arXiv subjects

Eduardo Fradkin

Publications and source records attributed to Eduardo Fradkin.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Vestigial nematicity from spin and/or charge order in the cuprates

Nematic order has manifested itself in a variety of materials in the cuprate family. We propose an effective field theory of a layered system with incommensurate, intertwined spin- and charge-density wave (SDW and CDW) orders, each of which consists of two components related by $C_4$ rotations. Using a variational method (which is exact in a large $N$ limit), we study the development of nematicity from partially melting those density waves by either increasing temperature or adding quenched disorder. As temperature decreases we first find a transition to a nematic phase, but depending on the range of parameters (e.g. doping concentration) the strongest fluctuations associated with this phase reflect either proximate SDW or CDW order. We also discuss the changes in parameters that can account for the differences in the SDW-CDW interplay between the (214) family and the other hole-doped cuprates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quasiparticle Interference and Strong Electron-Mode Coupling in the Quasi-One-Dimensional Bands of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$

The single-layered ruthenate Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ has attracted a great deal of interest as a spin-triplet superconductor with an order parameter that may potentially break time reversal invariance and host half-quantized vortices with Majorana zero modes. While the actual nature of the superconducting state is still a matter of controversy, it has long been believed that it condenses from a metallic state that is well described by a conventional Fermi liquid. In this work we use a combination of Fourier transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy (FT-STS) and momentum resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (M-EELS) to probe interaction effects in the normal state of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Our high-resolution FT-STS data show signatures of the β-band with a distinctly quasi-one-dimensional (1D) character. The band dispersion reveals surprisingly strong interaction effects that dramatically renormalize the Fermi velocity, suggesting that the normal state of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is that of a 'correlated metal' where correlations are strengthened by the quasi 1D nature of the bands. In addition, kinks at energies of approximately 10meV, 38meV and 70meV are observed. By comparing STM and M-EELS data we show that the two higher energy features arise from coupling with collective modes. The strong correlation effects and the kinks in the quasi 1D bands may provide important information for understanding the superconducting state. This work opens up a unique approach to revealing the superconducting order parameter in this compound.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Out-of-time-order correlations in many-body localized and thermal phases

We use the out-of-time-order (OTO) correlators to study the slow dynamics in the many-body localized (MBL) phase. We investigate OTO correlators in the effective ("l-bit") model of the MBL phase, and show that their amplitudes after disorder averaging approach their long-time limits as power-laws of time. This power-law dynamics is due to dephasing caused by interactions between the localized operators that fall off exponentially with distance. The long-time limits of the OTO correlators are determined by the overlaps of the local operators with the conserved l-bits. We demonstrate numerically our results in the effective model and three other more "realistic" spin chain models. Furthermore, we extend our calculations to the thermal phase and find that for a time-independent Hamiltonian, the OTO correlators also appear to vanish as a power law at long time, perhaps due to coupling to conserved densities. In contrast, we find that in the thermal phase of a Floquet spin model with no conserved densities the OTO correlator decays exponentially at long times.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Composite Particle Theory of Three-dimensional Gapped Fermionic Phases: Fractional Topological Insulators and Charge-Loop Excitation Symmetry

Topological phases of matter are usually realized in deconfined phases of gauge theories. In this context, confined phases with strongly fluctuating gauge fields seem to be irrelevant to the physics of topological phases. For example, the low-energy theory of the two-dimensional (2D) toric code model (i.e. the deconfined phase of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory) is a $U(1)\times U(1)$ Chern-Simons theory in which gauge charges (i.e., $e$ and $m$ particles) are deconfined and the gauge fields are gapped, while the confined phase is topologically trivial. In this paper, we point out a new route to constructing exotic 3D gapped fermionic phases in a confining phase of a gauge theory. Starting from a parton construction with strongly fluctuating compact $U(1)\times U(1)$ gauge fields, we construct gapped phases of interacting fermions by condensing two linearly independent bosonic composite particles consisting of partons and $U(1)\times U(1)$ magnetic monopoles. This can be regarded as a 3D generalization of the 2D Bais-Slingerland condensation mechanism. Charge fractionalization results from a Debye-Hückel-like screening cloud formed by the condensed composite particles. Within our general framework, we explore two aspects of symmetry-enriched 3D Abelian topological phases. First, we construct a new fermionic state of matter with time-reversal symmetry and $Θ\neq π$, the fractional topological insulator. Second, we generalize the notion of anyonic symmetry of 2D Abelian topological phases to the charge-loop excitation symmetry ($\mathsf{Charles}$) of 3D Abelian topological phases. We show that line twist defects, which realize $\mathsf{Charles}$ transformations, exhibit non-Abelian fusion properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Entanglement Entropy and Mutual Information of Circular Entangling Surfaces in 2 + 1-dimensional Quantum Lifshitz Model

