arXiv subjects

E. A. Stepanov

Publications and source records attributed to E. A. Stepanov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Superconductivity of Bad Fermions: Origin of Two Gaps in HTSC Cuprates

We investigate the spectral properties of the doped ${t-t'}$ Hubbard model with parameters typical for high-temperature cuprate superconductors. Our approach is based on a novel strong-coupling Green's function expansion around a reference system -- the exactly solvable undoped particle-hole symmetric Hubbard lattice -- that possesses a large antiferromagnetic Mott-Hubbard-Slater gap in the electron spectrum. The electron spectral function in the case of a large next-nearest-neighbor hopping ${t'=-0.3t}$, which is characteristic of the ${T_c \approx 100\,\text{K}}$ family of cuprates, reveals a strongly renormalized flat band feature with a pseudogap around the antinodal point. The superconducting response of this system to a small ${d_{x^2-y^2}}$-like external field exhibits a very unusual form. It features a pseudogap at the antinodal point in the normal part of the Nambu Green's function, related to a ``bad-fermion'' behavior in a normal phase, as well as a ${d}$-wave-like structure in the anomalous (Gorkov's) Green's function, with zero response at the nodal point of the Brillouin zone. Remarkably, we find that the anomalous part of the response deviates essentially from the simplest ${(\cos{k_x}-\cos{k_y})}$ form in momentum space. Specifically, its extrema are shifted away from the ${(π,0)}$ and ${(0,π)}$ points due to suppression of the response by the pseudogap. The observed two-gap structure of the electron spectra in a generic strong-coupling model of cuprates can serve as a basis for phenomenological treatment of different physical properties of high-temperature superconductors within two-fluid model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Extended regime of coexisting metallic and insulating phases in a two-orbital electronic system

We investigate the metal-to-insulator phase transition driven by the density-density electronic interaction in the quarter-filled model on a cubic lattice with two orbitals split by a crystal field. We show that a systematic consideration of the non-local collective electronic fluctuations strongly affects the picture of the phase transition provided by the dynamical mean field theory. Our calculations reveal the appearance of metallic and Mott insulating states characterised by the same density but different values of the chemical potential, which is missing in the local approximation to electronic correlations. We find that the region of concomitant metastability of these two solutions is remarkably broad in terms of the interaction strength. It starts at a critical value of the interaction slightly larger than the bandwidth and extends to more than twice the bandwidth, where the two solutions merge into a Mott insulating phase. Our results illustrate that non-local correlations can have crucial consequences on the electronic properties in the strongly correlated regime of the simplest multi-orbital systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Coexistence of $s$-wave superconductivity and phase separation in the half-filled extended Hubbard model with attractive interactions

Understanding competing instabilities in systems with correlated fermions remains one of the holy grails of modern condensed matter physics. Among the fermionic lattice models used to this effect, the extended Hubbard model occupies a prime place due to the potential relevance of its repulsive and attractive versions for both electronic materials and artificial systems. Using the recently introduced multi-channel fluctuating field approach, we address the interplay of charge density wave, $s$-wave superconductivity, and phase separation fluctuations in the attractive extended Hubbard model. Despite of the fact that this model has been intensively studied for decades, our novel approach has allowed us to identify a novel phase that is characterised by the coexistence of $s$-wave superconductivity and phase separation. Our findings resonate with previous observations of interplaying phase separation and superconducting phases in electronic systems, most importantly in high-temperature superconductors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Multi-channel fluctuating field approach to competing instabilities in interacting electronic systems

Systems with strong electronic Coulomb correlations often display rich phase diagrams exhibiting different ordered phases involving spin, charge, or orbital degrees of freedom. The theoretical description of the interplay of the corresponding collective fluctuations giving rise to this phenomenology remains however a tremendous challenge. Here, we introduce a multi-channel extension of the recently developed fluctuating field approach to competing collective fluctuations in correlated electron systems. The method is based on a variational optimization of a trial action that explicitly contains the order parameters of the leading fluctuation channels. It gives direct access to the free energy of the system, facilitating the distinction between stable and meta-stable phases of the system. We apply our approach to the extended Hubbard model in the weak to intermediate coupling regime where we find it to capture the interplay of competing charge density wave and antiferromagnetic fluctuations with qualitative agreement with more computationally expensive methods. The multi-channel fluctuation field approach thus offers a promising new route for a numerically cheap treatment of the interplay between collective fluctuations in large systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Reconstruction of classical skyrmions from Anderson towers: quantum Darwinism in action

