arXiv subjects

E. Dagotto

Publications and source records attributed to E. Dagotto.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Applying Adaptive Time-Dependent DMRG to Calculate the Conductance of Strongly Correlated Nanostructures

A procedure based on the recently developed ``adaptive'' time-dependent density-matrix-renormalization-group (DMRG) technique is presented to calculate the zero temperature conductance of nanostructures, such as a quantum dots (QD's) or molecular conductors, when represented by a small number of active levels. The leads are modeled using non-interacting tight-binding Hamiltonians. The ground state at time zero is calculated at zero bias. Then, a small bias is applied between the two leads, the wave-function is DMRG evolved in time, and currents are measured as a function of time. Typically, the current is expected to present periodicities over long times, involving intermediate well-defined plateaus that resemble steady states. The conductance can be obtained from those steady-state-like currents. To test this approach, several cases of interacting and non-interacting systems have been studied. Our results show excellent agreement with exact results in the non-interacting case. More importantly, the technique also reproduces quantitatively well-established results for the conductance and local density-of-states in both the cases of one and two coupled interacting QD's. The technique also works at finite bias voltages, and it can be extended to include interactions in the leads.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Electron Transport through a Molecular Conductor with Center-of-Mass Motion

The linear conductance of a molecular conductor oscillating between two metallic leads is investigated numerically both for Hubbard interacting and noninteracting electrons. The molecule-leads tunneling barriers depend on the molecule displacement from its equilibrium position. The results present an interesting interference which leads to a conductance dip at the electron-hole symmetry point, that could be experimentally observable. It is shown that this dip is caused by the destructive interference between the purely electronic and phonon-assisted tunneling channels, which are found to carry opposite phases. When an internal vibrational mode is also active, the electron-hole symmetry is broken but a Fano-like interference is still observed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Numerical modeling of the central spin problem using the spin coherent states P-representation

In this work, we consider decoherence of a central spin by a spin bath. In order to study the non-perturbative decoherence regimes, we develop an efficient mean-field-based method for modeling the spin-bath decoherence, based on the P-representation of the central spin density matrix. The method can be applied to longitudinal and transversal relaxation at different external fields. In particular, by modeling large-size quantum systems (up to 16000 bath spins), we make controlled predictions for the slow long-time decoherence of the central spin.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Phase Fluctuations in Strongly Coupled $d$-Wave Superconductors

We present a numerically exact solution for the BCS Hamiltonian at any temperature, including the degrees of freedom associated with classical phase, as well as amplitude, fluctuations via a Monte Carlo (MC) integration. This allows for an investigation over the whole range of couplings: from weak attraction, as in the well-known BCS limit, to the mainly unexplored strong-coupling regime of pronounced phase fluctuations. In the latter, for the first time two characteristic temperatures $T^\star$ and $T_c$, associated with short- and long-range ordering, respectively, can easily be identified in a mean-field-motivated Hamiltonian. $T^\star$ at the same time corresponds to the opening of a gap in the excitation spectrum. Besides introducing a novel procedure to study strongly coupled d-wave superconductors, our results indicate that classical phase fluctuations are not sufficient to explain the pseudo-gap features of high-temperature superconductors (HTS).

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Study of the One- and Two-Band Models for Colossal Magnetoresistive Manganites Using the Truncated Polynomial Expansion Method

Considerable progress has been recently made in the theoretical understanding of the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effect in manganites. The analysis of simple models with two competing states and a resistor network approximation to calculate conductances has confirmed that CMR effects can be theoretically reproduced using non-uniform clustered states. In this paper, the recently proposed Truncated Polynomial Expansion method (TPEM) for spin-fermion systems is tested using the double-exchange one-band, with finite Hund coupling $J_{\rm H}$, and two-band, with infinite $J_{\rm H}$, models. Two dimensional lattices as large as 48$\times$48 are studied, far larger than those that can be handled with standard exact diagonalization (DIAG) techniques for the fermionic sector. The clean limit (i.e. without quenched disorder) is here analyzed in detail. Phase diagrams are obtained, showing first-order transitions separating ferromagnetic metallic from insulating states. A huge magnetoresistance is found at low temperatures by including small magnetic fields, in excellent agreement with experiments. However, at temperatures above the Curie transition the effect is much smaller confirming that the standard finite-temperature CMR phenomenon cannot be understood using homogeneous states. By comparing results between the two methods, TPEM and DIAG, on small lattices, and by analyzing the systematic behavior with increasing cluster sizes, it is concluded that the TPEM is accurate to handle realistic manganite models on large systems. Our results pave the way to a frontal computational attack of the colossal magnetoresistance phenomenon using double-exchange like models, on large clusters, and including quenched disorder.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Transport properties of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots using a simple circuit model

