We describe the large $N$ saddle point, and the structure of fluctuations about the saddle point, of a theory containing a sharp, critical Fermi surface in two spatial dimensions. The theory describes the onset of Ising order in a Fermi liquid, and c
losely related theories apply to other cases with critical Fermi surfaces. We employ random couplings in flavor space between the fermions and the bosonic order parameter, but there is no spatial randomness: consequently, the $G$-$Sigma$ path integral of the theory is expressed in terms of fields bilocal in spacetime. The critical exponents of the large $N$ saddle-point are the same as in the well-studied non-random RPA theory; in particular, the entropy density vanishes in the limit of zero temperature. We present a full numerical solution of the large $N$ saddle-point equations, and the results agree with the critical behavior obtained analytically. Following analyses of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models, we describe scaling operators which descend from fermion bilinears around the Fermi surface. This leads to a systematic consideration of the role of time reparameterization symmetry, and the scaling of the Cooper pairing and $2k_F$ operators which can determine associated instabilities of the critical Fermi surface. We find no violations of scaling from time reparameterizations. We also consider the same model but with spatially random couplings: this provides a systematic large $N$ theory of a marginal Fermi liquid with Planckian transport.
Motivated by recent experiments on the phonon contribution to the thermal Hall effect in the cuprates, we present an analysis of chiral phonon transport. We assume the chiral behavior arises from a non-zero phonon Hall vicosity, which is likely induc
ed by the coupling to electrons. Phonons with a non-zero phonon Hall viscosity have an intrinsic thermal Hall conductivity, but Chen et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 167601 (2020)) have argued that a significantly larger thermal Hall conductivity can arise from an extrinsic contribution which is inversely proportional to the density of impurities. We solve the Boltzmann equation for phonon transport and compute the temperature ($T$) dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity originating from skew scattering off point-like impurities. We find that the dominant source for thermal Hall transport is an interference between impurity skew scattering channels with opposite parity. The thermal Hall conductivity $sim T^{d+2}$ at low $T$ in $d$ dimensions, and has a window of $T$-independent behavior for $T > T_{rm imp}$, where $T_{rm imp}$ is determined by the ratio of scattering potentials with opposite parity. We also consider the role of non-specular scattering off the sample boundary, and find that it leads to negligible corrections to thermal Hall transport at low $T$.
We present numerical solutions of the spectral functions of $t$-$J$ models with random and all-to-all exchange and global SU($M$) spin rotation symmetry. The solutions are obtained from the saddle-point equations of the large volume limit, followed b
y the large $M$ limit. These saddle point equations involve Greens functions for fractionalized spinons and holons carrying emergent U(1) gauge charges, obeying relations similar to those of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models. The low frequency spectral functions are compared with an analytic analysis of the operator scaling dimensions, with good agreement. We also compute the low frequency and temperature behavior of gauge-invariant observables: the electron Greens function, the local spin susceptibility and the optical conductivity; along with the temperature dependence of the d.c. resistivity. The time reparameterization soft mode (equivalent to the boundary graviton in holographically dual models of two-dimensional quantum gravity) makes important contributions to all observables, and provides a linear-in-temperature contribution to the d.c. resistivity.
We study the low frequency spectra of complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models at general densities. The analysis applies also to SU($M$) magnets with random exchange at large $M$. The spectral densities are computed by numerical analysis of the saddle
point equations on the real frequency ($omega$) axis at zero temperature ($T$). The asymptotic low $omega$ behaviors are found to be in excellent agreement with the scaling dimensions of irrelevant operators which perturb the conformally invariant critical states. Of possible experimental interest is our computation of the universal spin spectral weight of the SU($M$) magnets at low $omega$ and $T$: this includes a contribution from the time reparameterization mode, which is the boundary graviton of the holographic dual. This analysis is extended to a random $t$-$J$ model in a companion paper.
