arXiv subjects

Debanjan Chowdhury

Publications and source records attributed to Debanjan Chowdhury.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Low-energy optical absorption in correlated insulators: Projected sum rules and the role of quantum geometry

Inspired by the discovery of a variety of correlated insulators in the moiré universe, controlled by interactions projected to a set of isolated bands with a narrow bandwidth, we examine here a partial sum-rule associated with the inverse frequency-weighted optical conductivity restricted to low-energies. Unlike standard sum-rules that extend out to $infinite$ frequencies, which include contributions from $all$ inter-band transitions, we focus here on transitions associated $only$ with the $projected$ degrees of freedom. We analyze the partial sum-rule in a non-perturbative but "solvable" limit for a variety of correlation-induced insulators. This includes (i) magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene at integer-filling with projected Coulomb interactions, starting from the chiral flat-band limit and including realistic perturbations, (ii) fractional fillings of Chern-bands which support generalized Laughlin-like states, starting from a Landau-level and including a periodic potential and magnetic-field, respectively, drawing connections to twisted MoTe$_2$, and (iii) integer filling in toy-models of non-topological flat-bands with a tunable quantum geometry in the presence of repulsive interactions. The partial sum-rule in all of these examples is implicitly constrained by the form of the band quantum geometry via the low-lying excitation spectrum, but is not related to it explicitly. For interacting Slater-determinant insulators, the partial sum-rule is related to a new quantity -- "many-body projected quantum geometry" -- obtained from the interaction-renormalized electronic bands. We also point out an intriguing connection between the partial sum-rule and the quantum Fisher information associated with the projected many-body position operator.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Spin-Polaron Mediated Superconductivity in Doped Chern Antiferromagnets

The study of interacting topological bands with a tunable bandwidth offers a unique platform to study the interplay of intertwined orders and emergent non-electronic excitations. Here we design a time-reversal symmetric and sign-problem-free electronic model with tunable Chern bands carrying valley-contrasting Chern number, interacting via competing (anti-)ferromagnetic interactions. Using numerically exact quantum Monte-Carlo computations, we analyze the many-body phase-diagram as a function of temperature and band filling fractions over a wide range of electronic bandwidth, interaction anisotropy, and an Ising spin-orbit coupling. At a commensurate filling of the Chern bands, the ground state hosts intra-valley ferromagnetic coherence and inter-valley antiferomagnetism, thus realizing an insulating Chern antiferromagnet (CAF). Upon doping, the ground-state develops superconductivity, but where the low-energy charged quasiparticles are composite objects -- electrons dressed by multiple spin-flip excitations. These spin-polaron (or skyrmion) excitations persist in the presence of a weak spin-orbit coupling. In a companion article, we address the emergent symmetries and low-energy field-theoretic aspects of the problem and reveal the proximity to a deconfined quantum critical point. We end by providing a general outlook towards building microscopic connections with models of interacting moiré materials, including twisted bilayer graphene, where many of the ingredients considered here are naturally present.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Unveiling a Hidden Percolation Transition in Monitored Clifford Circuits: Inroads from ZX-Calculus

We revisit the measurement-induced phase transition (MPT) in Clifford circuits, which are both classically simulable and exhibit critical behavior widely believed to be distinct from classical percolation theory, using ZX-calculus. We analyze the MPT in a dynamical model composed of CNOT, SWAP, identity gates, and Bell-pair measurements, respectively, arranged randomly in a brickwork pattern. Our circuits exhibit a transition that is seemingly distinct from classical percolation based on standard arguments, that is in line with the prevailing understanding in the field. In contrast, by employing ZX-calculus based simplification techniques, we unveil a hidden percolation transition within the circuit structure. Over a range of parameters tied to the probabilities for applying different gates, we demonstrate that the classical percolation transition in the ZX-simplified network coincides with the MPT observed through mutual information. Our findings suggest that the MPT in Clifford circuits is, in fact, controlled by a classical percolation transition in disguise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Dynamical Freezing in Exactly Solvable Models of Driven Chaotic Quantum Dots

The late-time equilibrium behavior of generic interacting models is determined by the coupled hydrodynamic equations associated with the globally conserved quantities. In the presence of an external time-dependent drive, non-integrable systems typically thermalize to an effectively infinite-temperature state, losing all memory of their initial states. However, in the presence of a large time-periodic Floquet drive, there exist special points in phase-space where the strongly interacting system develops approximate {\it emergent} conservation laws. Here we present results for an exactly solvable model of two coupled chaotic quantum dots with multiple orbitals interacting via random two and four-fermion interactions in the presence of a Floquet drive. We analyze the phenomenology of dynamically generated freezing using a combination of exact diagonalization, and field-theoretic analysis in the limit of a large number of electronic orbitals. The model displays universal freezing behavior irrespective of whether the theory is averaged over the disorder configurations or not. We present explicit computations for the growth of many-body chaos and entanglement entropy, which demonstrates the long-lived coherence associated with the interacting degrees of freedom even at late-times at the dynamically frozen points. We also compute the slow timescale that controls relaxation away from exact freezing in a high-frequency expansion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Arresting Quantum Chaos Dynamically in Transmon Arrays