Numerical calculations are shown to reproduce the main results of recent experiments involving nonlocal spin control in nanostructures (N. J. Craig et al., Science 304, 565 (2004)). In particular, the splitting of the zero-bias-peak discovered experimentally is clearly observed in our studies. To understand these results, a simple "circuit model" is introduced and shown to provide a good qualitative description of the experiments. The main idea is that the splitting originates in a Fano anti-resonance, which is caused by having one quantum dot side-connected in relation to the current's path. This scenario provides an explanation of Craig et al.'s results that is alternative to the RKKY proposal, which is here also addressed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

The One-Particle Spectral Function and the Local Density of States in a Phenomenological Mixed-Phase Model for High-Temperature Superconductors

The dynamical properties of a recently introduced phenomenological model for high temperature superconductors are investigated. In the clean limit, it was observed that none of the homogeneous or striped states that are induced by the model at low temperatures can reproduce the recent angle-resolved photoemission results for LSCO (Yoshida et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 027001 (2003)), that show a signal with two branches in the underdoped regime. On the other hand, upon including quenched disorder in the model and breaking the homogeneous state into ``patches'' that are locally either superconducting or antiferromagnetic, the two-branch spectra can be reproduced. In this picture, the nodal regions are caused by d-wave superconducting clusters. Studying the density of states (DOS), a pseudogap is observed, caused by the mixture of the gapped antiferromagnetic state and a d-wave superconductor. The local DOS can be interpreted using a mixed-phase picture, similarly as observed in tunneling experiments. It is concluded that a simple phenomenological model for cuprates can capture many of the features observed in the underdoped regime of these materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

The Truncated Polynomial Expansion Monte Carlo Method for Fermion Systems Coupled to Classical Fields: A Model Independent Implementation

A software library is presented for the polynomial expansion method (PEM) of the density of states (DOS) developed by two of the authors (N.F. and Y. M.). The library provides all necessary functions for the use of the PEM and its truncated version (TPEM) in a model independent way. The PEM/TPEM replaces the exact diagonalization of the one electron sector in models for fermions coupled to classical fields. The computational cost of the algorithm is O(N) -- with N the number of lattice sites -- for the TPEM which should be contrasted with the computational cost of the diagonalization technique that scales as O(N^4). The method is applied for the first time to a double exchange model with finite Hund coupling and also to diluted spin-fermion models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Role of strong correlation in the recent ARPES experiments for cuprate superconductors

Motivated by recent photoemission experiments on cuprates, the low-lying excitations of a strongly correlated superconducting state are studied numerically. It is observed that along the nodal direction these low-lying one-particle excitations show a linear momentum dependence for a wide range of excitation energies and, thus, they do not present a kink-like structure. The nodal Fermi velocity $v_{\rm F}$, as well as other observables, are systematically evaluated directly from the calculated dispersions, and they are found to compare well with experiments. It is argued that the parameter dependence of $v_{\rm F}$ is quantitatively explained by a simple picture of a renormalized Fermi velocity.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Phase Diagram of the Two-Leg Kondo Ladder

