The repulsive fermionic Hubbard model is a typical model describing correlated electronic systems. Although it is a simple model with only a kinetic term and a local interaction term, their competition generates rich phases. When the interaction part
is significant, usually in many strongly correlated, flat or narrow band systems, lots of novel correlated phases may emerge. One way to understand the possible correlated phases is to go beyond finite interaction and solve the infinite-$U$ Hubbard model. Solving infinite-$U$ Hubbard model is usually extremely hard, and a large-scale unbiased numerical study is still missing. In this Letter, we propose a projection approach, such that a controllable quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation on infinite-$U$ Hubbard model may be done at some integer fillings where either it is sign problem free or surprisingly has an algebraic sign structure -- a power law dependence of average sign on system size. We demonstrate our scheme on the infinite-$U$ $SU(2N)$ fermionic Hubbard model on both square and honeycomb lattice at half-filling, where it is sign problem free, and suggest possible correlated ground states. The method can be generalized to study certain extended Hubbard models applying to cluster Mott insulators or 2D Morie systems, among one of them at certain non-half integer filling, the sign has an algebraic behavior such that it can be numerically solved within a polynomial time. Further, our projection scheme can also be generalized to implement the Gutzwiller projection to spin basis such that $SU(2N)$ quantum spin models and Kondo lattice models may be studied in the framework of fermionic QMC simulations.
Competing unconventional superconductivity and antiferromagnetism widely exist in several strongly correlated quantum materials whose direct simulation generally suffers from fermion sign problem. Here we report unbiased Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) sim
ulations on a sign-problem-free repulsive toy model with same onsite symmetries as the standard Hubbard model on a 2D square lattice. Using QMC, supplemented with mean-field and continuum field-theory arguments, we find that it hosts three distinct phases: a nodal d-wave phase, an antiferromagnet, and an intervening phase which hosts coexisting antiferromagnetism and nodeless d-wave superconductivity. The transition from the coexisting phase to the antiferromagnet is described by the 2+1-D XY universality class, while the one from the coexisting phase to the nodal d-wave phase is described by the Heisenberg-Gross-Neveu theory. The topology of our phase diagram resembles that of layered organic materials which host pressure tuned Mott transition from antiferromagnet to unconventional superconductor at half-filling.
Recently, it was pointed out that all chiral crystals with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can be Kramers Weyl semimetals (KWSs) which possess Weyl points pinned at time-reversal invariant momenta. In this work, we show that all achiral non-centrosymmetric
materials with SOC can be a new class of topological materials, which we term Kramers nodal line metals (KNLMs). In KNLMs, there are doubly degenerate lines, which we call Kramers nodal lines (KNLs), connecting time-reversal invariant momenta. The KNLs create two types of Fermi surfaces, namely, the spindle torus type and the octdong type. Interestingly, all the electrons on octdong Fermi surfaces are described by two-dimensional massless Dirac Hamiltonians. These materials support quantized optical conductance in thin films. We further show that KNLMs can be regarded as parent states of KWSs. Therefore, we conclude that all non-centrosymmetric metals with SOC are topological, as they can be either KWSs or KNLMs.
Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations of correlated electron systems provide unbiased information about system behavior at a quantum critical point (QCP) and can verify or disprove the existing theories of non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior at a QCP. Ho
wever, simulations are carried out at a finite temperature, where quantum-critical features are masked by finite temperature effects. Here we present a theoretical framework within which it is possible to separate thermal and quantum effects and extract the information about NFL physics at $T=0$. We demonstrate our method for a specific example of 2D fermions near a Ising-ferromagnetic QCP. We show that one can extract from QMC data the zero-temperature form of fermionic self-energy $Sigma (omega)$ even though the leading contribution to the self-energy comes from thermal effects. We find that the frequency dependence of $Sigma (omega)$ agrees well with the analytic form obtained within the Eliashberg theory of dynamical quantum criticality, and obeys $omega^{2/3}$ scaling at low frequencies. Our results open up an avenue for QMC studies of quantum-critical metals.
This review summarizes recent developments in the study of fermionic quantum criticality, focusing on new progress in numerical methodologies, especially quantum Monte Carlo methods, and insights that emerged from recently large-scale numerical simul
ations. Quantum critical phenomena in fermionic systems have attracted decades of extensive research efforts, partially lured by their exotic properties and potential technology applications and partially awaked by the profound and universal fundamental principles that govern these quantum critical systems. Due to the complex and non-perturbative nature, these systems belong to the most difficult and challenging problems in the study of modern condensed matter physics, and many important fundamental problems remain open. Recently, new developments in model design and algorithm improvements enabled unbiased large-scale numerical solutions to be achieved in the close vicinity of these quantum critical points, which paves a new pathway towards achieving controlled conclusions through combined efforts of theoretical and numerical studies, as well as possible theoretical guidance for experiments in heavy-fermion compounds, Cu-based and Fe-based superconductors, ultra-cold fermionic atomic gas, twisted graphene layers, etc., where signatures of fermionic quantum criticality exist.