Ergodic quantum many-body systems evolving under unitary time dynamics typically lose memory of their initial state via information scrambling. Here we consider a paradigmatic translationally invariant many-body Hamiltonian of interacting bosons -- a Josephson junction array in the transmon regime -- in the presence of a strong Floquet drive. Generically, such a time-dependent drive is expected to heat the system to an effectively infinite temperature, featureless state in the late-time limit. However, using numerical exact-diagonalization we find evidence of special ratios of the drive amplitude and frequency where the system develops {\it emergent} conservation laws, and {\it approximate} integrability. Remarkably, at these same set of points, the Lyapunov exponent associated with the semi-classical dynamics for the coupled many-body equations of motion drops by orders of magnitude, arresting the growth of chaos. We supplement our numerical results with an analytical Floquet-Magnus expansion that includes higher-order corrections, and capture the slow dynamics that controls decay away from exact freezing.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Theory of Correlated Insulators and Superconductor at $ν=1$ in Twisted WSe$_2$

The observation of a superconducting phase, an intertwined insulating phase, and a continuous transition between the two at a commensurate filling of $ν=1$ in bilayers of twisted WSe$_2$ at $θ=3.65^0$ raises a number of intriguing questions about the origin of this phenomenology. Here we report the possibility of a displacement-field induced continuous transition between a superconductor and a quantum spin-liquid Mott insulator at $ν=1$, starting with a simplified three-orbital model of twisted WSe$_2$, including on-site, nearest-neighbor density-density interactions, and a chiral-exchange interaction, respectively. By employing parton mean-field theory, we discuss the nature of these correlated insulators, their expected evolution with the displacement-field, and their phenomenological properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Quasicrystalline Spin Liquid

The interplay of electronic interactions and frustration in crystalline systems leads to a panoply of correlated phases, including exotic Mott insulators with non-trivial patterns of entanglement. Disorder introduces additional quantum interference effects that can drive localization phenomena. Quasicrystals, which are neither disordered nor perfectly crystalline, are interesting playgrounds for studying the effects of interaction, frustration, and quantum interference. Here we consider a solvable example of a quantum spin liquid on a tri-coordinated quasicrystal. We extend Kitaev's original construction for the spin model to our quasicrystalline setting and perform a large scale flux-sampling to find the ground-state configuration in terms of the emergent majorana fermions and flux excitations. This reveals a fully gapped and time-reversal symmetric quantum spin liquid, regardless of the exchange anisotropies, accompanied by a tendency towards non-trivial (de-)localization at the edge and the bulk. The advent of moiré materials and a variety of quantum simulators provide a new platform to bring phases of quasicrystalline quantum matter to life in a controlled fashion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Continuous Wigner-Mott transition at $ν=1/5$

Electrons can organize themselves into charge-ordered states to minimize the effects of long-ranged Coulomb interactions. In the presence of a lattice, commensurability constraints lead to the emergence of incompressible Wigner-Mott insulators at various rational electron fillings, $ν~=p/q$. The mechanism for quantum fluctuation-mediated melting of the Mott insulators with increasing electron kinetic energy remains an outstanding problem. Here, using matrix product state techniques, we analyze the bandwidth-tuned transition out of the Wigner-Mott insulator at $ν=1/5$ in an extended Hubbard model on infinite cylinders of varying circumference. For the two-leg ladder, the transition from the Mott insulator to the Luttinger liquid proceeds via a distinct intermediate phase with gapless Cooper-pairs and gapped electronic excitations. The resulting Luther-Emery liquid is the analog of a strongly fluctuating superconductor. We place these results in the context of a low-energy bosonization based theory for the transition. On the five-leg cylinder, we provide numerical evidence for a direct continuous transition between the Wigner-Mott insulator and a metallic phase across which the spin and charge-gaps vanish simultaneously. We comment on the connections to ongoing experiments in dual-gated bilayer moiré transition metal dichalcogenide materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Correlated Topological Mixed-Valence Insulators in Moiré Hetero-Bilayers