The phase diagram of the two-leg Kondo ladder is investigated using computational techniques. Ferromagnetism is present, but only at small conduction electron densities and robust Kondo coupling $J$. For densities $n\gtrsim0.4$ and any Kondo coupling, a paramagnetic phase is found. We also observed spin dimerization at densities $n$=1/4 and $n$=1/2. The spin structure factor at small $J$ peaks at $\vec{q}$=$(2n,0)π$ for $n\lesssim0.5$, and at $\vec{q}$=$(n,1)π$ for $n\gtrsim0.5$. The charge structure factor suggests that electrons behave as free particles with spin-1/2 (spin-0) for small (large) $J$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Superconducting Puddles and "Colossal'' Effects in Underdoped Cuprates

Phenomenological models for the antiferromagnetic (AF) vs. d-wave superconductivity competition in cuprates are studied using conventional Monte Carlo techniques. The analysis suggests that cuprates may show a variety of different behaviors in the very underdoped regime: local coexistence or first-order transitions among the competing orders, stripes, or glassy states with nanoscale superconducting (SC) puddles. The transition from AF to SC does not seem universal. In particular, the glassy state leads to the possibility of "colossal'' effects in some cuprates, analog of those in manganites. Under suitable conditions, non-superconducting Cu-oxides could rapidly become superconducting by the influence of weak perturbations that align the randomly oriented phases of the SC puddles in the mixed state. Consequences of these ideas for thin-film and photoemission experiments are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Prediction of Ferromagnetic Correlations in Coupled Double-Level Quantum Dots

Numerical results are presented for transport properties of two coupled double-level quantum dots. The results strongly suggest that under appropriate circumstances the dots can develop a novel ferromagnetic (FM) correlation at quarter-filling (one electron per dot). In the strong coupling regime (Coulomb repulsion larger than electron hopping) and with the inter-dot tunneling larger than the tunneling to the leads, an S=1 Kondo resonance develops in the density of states, leading to a peak in the conductance. A qualitative 'phase diagram', incorporating the new FM phase, is presented. It is also shown that the conditions necessary for the FM regime are less restrictive than naively believed, leading to its possible experimental observation in real quantum dots.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2004

Hole-pair symmetry and excitations in the strong-coupling extended t-Jz model: competition between d-wave and p-wave

We analytically calculate the ground state pairing symmetry and excitation spectra of two holes doped into the half-filled t-t'-t"-Jz model in the strong-coupling limit (Jz>>|t|,|t'|,|t"|). In leading order, this reduces to the t'-t"-Jz model, where there are regions of d-wave, s-wave, and (degenerate) p-wave symmetry. We find that the t-Jz model maps in lowest order onto the t'-t"-Jz model on the boundary between d and p symmetry, with a flat lower band in the pair excitation spectrum. In higher order, d-wave symmetry is selected from the lower pair band. However, we observe that the addition of the appropriate t'<0 and/or t''>0, the signs of t' and t" found in the hole-doped cuprates, could drive the hole-pair symmetry to p-wave, implying the possibility of competition between p-wave and d-wave pair ground states. (An added t'>0 and/or t" <0 generally tend to promote d-wave symmetry.) We perturbatively construct an extended quasi-pair for the t-Jz model. In leading order, there are contributions from sites at a distance of sqrt{2} lattice spacings apart; however, contributions from sites 2 lattice spacings apart, also of the same order, vanish identically. Finally, we compare our approach with analytic calculations for a 2x2 plaquette and with existing numerical work, and discuss possible relevance to the physical parameter regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Insulator to Metal Transition Induced by Disorder in a Model for Manganites

The physics of manganites appears to be dominated by phase competition among ferromagnetic metallic and charge-ordered antiferromagnetic insulating states. Previous investigations (Burgy {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 87}, 277202 (2001)) have shown that quenched disorder is important to smear the first-order transition between those competing states, and induce nanoscale inhomogeneities that produce the colossal magnetoresistance effect. Recent studies (Motome {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 167204 (2003)) have provided further evidence that disorder is important in the manganite context, unveiling an unexpected insulator-to-metal transition triggered by disorder in a one-orbital model with cooperative phonons. In this paper, a qualitative explanation for this effect is presented. It is argued that the transition occurs for disorder in the form of local random energies. Acting over an insulating states made out of a checkerboard arrangement of charge, with ``effective'' site energies positive and negative, this form of disorder can produce lattice sites with an effective energy near zero, favorable for the transport of charge. This explanation is based on Monte Carlo simulations and the study of simplified toy models, measuring the density-of-states, cluster conductances using the Landauer formalism, and other observables. The applicability of these ideas to real manganites is discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Single-Band Model for Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors: Dynamical and Transport Properties and Relevance of Clustered States

