Universal power-law exponents in differential tunneling conductance for planar insulators near Mott criticality at low temperatures

Abstract

We consider the low-temperature differential tunneling conductance $G$ for interfaces between a planar insulating material in the Mott-class and a metal. For values of the the applied potential difference $V$ that are not very small, there is a experimentally observed universal regime in which $G \sim V^m$, where $m$ is a universal exponent. We consider the theoretical prediction of the values of $m$ by using the method of Effective Field Theory ($EFT$), which is appropriate for discussing universal phenomena. We describe the Mott material by the $EFT$ pertaining the long-distance behavior of a spinless Hubbard-like model with nearest neighbors interactions previously considered. At the Mott transition, the $EFT$ is known to be given by a double Abelian Chern-Simons theory. The simplest realization of this theory at the tunneling interface yields a Conformal Field Theory with central charges $(c,\bar c) =(1,1)$ and Jain filling fraction $ν= 2/3$ describing a pair of independent counter-propagating chiral bosons (one charged and one neutral). Tunneling from the material into the metal is, therefore, described by this $EFT$ at the Mott critical point. The resulting tunneling conductance behaves as $G \sim V^{(1/ν-1)}$, yielding the prediction $m=1/2$, which compares well (within a $10 \%$ deviation) with the results for this exponent in two experimental studies considered here.