We investigate the entanglement entropy (EE) of circular entangling cuts in the 2+1-dimensional quantum Lifshitz model, whose ground state wave function is a spatially conformal invariant state of the Rokhsar-Kivelson type, whose weight is the Gibbs weight of 2D Euclidean free boson. We show that the finite subleading corrections of EE to the area-law term as well as the mutual information are conformal invariants and calculate them for cylinder, disk-like and spherical manifolds with various spatial cuts. The subtlety due to the boson compactification in the replica trick is carefully addressed. We find that in the geometry of a punctured plane with many small holes, the constant piece of EE is proportional to the number of holes, indicating the ability of entanglement to detect topological information of the configuration. Finally, we compare the mutual information of two small distant disks with Cardy's relativistic CFT scaling proposal. We find that in the quantum Lifshitz model, the mutual information also scales at long distance with a power determined by the lowest scaling dimension local operator in the theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Numerical evidence for a chiral spin liquid in the XXZ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice at $m=\frac{2}{3}$ magnetization

We perform an exact diagonalization study of the spin-$1/2$ XXZ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice at finite magnetization $m = \frac{2}{3}$ with an emphasis on the XY point ($J_z = 0$), and in the presence of a small chiral term. Recent analytic work by Kumar, Sun and Fradkin [Phys. Rev. B 90, 174409 (2014)] on the same model, using a newly developed flux attachment transformation, predicts a plateau at this value of the magnetization described by a chiral spin liquid (CSL) with a spin Hall conductance of $σ_{xy} = \frac{1}{2}$. Such a state is topological in nature, has a ground state degeneracy and exhibits fractional excitations. We analyze the degeneracy structure in the low energy manifold, identify the candidate topological states and use them to compute the modular matrices and Chern numbers all of which strongly agree with expected theoretical behavior for the $σ_{xy} = \frac{1}{2}$ CSL. We argue that the evidence suggests the CSL is robust even in the limit of zero external chirality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Nematic quantum phase transition of composite Fermi liquids in half-filled Landau levels and their geometric response

We present a theory of the isotropic-nematic quantum phase transition in the composite Fermi liquid arising in half-filled Landau levels. We show that the quantum phase transition between the isotropic and the nematic phase is triggered by an attractive quadrupolar interaction between electrons, as in the case of conventional Fermi liquids. We derive the theory of the nematic state and of the phase transition. This theory is based on the flux attachment procedure which maps an electron liquid in half-filled Landau levels into the composite Fermi liquid close to a nematic transition. We show that the local fluctuations of the nematic order parameters act as an effective dynamical metric interplaying with the underlying Chern-Simons gauge fields associated with the flux attachment. Both the fluctuations of the Chern-Simons gauge field and the nematic order parameter can destroy the composite fermion quasiparticles and drive the system into a non-Fermi liquid state. The effective field theory for the isotropic-nematic phase transition has $z = 3$ dynamical exponent due to Landau damping effects. We show that there is a Berry phase type term which governs the effective dynamics of the nematic order parameter fluctuations, which can be interpreted as a non-universal "Hall viscosity" of the dynamical metric. We show that the effective field theory has a Wen-Zee-type term. Both terms originate from the time-reversal breaking fluctuation of the Chern-Simons gauge fields. We present a perturbative computation of the Hall viscosity and also show that this term is also obtained by a Ward identity. We show that the disclination of the nematic fluid, carries an electric charge. We show that a resonance observed in radio-frequency conductivity experiments can be interpreted as a Goldstone nematic mode gapped by lattice effects.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Topological superconducting phases from inversion symmetry breaking order in spin-orbit-coupled systems

We analyze the superconducting instabilities in the vicinity of the quantum-critical point of an inversion symmetry breaking order. We first show that the fluctuations of the inversion symmetry breaking order lead to two degenerate superconducting (SC) instabilities, one in the $s$-wave channel, and the other in a time-reversal invariant odd-parity pairing channel (the simplest case being the same as the of $^3$He-B phase). Remarkably, we find that unlike many well-known examples, the selection of the pairing symmetry of the condensate is independent of the momentum-space structure of the collective mode that mediates the pairing interaction. We found that this degeneracy is a result of the existence of a conserved fermionic helicity, $χ$, and the two degenerate channels correspond to even and odd combinations of SC order parameters with $χ=\pm1$. As a result, the system has an enlarged symmetry $U(1)\times U(1)$, with each $U(1)\times U(1)$ corresponding to one value of the helicity $χ$. Because of the enlarged symmetry, this system admits exotic topological defects such as a fractional quantum vortex, which we show has a Majorana zero mode bound at its core. We discuss how the enlarged symmetry can be lifted by small perturbations, such as the Coulomb interaction or Fermi surface splitting in the presence of broken inversion symmetry, and we show that the resulting superconducting state can be topological or trivial depending on parameters. The $U(1)\times U(1)$ symmetry is restored at the phase boundary between the topological and trivial SC states, and allows for a transition between topologically distinct SC phases without the vanishing of the order parameter. We present a global phase diagram of the superconducting states and discuss possible experimental implications.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Instanton effects in lattice models of bosonic symmetry-protected topological states

Bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states are gapped disordered phases of matter possessing symmetry-preserving boundary excitations. It has been proposed that, at long wavelengths, the universal properties of an SPT system are captured by an effective non-linear sigma model field theory in the presence of a quantized topological theta-term. By studying lattice models of bosonic SPT states, we are able to identify, in their Euclidean path integral formulation, (discrete) Berry phases that hold relevant physical information on the nature of the SPT ground states. These discrete Berry phases are given intuitive physical interpretation in terms of instanton effects that capture the presence of a theta-term on the microscopic scale.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

A reexamination of the effective fine structure constant of graphene, as measured in graphite

We present a refined and improved study of the influence of screening on the effective fine structure constant of graphene, $α^*$, as measured in graphite using inelastic x-ray scattering. This follow-up to our previous study [J. P. Reed, et al., Science 330, 805 (2010)] was carried out with two times better energy resolution, five times better momentum resolution, and improved experimental setup with lower background. We compare our results to RPA calculations and evaluate the relative importance of interlayer hopping, excitonic corrections, and screening from high energy excitations involving the $σ$ bands. We find that the static, limiting value of $α^*$ falls in the range 0.25 to 0.35, which is higher than our previous result of 0.14, but still below the value expected from RPA. We show the reduced value is not a consequence of interlayer hopping effects, which were ignored in our previous analysis, but of a combination of excitonic effects in the $π\rightarrow π^*$ particle-hole continuum, and background screening from the $σ$-bonded electrons. We find that $σ$-band screening is extremely strong at distances of the order of a few nm, and should be highly effective at screening out short-distance, Hubbard-like interactions in graphene, as well as other carbon allotropes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Many-body Localization Transition in Rokhsar-Kivelson-type wave functions

We construct a family of many-body wave functions to study the many-body localization phase transition. The wave functions have a Rokhsar-Kivelson form, in which the weight for the configurations are chosen from the Gibbs weights of a classical spin glass model, known as the Random Energy Model, multiplied by a random sign structure to represent a highly excited state. These wave functions show a phase transition into an MBL phase. In addition, we see three regimes of entanglement scaling with subsystem size: scaling with entanglement corresponding to an infinite temperature thermal phase, constant scaling, and a sub-extensive scaling between these limits. Near the phase transition point, the fluctuations of the Rényi entropies are non-Gaussian. We find that Rényi entropies with different Rényi index transition into the MBL phase at different points and have different scaling behavior, suggesting a multifractal behavior.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2015

Effective hydrodynamic field theory and condensation picture of topological insulators

While many features of topological band insulators are commonly discussed at the level of single-particle electron wave functions, such as the gapless Dirac spectrum at their boundary, it remains elusive to develop a {\it hydrodynamic} or {\it collective} description of fermionic topological band insulators in 3+1 dimensions. As the Chern-Simons theory for the 2+1-dimensional quantum Hall effect, such a hydrodynamic effective field theory provides a universal description of topological band insulators, even in the presence of interactions, and that of putative fractional topological insulators. In this paper, we undertake this task by using the functional bosonization. The effective field theory in the functional bosonization is written in terms of a two-form gauge field, which couples to a $U(1)$ gauge field that arises by gauging the continuous symmetry of the target system (the $U(1)$ particle number conservation). Integrating over the $U(1)$ gauge field by using the electromagnetic duality, the resulting theory describes topological band insulators as a condensation phase of the $U(1)$ gauge theory (or as a monopole condensation phase of the dual gauge field). The hydrodynamic description, and the implication of its duality, of the surface of topological insulators are also discussed. We also touch upon the hydrodynamic theory of fractional topological insulators by using the parton construction.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Chiral spin liquids on the kagome Lattice

We study the nearest neighbor $XXZ$ Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Here we consider the effects of several perturbations: a) a chirality term, b) a Dzyaloshinski-Moriya term, and c) a ring-exchange type term on the bowties of the kagome lattice, and inquire if they can suppport chiral spin liquids as ground states. The method used to study these Hamiltonians is a flux attachment transformation that maps the spins on the lattice to fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field on the kagome lattice. This transformation requires us to consistently define a Chern-Simons term on the kagome lattice. We find that the chirality term leads to a chiral spin liquid even in the absence of an uniform magnetic field, with an effective spin Hall conductance of $\sxy = \frac{1}{2}$ in the regime of $XY$ anisotropy. The Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya term also leads a similar chiral spin liquid but only when this term is not too strong. An external magnetic field also has the possibility of giving rise to additional plateaus which also behave like chiral spin liquids in the $XY$ regime. Finally, we consider the effects of a ring-exchange term and find that, provided its coupling constant is large enough, it may trigger a phase transition into a chiral spin liquid by the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal invariance.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