The development of the quantum skyrmion concept is aimed at expanding the scope of the fundamental research and practical applications for classical topologically-protected magnetic textures, and potentially paves the way for creating new quantum technologies. Undoubtedly, this calls for establishing a connection between a classical skyrmion and its quantum counterpart: a skyrmion wave function is an intrinsically more complex object than a non-collinear configuration of classical spins representing the classical skyrmion. Up to date, such a quantum-classical relation was only established on the level of different physical observables, but not for classical and quantum states per se. In this work, we show that the classical skyrmion spin order can be reconstructed using only the low-energy part of the spectrum of the corresponding quantum spin Hamiltonian. This can be done by means of a flexible symmetry-free numerical realization of Anderson's idea of the towers of states (TOS) that allows one to study known, as well as unknown, classical spin configurations with a proper choice of the loss function. We show that the existence of the TOS in the spectrum of the quantum systems does not guarantee a priori that the classical skyrmion magnetization profile can be obtained as an outcome of the actual measurement. This procedure should be complemented by a proper decoherence mechanism due to the interaction with the environment. The later selects a specific combination of the TOS eigenfunctions before the measurement and, thus, ensures the transition from a highly-entangled quantum skyrmionic state to a classical non-collinear magnetic order that is measured in real experiments. The results obtained in the context of skyrmions allow us to take a fresh look at the problem of quantum antiferromagnetism.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Spin dynamics of itinerant electrons: local magnetic moment formation and Berry phase

The state-of-the-art theoretical description of magnetic materials relies on solving effective Heisenberg spin problems or their generalizations to relativistic or multi-spin-interaction cases that explicitly assume the presence of local magnetic moments in the system. We start with a general interacting fermionic model that is often obtained in ab initio electronic structure calculations and show that the corresponding spin problem can be introduced even in the paramagnetic regime, which is characterized by a zero average value of the magnetization. Further, we derive a physical criterion for the formation of the local magnetic moment and confirm that the latter exists already at high temperatures well above the transition to the ordered magnetic state. The use of path-integral techniques allows us to disentangle spin and electronic degrees of freedom and to carefully separate rotational dynamics of the local magnetic moment from Higgs fluctuations of its absolute value. It also allows us to accurately derive the topological Berry phase and relate it to a physical bosonic variable that describes dynamics of the spin degrees of freedom. As the result, we demonstrate that the equation of motion in the case of a large magnetic moment takes a conventional Landau-Lifshitz form that explicitly accounts for the Gilbert damping due to itinerant nature of the original electronic model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Coexisting charge density wave and ferromagnetic instabilities in monolayer InSe

Recently fabricated InSe monolayers exhibit remarkable characteristics that indicate the potential of this material to host a number of many-body phenomena. Here, we consistently describe collective electronic effects in hole-doped InSe monolayers using advanced many-body techniques. To this end, we derive a realistic electronic-structure model from first principles that takes into account the most important characteristics of this material, including a flat band with prominent van Hove singularities in the electronic spectrum, strong electron-phonon coupling, and weakly-screened long-ranged Coulomb interactions. We calculate the temperature-dependent phase diagram as a function of band filling and observe that this system is in a regime with coexisting charge density wave and ferromagnetic instabilities that are driven by strong electronic Coulomb correlations. This regime can be achieved at realistic doping levels and high enough temperatures, and can be verified experimentally. We find that the electron-phonon interaction does not play a crucial role in these effects, effectively suppressing the local Coulomb interaction without changing the qualitative physical picture.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Impact of partially bosonized collective fluctuations on electronic degrees of freedom

