arXiv subjects

Alexei Tsvelik

Publications and source records attributed to Alexei Tsvelik.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Bose metal near pair-density-wave order in a spin-orbit-coupled Kondo lattice

We show that a three-dimensional superconductor with a non-Abelian SU(2) order parameter can support an extended resistive regime a Bose metal, in which transport is carried by bosonic electron-Majorana bound states - separating a uniform superconductor from a pair-density-wave (PDW) phase. The setting is a solvable Kondo lattice model introduced previously by the present authors, in which Kondo screening of a Yao-Lee $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid generates an order parameter with SU(2), rather than conventional U(1), symmetry, containing both superconducting and spin-density-wave components. Two effects cooperate to make fluctuations anomalously strong in three dimensions: the vanishing of the quadratic superconducting stiffness near the Lifshitz point where the optimal pairing momentum shifts from zero to finite $Q$, and the enlarged SU(2) order-parameter manifold. Building on our prior result that doping away from half-filling drives amplitude-modulated PDW order via finite-momentum electron-Majorana condensation, we analyze the fluctuation-dominated regime above that phase using a nonlinear sigma model. We find that the order-parameter propagator develops a ring of soft modes throughout the disordered phase, and that the resulting resistivity scales approximately as $R \sim T^3$ in three dimensions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Tractable model for a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL$^*$) on a square lattice

Motivated by the continued interest in Fermi-surface reconstruction without symmetry breaking, we present an analytically tractable microscopic model of a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL$^*$) on a square lattice and discuss its potential relevance to the cuprates. As in ancilla-qubit constructions, the model is related to Kondo lattice systems, but in this case, the conduction electrons interact with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid of the Yao--Lee type, with a Majorana Fermi surface. The associated $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge theory is static so that the model can be analytically solved to leading-logarithic accuracy. There are two phases: one in which the fractionalized fermions of the spin liquid hybridize with conduction electrons to form a common Fermi surface violating the naive Luttinger count, and one in which they remain decoupled. We discuss the salient features of the small Fermi-surface phase, including analytically derived momentum dependent coherence factors responsible for the appearance of Fermi arcs \`{a} la Yang-Rice-Zhang. We further discuss the impact of quantum and thermal fluctuations, including a strong diamagnetic response and a logarithmically divergent Sommerfeld coefficient at the onset of the pseudogap.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Physics in Biology

We demonstrate that the system of fine-tuning constraints for life is overdetermined: the number of inequalities is too large relative to the number of free parameters in the chemical sector and likely not only there. This entails that life-permitting conditions are secured at the level of physics not only by the fine-tuned fundamental constants, but also by a very special form of the laws. In 1960, Eugene Wigner published his essay "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences," summarizing his reflections on the miraculous comprehensibility of the mathematical structure of physical laws. The present paper points to another, no less remarkable, aspect of this structure, which may be called as our title suggests.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2025

Dual view of the Z$_2$-Gauged XY Model in 3D

The $Z_2$ gauged neutral XY model is of long-standing interest both in the context of nematic order, and the study of fractionalization and superconductivity. This paper presents heuristic arguments that no deconfinement of the XY field occurs in this model and presents results of a large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on a cubic lattice which are consistent with this conclusion. The correlation radius determining the confinement is found to be growing rapidly as a function of the parameters in the phase featuring the nematic order. Thus, mesoscopic properties of the system can mimic deconfinement with high accuracy in some part of the phase diagram.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Microscopic theory of pair density waves in spin-orbit coupled Kondo lattice

We demonstrate that the discommensuration between the Fermi surfaces of a conduction sea and an underlying spin liquid provides a natural mechanism for the spontaneous formation of pair density waves. Using a recent formulation of the Kondo lattice model which incorporates a Yao Lee spin liquid proposed by the authors, we demonstrate that doping away from half-filling induces finite-momentum electron-Majorana pair condensation, resulting in amplitude-modulated PDWs. Our approach provides a precise, analytically tractable pathway for understanding the spontaneous formation of PDWs in higher dimensions and offers a natural mechanism for PDW formation in the absence of a Zeeman field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Topological Heavy Fermion Principle For Flat (Narrow) Bands With Concentrated Quantum Geometry