Moiré transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials provide an ideal playground for studying the combined interplay of strong interactions and band-topology over a range of electronic fillings. Here we investigate the panoply of interaction-induced electronic phases that arise at a total commensurate filling of $ν_T=2$ in moiré TMD heterobilayers, focusing specifically on their renormalized band-topology. We carry out a comprehensive self-consistent parton mean-field analysis on an interacting mixed-valence Hamiltonian describing AB-stacked MoTe$_2$/WSe$_2$ to highlight different ingredients that arise due to "Mottness", band-flattening, an enhanced excitonic tendency, and band-inversion, leading to correlated topological semi-metals and insulators. We also propose a possible route towards realizing fractionalized insulators with emergent neutral fermionic excitations in this and other closely related platforms.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Low-energy optical sum-rule in moiré graphene

Few layers of graphene at small twist-angles have emerged as a fascinating platform for studying the problem of strong interactions in regimes with a nearly quenched single-particle kinetic energy and non-trivial band topology. Starting from the strong-coupling limit of twisted bilayer graphene with a vanishing single-electron bandwidth and interlayer-tunneling between the same sublattice sites, we present an {\it exact} analytical theory of the Coulomb interaction-induced low-energy optical spectral weight at all {\it integer} fillings. In this limit, while the interaction-induced single-particle dispersion is finite, the optical spectral weight vanishes identically at integer fillings. We study corrections to the optical spectral weight by systematically including the effects of experimentally relevant strain-induced renormalization of the single-electron bandwidth and interlayer tunnelings between the same sublattice sites. Given the relationship between the optical spectral weight and the diamagnetic response that controls superconducting $T_c$, our results highlight the relative importance of specific parent insulating phases in enhancing the tendency towards superconductivity when doped away from integer fillings.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Intertwined Magnetism and Superconductivity in Isolated Correlated Flat Bands

Multi-orbital electronic models hosting a non-trivial band-topology in the regime of strong electronic interactions are an ideal playground for exploring a host of complex phenomenology. We consider here a sign-problem-free and time-reversal symmetric model with isolated topological (chern) bands involving both spin and valley degrees of freedom in the presence of a class of repulsive electronic interactions. Using a combination of numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo computations and analytical field-theoretic considerations we analyze the phase-diagram as a function of the flat-band filling, temperature and relative interaction strength. The low-energy physics is described in terms of a set of intertwined orders -- a spin-valley hall (SVH) insulator and a spin-singlet superconductor (SC). Our low-temperature phase diagram can be understood in terms of an effective SO(4) pseudo-spin non-linear sigma model. Our work paves the way for building more refined and minimal models of realistic materials, including moiré systems, to study the universal aspects of competing insulating phases and superconductivity in the presence of non-trivial band-topology.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Interaction-mitigated Landau damping

Bosonic collective modes are ubiquitous in metals, but over a wide range of energy and momenta suffer from Landau damping, decaying into the continuum of particle-hole excitations. Here we point out that interactions can suppress this decay, protecting a finite fraction of the total spectral weight associated with the collective mode, e.g. a plasmon. The underlying mechanism is level repulsion between a discrete mode and the continuum. We demonstrate the effect using a number of simplified models of strongly correlated Fermi-liquid metals, including a ``solvable" random flavor model in the large$-N$ limit. We discuss in detail the possibility of observing such an avoided decay for plasmons in (moiré) graphene-like systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Unveiling the double-peak structure of quantum oscillations in the specific heat

Quantum oscillation phenomenon is an essential tool to understand the electronic structure of quantum matter. Here we report a systematic study of quantum oscillations in the electronic specific heat $C_{el}$ in natural graphite. We show that the crossing of a single spin Landau level and the Fermi energy give rise to a double-peak structure, in striking contrast to the single peak expected from Lifshitz-Kosevich theory. Intriguingly, the double-peak structure is predicted by the kernel term for $C_{el}/T$ in the free electron theory. The $C_{el}/T$ represents a spectroscopic tuning fork of width 4.8 $k_B T$ which can be tuned at will to resonance. Using a coincidence method, the double-peak structure can be used to accurately determine the Lande $g$-factor of quantum materials. More generally, the tuning fork can be used to reveal any peak in fermionic density of states tuned by magnetic field, such as Lifshitz transition in heavy-fermion compounds.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Emergence of ferromagnetism at the onset of moiré Kondo breakdown

The interaction of a lattice of localized magnetic moments with a sea of conduction electrons in Kondo lattice models induces rich quantum phases of matter, such as Fermi liquids with heavily renormalized electronic quasiparticles, quantum critical non-Fermi liquid metals and unconventional superconductors, among others. The recent demonstration of moiré Kondo lattices has opened the door to investigate the Kondo problem with continuously tunable parameters. Although a heavy Fermi liquid phase has been identified in moiré Kondo lattices, the magnetic phases and Kondo breakdown transitions remain unexplored. Here we report a density-tuned Kondo destruction in AB-stacked MoTe2/WSe2 moiré bilayers by combining magneto transport and optical studies. As the itinerant carrier density decreases, the Kondo temperature decreases. At a critical density, we observe a heavy Fermi liquid to insulator transition, and a nearly concomitant emergence of ferromagnetic order. The observation is consistent with the scenario of a ferromagnetic Anderson insulator and suppression of the Kondo screening effect. Our results pave the path for inducing other exotic quantum phase transitions in moiré Kondo lattices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

