a model of a bilayer system with an anisotropic (elliptical) electron pocket in each plane. Key features of QO experiments in the high temperat
ure superconducting cuprate YBCO can be reproduced by such a model, in particular the pattern of oscillation frequencies (which reflect magnetic breakdown between the two pockets) and the polar and azimuthal angular dependence of the oscillation amplitudes. However, the requisite magnetic breakdown is possible only under the assumption that the horizontal mirror plane symmetry is spontaneously broken and that the bilayer tunneling, $t_perp$, is substantially renormalized from its `bare value. Under the assumption that $t_perp= tilde{Z}t_perp^{(0)}$, where $tilde{Z}$ is a measure of the quasiparticle weight, this suggests that $tilde{Z} lesssim 1/20$. Detailed comparisons with new YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.58}$ QO data, taken over a very broad range of magnetic field, confirm specific predictions made by the breakdown scenario.
We propose the possible detection of broken mirror symmetries in correlated two-dimensional materials by elastotransport measurements. Using linear response theory we calculate the shearconductivity $Gamma_{xx,xy}$, defined as the linear change of th
e longitudinal conductivity $sigma_{xx}$ due to a shear strain $epsilon_{xy}$. This quantity can only be non-vanishing when in-plane mirror symmetries are broken and we discuss how candidate states in the cuprate pseudogap regime (e.g. various loop current or charge orders) may exhibit a finite shearconductivity. We also provide a realistic experimental protocol for detecting such a response.
Harpers equation (aka the almost Mathieu equation) famously describes the quantum dynamics of an electron on a one dimensional lattice in the presence of an incommensurate potential with magnitude $V$ and wave number $Q$. It has been proven that all
states are delocalized if $V$ is less than a critical value $V_c=2t$ and localized if $V> V_c$. Here, we show that this result (while correct) is highly misleading, at least in the small $Q$ limit. In particular, for $V<V_c$ there is an abrupt crossover akin to a mobility edge at an energy $E_c$; states with energy $|E|<E_c$ are robustly delocalized, but those in the tails of the density of states, with $|E|>E_c$, form a set of narrow bands with exponentially small bandwidths $ sim t exp[-(2pialpha/Q)]$ (where $alpha$ is an energy dependent number of order 1) separated by band-gaps $ sim t Q$. Thus, the states with $|E|> E_c$ are almost localized in that they have an exponentially large effective mass and are easily localized by small perturbations. We establish this both using exact numerical solution of the problem, and by exploiting the well known fact that the same eigenvalue problem arises in the Hofstadter problem of an electron moving on a 2D lattice in the presence of a magnetic field, $B=Q/2pi$. From the 2D perspective, the almost localized states are simply the Landau levels associated with semiclassical precession around closed contours of constant quasiparticle energy; that they are not truly localized reflects an extremely subtle form of magnetic breakdown.
Because a material with an incommensurate charge density wave (ICDW) is only quasi-periodic, Blochs theorem does not apply and there is no sharply defined Fermi surface. We will show that, as a consequence, there are no quantum oscillations which are
truly periodic functions of $1/B$ (where $ B$ is the magnitude of an applied magnetic field). For a weak ICDW, there exist broad ranges of $1/B$ in which approximately periodic variations occur, but with frequencies that vary inexorably in an unending cascade with increasing $1/B$. For a strong ICDW, e.g. in a quasi-crystal, no quantum oscillations survive at all. Rational and irrational numbers really are different.
Motivated by recent observations of charge order in the pseudogap regime of hole-doped cuprates, we show that {it crisscrossed} stripe order can be stabilized by coherent, momentum-dependent interlayer tunneling, which is known to be present in sever
al cuprate materials. We further describe how subtle variations in the couplings between layers can lead to a variety of stripe ordering arrangements, and discuss the implications of our results for recent experiments in underdoped cuprates.
Measurements of the differential elastoresistance of URu$_2$Si$_2$ reveal that the fluctuations associated with the 17 K Hidden Order phase transition have a nematic component. Approaching the Hidden Order phase transition from above, the nematic sus
ceptibility abruptly changes sign, indicating that while the Hidden Order phase has a nematic component, it breaks additional symmetries.