We propose a general principle for the low-energy theory of narrow bands with concentrated Berry curvature and Fubini-Study metric in the form of a map to Anderson-"+" models composed of heavy fermions hybridizing and interacting with semi-metallic modes. This map resolves the obstruction preventing topological bands from being realized in a local Hamiltonian acting on the low-energy degrees of freedom. The concentrated quantum geometry is reproduced through band inversion with a dispersive semi-metal, leaving a nearly flat, trivial band which becomes the heavy fermion. This representation is natural when the narrow band is not energetically isolated on the scale of the interaction and an enlarged Hilbert space is inescapable, but also provides analytical insight into the projected-interaction limit. First exemplified in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), we extend it to (1) the twisted checkerboard, which we find has a chiral symmetric stable anomaly that forbids a lattice realization at all energies, and (2) the Lieb lattice with gapless flat bands, where we show the heavy fermions can be obtained by minimizing a Euclidean instanton action to saturate its BPS bound. The heavy fermion approach is widely applicable and physically transparent: heavy electrons carry the strong correlations and dispersive electrons carry the topology. This simple picture unifies the dichotomous phenomena observed in TBG and points to connections between moiré and stoichiometric materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Analytic calculation of the vison gap in the Kitaev spin liquid

Although the ground-state energy of the Kitaev spin liquid can be calculated exactly, the associated vison gap energy has to date only been calculated numerically from finite size diagonalization. Here we show that the phase shift for scattering Majorana fermions off a single bond-flip can be calculated analytically, leading to a closed-form expression for the vison gap energy $Δ= 0.2633J$. Generalizations of our approach can be applied to Kitaev spin liquids on more complex lattices such as the three dimensional hyper-octagonal lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Breakdown of order-fractionalization in the CPT model

We present an analysis of the half-filled CPT model, an analytically tractable Kondo lattice model with Yao-Lee spin-spin interactions on a 3D hyperoctagon lattice, proposed by Coleman, Panigrahi, and Tsvelik. Previous studies have established that the CPT model exhibits odd-frequency triplet superconductivity and order fractionalization. Through asymptotic analyses in the small $J$ and large $J$ Kondo coupling limits, we identify a quantum critical point at $J_c$, marking a transition from a superconductor to a Kondo insulator. By estimating the vison gap energy to account for thermal gauge fluctuations, we determine the energy scales governing the thermal breakdown of order fractionalization. Moreover, at large $J$ the Kondo insulator undergoes orbital decoupling, leading to the formation of a decoupled Kitaev orbital liquid. These findings and analogies with the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-gauged $XY$ model lead us to propose a tentative phase diagram for the CPT model at half-filling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

High-temperature quantum coherence of spinons in a rare-earth spin chain

Conventional wisdom dictates that quantum effects become unimportant at high temperatures. In magnets, when the thermal energy exceeds interactions between atomic magnetic moments, the moments are usually uncorrelated, and classical paramagnetic behavior is observed. This thermal decoherence of quantum spin behaviors is a major hindrance to quantum information applications of spin systems. Remarkably, our neutron scattering experiments on Yb chains in an insulating perovskite crystal defy these conventional expectations. We find a sharply defined spectrum of spinons, fractional quantum excitations of spin-1/2 chains, to persist to temperatures much higher than the scale of the interactions between Yb magnetic moments. The observed sharpness of the spinon continuum's dispersive upper boundary indicates a spinon mean free path exceeding $\approx 35$ inter-atomic spacings at temperatures more than an order of magnitude above the interaction energy scale. We thus discover an important and highly unique quantum behavior, which expands the realm of quantumness to high temperatures where entropy-governed classical behaviors were previously believed to dominate. Our results have profound implications for spin systems in quantum information applications operating at finite temperatures and motivate new developments in quantum metrology.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

A solvable 3D Kondo lattice exhibiting odd-frequency pairing and order fractionalization

The Kondo lattice model plays a key role in our understanding of quantum materials, but a lack of small parameters has posed a long-standing problem. We present a 3 dimensional S= 1/2 Kondo lattice model describing a spin liquid within an electron sea. Strong correlations in the spin liquid are treated exactly, enabling a controlled analytical approach. Like a Peierls or BCS phase, a logarithmically divergent susceptibility leads to an instability into a new phase at arbitrarily small Kondo coupling. Our solution captures a plethora of emergent phenomena, including odd-frequency pairing, pair density wave formation and order fractionalization. The ground-state state is a pair density wave with a fractionalized charge e, S = 1/2 order parameter, formed between electrons and Majorana fermions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Anomalous Hall effect at the Lifshitz transition in ZrTe5