An extended Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice with two orbitals per site at charge neutrality is investigated with unbiased large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The Fermi velocity of the Dirac fermions is renormalized as the cluster charge
interaction increases, until a mass term emerges and a quantum phase transition from Dirac semi-metal to valence bond solid (VBS) insulator is established. The quantum critical point is discovered to belong to 3D $N=4$ Gross-Neveu chiral XY universality with the critical exponents obtained at high precision. Further enhancement of the interaction drives the system into two different VBS phases, the properties and transition between them are also revealed. Since the model is related to magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, our results may have relevance towards the symmetry breaking order at the charge neutrality point of the material, and associate the wide range of universal strange metal behavior around it with quantum critical fluctuations.
In our previous work [arXiv:1803.00999, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 046401 (2018)], we found a quantum spin liquid phase with a spinon Fermi surface in the two dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with four-spin ring exchange on a triangular lattice. In t
his work we dope the spinon Fermi surface phase by studying the $t$-$J$ model with four-spin ring exchange. We perform density matrix renormalization group calculations on four-leg cylinders of a triangular lattice and find that the dominant pair correlation function is that of a pair density wave; i.e., it is oscillatory while decaying with distance with a power law. The doping dependence of the period is studied. This is the first example where pair density wave is the dominant pairing in a generic strongly interacting system where the pair density wave cannot be explained as a composite order and no special symmetry is required.
The spontaneous generation of charge-density-wave order in a Dirac fermion system via the natural mechanism of electron-phonon coupling is studied in the framework of the Holstein model on the honeycomb lattice. Using two independent and unbiased qua
ntum Monte Carlo methods, the phase diagram as a function of temperature and coupling strength is determined. It features a quantum critical point as well as a line of thermal critical points. Finite-size scaling appears consistent with fermionic Gross-Neveu-Ising universality for the quantum phase transition, and bosonic Ising universality for the thermal phase transition. The critical temperature has a maximum at intermediate couplings. Our findings motivate experimental efforts to identify or engineer Dirac systems with sufficiently strong and tunable electron-phonon coupling.
Metallic quantum criticality is among the central theme in the understanding of correlated electronic systems, and converging results between analytical and numerical approaches are still under calling. In this work, we develop state-of-art large sca
le quantum Monte Carlo simulation technique and systematically investigate the itinerant quantum critical point on a 2D square lattice with antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations at wavevector $mathbf{Q}=(pi,pi)$ -- a problem that resembles the Fermi surface setup and low-energy antiferromagnetic fluctuations in high-Tc cuprates and other critical metals, which might be relevant to their non-Fermi-liquid behaviors. System sizes of $60times 60 times 320$ ($L times L times L_tau$) are comfortably accessed, and the quantum critical scaling behaviors are revealed with unprecedingly high precision. We found that the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations introduce effective interactions among fermions and the fermions in return render the bare bosonic critical point into a new universality, different from both the bare Ising universality class and the Hertz-Mills-Moriya RPA prediction. At the quantum critical point, a finite anomalous dimension $etasim 0.125$ is observed in the bosonic propagator, and fermions at hot spots evolve into a non-Fermi-liquid. In the antiferromagnetically ordered metallic phase, fermion pockets are observed as energy gap opens up at the hot spots. These results bridge the recent theoretical and numerical developments in metallic quantum criticality and can be served as the stepping stone towards final understanding of the 2D correlated fermions interacting with gapless critical excitations.
The interplay between lattice gauge theories and fermionic matter accounts for fundamental physical phenomena ranging from the deconfinement of quarks in particle physics to quantum spin liquid with fractionalized anyons and emergent gauge structures
in condensed matter physics. However, except for certain limits (for instance large number of flavors of matter fields), analytical methods can provide few concrete results. Here we show that the problem of compact $U(1)$ lattice gauge theory coupled to fermionic matter in $(2+1)$D is possible to access via sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations. One can hence map out the phase diagram as a function of fermion flavors and the strength of gauge fluctuations. By increasing the coupling constant of the gauge field, gauge confinement in the form of various spontaneous symmetry breaking phases such as valence bond solid (VBS) and Neel antiferromagnet emerge. Deconfined phases with algebraic spin and VBS correlation functions are also observed. Such deconfined phases are an incarnation of exotic states of matter, $i.e.$ the algebraic spin liquid, which is generally viewed as the parent state of various quantum phases. The phase transitions between deconfined and confined phases, as well as that between the different confined phases provide various manifestations of deconfined quantum criticality. In particular, for four flavors, $N_f = 4$, our data suggests a continuous quantum phase transition between the VBS and N{e}el order. We also provide preliminary theoretical analysis for these quantum phase transitions.