The most puzzling aspect of the strange metal behavior of correlated electron compounds is that the linear in temperature resistivity often extends down to low temperatures, lower than natural microscopic energy scales. We consider recently proposed
deconfined critical points (or phases) in models of electrons in large dimension lattices with random nearest-neighbor exchange interactions. The criticality is in the class of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models, and exhibits a time reparameterization soft mode representing gravity in dual holographic theories. We compute the low temperature resistivity in a large $M$ limit of models with SU($M$) spin symmetry, and find that the dominant temperature dependence arises from this soft mode. The resistivity is linear in temperature down to zero temperature at the critical point, with a co-efficient universally proportional to the product of the residual resistivity and the co-efficient of the linear in temperature specific heat. We argue that the time reparameterization soft mode offers a promising and generic mechanism for resolving the strange metal puzzle.
We consider the thermal Hall effect of fermionic matter coupled to emergent gauge fields in 2+1 dimensions. While the low-temperature thermal Hall conductivity of bulk topological phases can be connected to chiral edge states and a gravitational anom
aly, there is no such interpretation at nonzero temperatures above 2+1 dimensional quantum critical points. In the limit of a large number of matter flavors, the leading contribution to the thermal Hall conductivity is that from the fermionic matter. The next-to-leading contribution is from the gauge fluctuations, and this has a sign which is opposite to that of the matter contribution. We illustrate this by computations on a Dirac Chern-Simons theory of the quantum phase transition in a square-lattice antiferromagnet involving the onset of semion topological order. We find similar results for a model of the pseudogap metal with Fermi pockets coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field. We note connections to recent observations on the hole-doped cuprates: our theory captures the main trends, but the overall magnitude of the effect is smaller than that observed.
Momentum-conserving quasiparticle collisions in two-dimensional Fermi gases give rise to a large family of exceptionally long-lived excitation modes. The lifetimes of these modes exceed by a factor $(T_F/T)^2gg 1$ the conventional Landau Fermi-liquid
lifetimes $tausim T_F/T^2$. The long-lived modes have a distinct angular structure, taking the form of $cos mtheta$ and $sin mtheta$ with odd $m$ values for a circular Fermi surface, with relaxation rate dependence on $m$ of the form $m^4log m$, valid at not-too-large $m$. In contrast, the even-$m$ harmonics feature conventional lifetimes with a weak $m$ dependence. The long-time dynamics, governed by the long-lived modes, takes the form of angular (super)diffusion over the Fermi surface. Altogether, this leads to unusual long-time memory effects, defining an intriguing transport regime that lies between the conventional ballistic and hydrodynamic regimes.
We compute the transport and chaos properties of lattices of quantum Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev islands coupled by single fermion hopping, and with the islands coupled to a large number of local, low energy phonons. We find two distinct regimes of linear-in-t
emperature ($T$) resistivity, and describe the crossover between them. When the electron-phonon coupling is weak, we obtain the `incoherent metal regime, where there is near-maximal chaos with front propagation at a butterfly velocity $v_B$, and the associated diffusivity $D_{rm chaos} = v_B^2/(2 pi T)$ closely tracks the energy diffusivity. On the other hand, when the electron-phonon coupling is strong, and the linear resistivity is largely due to near-elastic scattering of electrons off nearly free phonons, we find that the chaos is far from maximal and spreads diffusively. We also describe the crossovers to low $T$ regimes where the electronic quasiparticles are well defined.
Fermi gases in two dimensions display a surprising collective behavior originating from the head-on carrier collisions. The head-on processes dominate angular relaxation at not-too-high temperatures $Tll T_F$ owing to the interplay of Pauli blocking
and momentum conservation. As a result, a large family of excitations emerges, associated with the odd-parity harmonics of momentum distribution and having exceptionally long lifetimes. This leads to tomographic dynamics: fast 1D spatial diffusion along the unchanging velocity direction accompanied by a slow angular dynamics that gradually randomizes velocity orientation. The tomographic regime features an unusual hierarchy of time scales and scale-dependent transport coefficients with nontrivial fractional scaling dimensions, leading to fractional-power current flow profiles and unusual conductance scaling vs. sample width.