Dynamical and transport properties of a simple single-band spin-fermion lattice model for (III,Mn)V diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) is here discussed using Monte Carlo simulations. This effort is a continuation of previous work (G. Alvarez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 277202 (2002)) where the static properties of the model were studied. The present results support the view that the relevant regime of J/t (standard notation) is that of intermediate coupling, where carriers are only partially trapped near Mn spins, and locally ordered regions (clusters) are present above the Curie temperature T_C. This conclusion is based on the calculation of the resistivity vs. temperature, that shows a soft metal to insulator transition near T_C, as well on the analysis of the density-of-states and optical conductivity. In addition, in the clustered regime a large magnetoresistance is observed in simulations. Formal analogies between DMS and manganites are also discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Theoretical Study of Half-Doped Models for Manganites: Fragility of the CE Phase with Disorder, Two Types of Colossal Magnetoresistances, and Charge-Ordered States for Electron-Doped Materials

A comprehensive analysis of half-doped manganites is presented using Monte Carlo simulations applied to the double-exchange model with cooperative Jahn-Teller lattice distortions in two dimensions. A variety of novel results are reported: (i) The phase diagram is established in the lambda-J_ AF plane, with lambda the electron-phonon coupling and J_AF the antiferromagnetic exchange between classical t_2g spins. The results include standard phases, such as the CE-insulating and FM-metallic regimes, but they also unveil novel states, such as a ferromagnetic charge-ordered (CO) orbital-ordered phase compatible with recent experimental results by Loudon et al. (ii) For realistic couplings, it was observed that the charge disproportionation delta of the CO phase is far from the widely accepted extreme limit delta=0.5 of a 3+/4+ charge separation. A far smaller delta appears more realistic, in agreement with recent experiments by Garcia et al. and Daoud-Aladine it et al. (iii) Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effects are found in calculations of cluster resistances using the Landauer formalism. This occurs near the ubiquitous first-order phase transitions between the insulating and metallic states. (iv) The CE-state is found to be (very sensitive to disorder) since its long-range order rapidly disappears when quenched-disorder is introduced, contrary to the FM state which is more robust. This is also in qualitative agreement with recent experiments by Akahoshi et al. and Nakajima et al. (v) The phase diagram in the half-doped (electron doping) regime is briefly discussed as well. A charge-ordered state is found which is the analog of the x=0.5 CE phase. It contains a 3+/2+ charge arrangement at large lambda.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Clustered States as a New Paradigm of Condensed Matter Physics

We argue that several materials of much current interest in condensed matter physics share common phenomenological aspects that only very recent investigations are unveiling. The list includes colossal magnetoresistance manganites, high temperature superconducting cuprates, diluted magnetic semiconductors, and others. The common aspect is the relevance of intrinsic inhomogeneities in the form of "clustered states", as explained in the text.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Study of Percolative Transitions with First-Order Characteristics in the Context of CMR Manganites

The unusual magneto-transport properties of manganites are widely believed to be caused by mixed-phase tendencies and concomitant percolative processes. However, dramatic deviations from "standard" percolation have been unveiled experimentally. Here, a semi-phenomenological description of Mn oxides is proposed based on coexisting clusters with smooth surfaces, as suggested by Monte Carlo simulations of realistic models for manganites, also briefly discussed here. The present approach produces fairly abrupt percolative transitions and even first-order discontinuities, in agreement with experiments. These transitions may describe the percolation that occurs after magnetic fields align the randomly oriented ferromagnetic clusters believed to exist above the Curie temperature in Mn oxides. In this respect, part of the manganite phenomenology could belong to a new class of percolative processes triggered by phase competition and correlations.

cond-mat↗