Zirconium pentatelluride ZrTe5 is a topological semimetal. The presence of a temperature induced Lifshitz transition, in which the Fermi level goes from the conduction band to the valence band with increasing temperature, provides unique opportunities to study the interplay between Fermi-surface topology, dynamics of Dirac fermions, and Berry curvature in one system. Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study and show that a low energy model can be used to understand the complicated Hall response and large anomalous Hall effect observed in ZrTe5 over a wide range of temperature and magnetic field. We found that the anomalous Hall contribution dominates the Hall response in a narrow temperature window around the Lifshitz transition, away from which the orbital contribution dominates. Moreover, our results indicate that a topological phase transition coexists with the Lifshitz transition. Our model provides a unifying framework to understand the Hall effect in semimetals with large Zeeman splitting and non-trivial topology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

3D non-Fermi liquid behavior from 1D quantum critical local moments

We study the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity in a system composed of critical spin chains interacting with three dimensional conduction electrons and driven to criticality via an external magnetic field. The relevant experimental system is Yb$_2$Pt$_2$Pb, a metal where itinerant electrons coexist with localized moments of Yb-ions which can be described in terms of effective S = 1/2 spins with dominantly one-dimensional exchange interaction. The spin subsystem becomes critical in a relatively weak magnetic field, where it behaves like a Luttinger liquid. We theoretically examine a Kondo lattice with different effective space dimensionalities of the two interacting subsystems. We characterize the corresponding non-Fermi liquid behavior due to the spin criticality by calculating the electronic relaxation rate and the dc resistivity and establish its quasi linear temperature dependence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Quantum phase transitions to superfluid state of chains in a polarized gas of dipolar molecules

We analyze the nature of quantum phase transition to a superfluid state of flexible chains in a gas of polar bosonic molecules confined in a stack of $N$ identical 1d ("cigar" type) optical lattice layers and polarized perpendicularly to the layers. Monte Carlo simulations within the $J$-current model show that, in the absence of the inter-tube tunneling, the transition to the $N$-layered superfluid is in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class in the one-particle density matrix channel. The inter-layer tunneling changes it to the $q=N$ 2d Potts universality. The low energy field descriptions of the transition are discussed in terms of conformal field theories.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2006

Thermodynamics of the Double-Layer Quantum Hall Systems

In this paper we apply the exact solution of the sine-Gordon model to describe thermodynamic properties of the soliton liquid in the incommensurate phase of the double-layer quantum Hall systems. In this way we include thermal fluctuations and extend to finite temperatures the results obtained by C.B. Hanna, A.H. MacDonald and S.M. Girvin [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 63}, 125305 (2001)]. In addition we calculate the specific heat of the system. While the results obtained for the sine-Gordon model are available in a temperature interval $(0,T_c)$, where $T_c=8πρ_s$, $ρ_s$ the pseudospin stiffness, they can be applied in the bilayer system up to temperatures $3T_{\rm BKT}$, where $T_{\rm BKT}=πρ_s/2$ is the vortex mediated Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature. Above this temperature the operators $\cosβϕ$ and $\cos(2π\vartheta/β)$ are both relevant and the system is in a phase with coexisting order parameters. $\vartheta$ is the dual field of $ϕ$ and $β$ is the sine-Gordon coupling constant. We provide numerical estimates for thermodynamic quantities for the range of parameters relevant for GaAs.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Information about the Integer Quantum Hall Transition Extracted from the Autocorrelation Function of Spectral Determinants

The Autocorrelation function of spectral determinants (ASD) is used to probe the sensitivity of a two-dimensional disordered electron gas to the system's size L. For weak magnetic fields ASD is shown to depend only trivially on L, which is a strong indication that all states are localized. From nontrivial dependence of ASD on L for infinite L at a Hall conductance of 1/2 e^2/h we deduce the existence of critical wave functions at this point, as long as the disorder strength does not exceed a critical value.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