In this work we present a comprehensive analysis of collective electronic fluctuations and their effect on single-particle properties of the Hubbard model. Our approach is based on a standard dual fermion/boson scheme with the interaction truncated at the two-particle level. Within this framework we compare various approximations that differ in the set of diagrams (ladder vs exact diagrammatic Monte Carlo), and/or in the form of the four-point interaction vertex (exact vs partially bosonized). This allows to evaluate the effect of all components of the four-point vertex function on the electronic self-energy. In particular, we observe that contributions that are not accounted for by the partially bosonized approximation for the vertex have only a minor effect on electronic degrees of freedom in a broad range of model parameters. In addition, we find that in the regime, where the ladder dual fermion approximation provides an accurate solution of the problem, the leading contribution to the self-energy is given by the longitudional bosonic modes. This can be explained by the fact that contributions of transverse particle-hole and particle-particle modes partially cancel each other. Our results justify the applicability of the recently introduced dual triply irreducible local expansion (D-TRILEX) method that represents one of the simplest consistent diagrammatic extensions of the dynamical mean-field theory. We find that the self-consistent D-TRILEX approach is reasonably accurate also in challenging regimes of the Hubbard model, even where the dynamical mean-field theory does not provide the optimal local reference point (impurity problem) for the diagrammatic expansion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Probing the topology of the quantum analog of a classical skyrmion

In magnetism, skyrmions correspond to classical three-dimensional spin textures characterized by a topological invariant that keeps track of the winding of the magnetization in real space, a property that cannot be easily generalized to the quantum case since the orientation of a quantum spin is in general ill-defined. Moreover, as we show, the quantum skyrmion state cannot be directly observed in modern experiments that probe the local magnetization of the system. However, we show that this novel quantum state can still be identified and fully characterized by a special local three-spin correlation function defined on neighbouring lattice sites -- the scalar chirality -- which reduces to the classical topological invariant for large systems, and which is shown to be nearly constant in the quantum skyrmion phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Dual Boson Diagrammatic Monte Carlo Approach Applied to the Extended Hubbard Model

In this work we introduce the Dual Boson Diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique for strongly interacting electronic systems. This method combines the strength of dynamical mean-filed theory for non-perturbative description of local correlations with the systematic account of non-local corrections in the Dual Boson theory by the diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach. It allows us to get a numerically exact solution of the dual boson theory at the two-particle local vertex level for the extended Hubbard model. We show that it can be efficiently applied to description of single particle observables in a wide range of interaction strengths. We compare our exact results for the self-energy with the ladder Dual Boson approach and determine a physical regime, where description of collective electronic effects requires more accurate consideration beyond the ladder approximation. Additionally, we find that the order-by-order analysis of the perturbative diagrammatic series for the single-particle Green's function allows to estimate the transition point to the charge density wave phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Dynamically induced doublon repulsion in the Fermi-Hubbard model probed by a single-particle density of states

We investigate the possibility to control dynamically the interactions between repulsively bound pairs of fermions (doublons) in correlated systems with off-resonant ac fields. We introduce an effective Hamiltonian that describes the physics of doublons up to the second-order in the high-frequency limit. It unveils that the doublon interaction, which is attractive in equilibrium, can be completely suppressed and then switched to repulsive by varying the power of the ac field. We show that the signature of the dynamical repulsion between doublons can be found in the single-fermion density of states averaged in time. Our results are further supported by nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory simulations for the half-filled Fermi-Hubbard model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

From local to non-local correlations: the Dual Boson perspective

Extended dynamical mean-field theory (EDMFT) is insufficient to describe non-local effects in strongly correlated systems, since corrections to the mean-field solution are generally large. We present an efficient scheme for the construction of diagrammatic extensions of EDMFT that avoids usual double counting problem by using an exact change of variables (the dual boson formalism) to distinguish the correlations included in the mean-field solution and those beyond. With a computational efficiency comparable to EDMFT+GW approach, our scheme significantly improves on the charge order transition phase boundary in the extended Hubbard model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Nonlinear optical study of commensurability effects in graphene-hBN heterostructures

Second-order nonlinear optical response allows to detect different properties of the system associated with the inversion symmetry breaking. Here, we use a second harmonic generation effect to investigate the alignment of a graphene/hexagonal Boron Nitride heterostructure. To achieve that, we activate a commensurate-incommensurate phase transition by a thermal annealing of the sample. We find that this structural change in the system can be directly observed through a strong modification of a nonlinear optical signal. This result reveals the potential of a second harmonic generation technique for probing structural properties of layered systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Consistent partial bosonization of the extended Hubbard model