A discretized Chern-Simons gauge theory on arbitrary graphs

In this paper, we show how to discretize the abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory on generic planar lattices/graphs (with or without translational symmetries) embedded in arbitrary 2D closed orientable manifolds. We find that, as long as a one-to-one correspondence between vertices and faces can be defined on the graph such that each face is paired up with a neighboring vertex (and vice versa), a discretized Chern-Simons theory can be constructed consistently. We further verify that all the essential properties of the Chern-Simons gauge theory are preserved in the discretized setup. In addition, we find that the existence of such a one-to-one correspondence is not only a sufficient condition for discretizing a Chern-Simons gauge theory but, for the discretized theory to be nonsingular and to preserve some key properties of the topological field theory, this correspondence is also a necessary one. A specific example will then be provided, in which we discretize the Chern-Simons gauge theory on a tetrahedron.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Theory of Twist Liquids: Gauging an Anyonic Symmetry

Topological phases in (2+1)-dimensions are frequently equipped with global symmetries, like conjugation, bilayer or electric-magnetic duality, that relabel anyons without affecting the topological structures. Twist defects are static point-like objects that permute the labels of orbiting anyons. Gauging these symmetries by quantizing defects into dynamical excitations leads to a wide class of more exotic topological phases referred as twist liquids, which are generically non-Abelian. We formulate a general gauging framework, characterize the anyon structure of twist liquids and provide solvable lattice models that capture the gauging phase transitions. We explicitly demonstrate the gauging of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric toric code, $SO(2N)_1$ and $SU(3)_1$ state as well as the $S_3$-symmetric $SO(8)_1$ state and a non-Abelian chiral state we call the "4-Potts" state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Quasi One Dimensional Pair Density Wave Superconducting State

We provide a quasi-one-dimensional model which can support a pair-density-wave (PDW) state, in which the superconducting (SC) order parameter modulates periodically in space, with gapless Bogoliubov quasiparticle excitations. The model consists of an array of strongly-interacting one-dimensional systems, where the one-dimensional systems are coupled to each other by local interactions and tunneling of the electrons and Cooper pairs between them. Within the interchain mean-field theory, we find several SC states from the model, including a conventional uniform SC state, PDW SC state, and a coexisting phase of the uniform SC and PDW states. In this quasi-1D regime we can treat the strong correlation physics essentially exactly using bosonization methods and the crossover to the 2D system by means of interchain mean field theory. The resulting critical temperatures of the SC phases generically exhibit a power-law scaling with the coupling constants of the array, instead of the essential singularity found in weak-coupling BCS-type theories. Electronic excitations with an open Fermi surface, which emerge from the electronic Luttinger liquid systems below their crossover temperature to the Fermi liquid, are then coupled to the SC order parameters via the proximity effect. From the Fermi surface thus coupled to the SC order parameters, we calculate the quasiparticle spectrum in detail. We show that the quasiparticle spectrum can be fully gapped or nodal in the uniform SC phase and also in the coexisting phase of the uniform SC and PDW parameters. In the pure PDW state, the excitation spectrum has a reconstructed Fermi surface in the form of Fermi pockets of Bogoliubov quasiparticles.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Theory of Intertwined Orders in High Temperature Superconductors

The electronic phase diagrams of many highly correlated systems, and in particular the cuprate high temperature superconductors, are complex, with many different phases appearing with similar-sometimes identical-ordering temperatures even as material properties, such as a dopant concentration, are varied over wide ranges. This complexity is sometimes referred to as "competing orders." However, since the relation is intimate, and can even lead to the existence of new phases of matter such as the putative "pair-density-wave," the general relation is better thought of in terms of "intertwined orders." We selectively analyze some of the experiments in the cuprates which suggest that essential aspects of the physics are reflected in the intertwining of multiple orders-not just in the nature of each order by itself. We also summarize and critique several theoretical ideas concerning the origin and implications of this complexity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Framing Anomaly in the Effective Theory of Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

We consider the geometric part of the effective action for Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE). It is shown that accounting for the framing anomaly of the quantum Chern-Simons theory is essential to the obtain correct gravitational linear response functions. In the lowest order in gradients the linear response generating functional includes Chern-Simons, Wen-Zee and gravitational Chern- Simons terms. The latter term has a contribution from the framing anomaly which fixes the value of thermal Hall conductivity and contributes to the Hall viscosity of the FQH states on a sphere. We also discuss the effects of the framing anomaly on linear responses for non-Abelian FQH states.

cond-mat.str-el↗