$T-$linear resistivity from magneto-elastic scattering: application to PdCrO$_2$

An electronic solid with itinerant carriers and localized magnetic moments represents a paradigmatic strongly correlated system. The electrical transport properties associated with the itinerant carriers, as they scatter off these local moments, has been scrutinized across a number of materials. Here we analyze the transport characteristics associated with ultra-clean PdCrO$_2$ -- a quasi two-dimensional material consisting of alternating layers of itinerant Pd-electrons and Mott-insulating CrO$_2$ layers -- which shows a pronounced regime of $T-$linear resistivity over a wide-range of intermediate temperatures. By contrasting these observations to the transport properties in a closely related material PdCoO$_2$, where the CoO$_2$ layers are band-insulators, we can rule out the traditional electron-phonon interactions as being responsible for this interesting regime. We propose a previously ignored electron-magnetoelastic interaction between the Pd-electrons, the Cr local-moments and an out-of-plane phonon as the main scattering mechanism that leads to the significant enhancement of resistivity and a $T-$linear regime in PdCrO$_2$ at temperatures far in excess of the magnetic ordering temperature. We suggest a number of future experiments to confirm this picture in PdCrO$_2$, as well as other layered metallic/Mott-insulating materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Jamming and Unusual Charge Density Fluctuations of Strange Metals

The strange metallic regime across a number of high-temperature superconducting materials presents numerous challenges to the classic theory of Fermi liquid metals. Recent measurements of the dynamical charge response of strange metals, including optimally doped cuprates, have revealed a broad, featureless continuum of excitations, extending over much of the Brillouin zone. The collective density oscillations of this strange metal decay into the continuum in a manner that is at odds with the expectations of Fermi liquid theory. Inspired by these observations, we investigate the phenomenology of bosonic collective modes and the particle-hole excitations in a class of strange metals by making an analogy to the phonons of classical lattices falling apart across an unconventional jamming-like transition associated with the onset of rigidity. By making comparisons to the experimentally measured dynamical response functions, we reproduce many of the qualitative features using the above framework. We conjecture that the dynamics of electronic charge density over an intermediate range of energy scales in a class of strongly correlated metals can be at the brink of a jamming-like transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Superconductivity, charge density wave, and supersolidity in flat bands with tunable quantum metric

Predicting the fate of an interacting system in the limit where the electronic bandwidth is quenched is often highly non-trivial. The complex interplay between interactions and quantum fluctuations driven by the band geometry can drive competition between various ground states, such as charge density wave order and superconductivity. In this work, we study an electronic model of topologically-trivial flat bands with a continuously tunable Fubini-Study metric in the presence of on-site attraction and nearest-neighbor repulsion, using numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations. By varying the electron filling and the minimal spatial extent of the localized flat-band Wannier wavefunctions, we obtain a number of intertwined orders. These include a phase with coexisting charge density wave (CDW) order and superconductivity, i.e., a supersolid. In spite of the non-perturbative nature of the problem, we identify an analytically tractable limit associated with a 'small' spatial extent of the Wannier functions and derive a low-energy effective Hamiltonian that can well describe our numerical results. We also provide unambiguous evidence for the violation of any putative lower bound on the zero-temperature superfluid stiffness in geometrically non-trivial flat bands.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Upper bounds on superconducting and excitonic phase-stiffness for interacting isolated narrow bands

Inspired by the discovery of superconductivity in moiré materials with isolated narrow bandwidth electronic bands, here we analyze critically the question of what is the maximum attainable $T_c$ in interacting flat-band systems. We focus specifically on the low-energy effective theory, where the density-density interactions are projected to the set of partially-filled flat bands. The resulting problem is inherently non-perturbative, where the standard mean-field approximation is not applicable. Here we develop further our recent Schrieffer-Wolff transformation based approach (PNAS, 120 (11), e2217816120 (2023)) to compute the effective electromagnetic response and the superconducting phase-stiffness in terms of "projected" gauge-transformations, and extend the formalism to compute the stiffness for excitonic superfluids. Importantly, our method requires neither any "wannierization" for the narrow bands of interest, regardless of their (non-)topological character, nor any knowledge of an underlying pairing-symmetry, and can be setup directly in momentum-space. We use this formalism to derive upper bounds on the phase-stiffness for sign-problem-free models, where their values are known independently from numerically exact quantum Monte-Carlo computations. We also illustrate the analytical structure of these bounds for the superconducting and excitonic phase-stiffness for perfectly flat-bands that have Landau-level-like wavefunctions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