We design an efficient and balanced approach that captures major effects of collective electronic fluctuations in strongly correlated fermionic systems using a simple diagrammatic expansion on a basis of dynamical mean-field theory. For this aim we perform a partial bosonization of collective fermionic fluctuations in leading channels of instability. We show that a simultaneous account for different bosonic channels can be done in a consistent way that allows to avoid the famous Fierz ambiguity problem. The present method significantly improves a description of an effective screened interaction $W$ in both, charge and spin channels, and has a great potential for application to realistic $GW$-like calculations for magnetic materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Dual Boson approach with instantaneous interaction

The Dual Boson approach to strongly correlated systems generally involves a dynamic (frequency-dependent) interaction in the auxiliary impurity model. In this work, we explore the consequences of forcing this interaction to be instantaneous (frequency-independent) via the use of a self-consistency condition on the instantaneous susceptibility. The result is a substantial simplification of the impurity model, especially with an eye on realistic multiband implementations, while keeping desireable properties of the Dual Boson approach, such as the charge conservation law, intact. We show and illustrate numerically that this condition enforces the absence of phase transitions in finite systems, as should be expected from general physical considerations, and respects the Mermin-Wagner theorem. In particular, the theory does not allow the metal to insulator phase transition associated with the formation of the magnetic order in the two-dimensional system. At the same time, the metal to charge ordered phase transition is allowed, as it is not associated with the spontaneous breaking of a continuous symmetry, and is accurately captured by the introduced approach.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Effective Ising model for correlated systems with charge ordering

Collective electronic fluctuations in correlated materials give rise to various important phenomena, such as existence of the charge ordering, superconductivity, Mott insulating and magnetic phases, plasmon and magnon modes, and other interesting features of such systems. Unfortunately, description of these correlation effects requires significant efforts, since they almost entirely rely on strong local and nonlocal electron-electron interactions. Some collective phenomena, such as magnetism, can be sufficiently described by a simple Heisenberg-like models that are formulated in terms of bosonic variables. This fact suggests that other many-body excitations can also be described by simple bosonic models in spirit of the Heisenberg theory. Here we derive an effective bosonic action for charge degrees of freedom for the extended Hubbard model and define a physical regime where the obtained action reduces to a classical Hamiltonian of an effective Ising model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Resonant optical second harmonic generation in graphene-based heterostructures

An optical Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG) allows to probe various structural and symmetry-related properties of materials, since it is sensitive to the inversion symmetry breaking in the system. Here, we investigate the SHG response from a single layer of graphene disposed on an insulating hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) substrates. The considered systems are described by a non-interacting tight-binding model with a mass term, which describes a non-equivalence of two sublattices of graphene when the latter is placed on a substrate. The resulting SHG signal linearly depends on the degree of the inversion symmetry breaking (value of the mass term) and reveals several resonances associated with the band gap, van Hove singularity, and band width. The difficulty in distinguishing between SHG signals coming from the considered heterostrusture and environment (insulating substrate) can be avoided applying a homogeneous magnetic field. The latter creates Landau levels in the energy spectrum and leads to multiple resonances in the SHG spectrum. Position of these resonances explicitly depends on the value of the mass term. We show that at energies below the band-gap of the substrate the SHG signal from the massive graphene becomes resonant at physically relevant values of the applied magnetic field, while the SHG response from the environment stays off-resonant.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Nanoskyrmions

Skyrmions in condensed matter physics appear as classical topological spin structures. This nontrivial state can be obtained solving the corresponding micromagnetic model, where the magnetization is treated as a continuous classical vector field. Here, we introduce a new concept of quantum skyrmions of a nanoscale size. This distinct magnetic state can be formed in spin-1/2 low dimensional magnets characterized by a strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. This concept can also be applied to usual spin systems characterized by a nonzero exchange interaction if the quantum solution of the problem is accessible. To perform a complete characterization of such a quantum nanoskyrmion state, we analyze basis functions giving the largest contribution to the ground state at different values of external magnetic field and temperature. We observe that the quantum skyrmionic state is stabilized even when the corresponding classical skyrmionic solution has already undergone a phase transition towards the polarized ferromagnetic state.

cond-mat.str-el↗