arXiv subjects

Floris Balm

Publications and source records attributed to Floris Balm.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Natural anomalous cyclotron response in a hydrodynamic local quantum critical metal in a periodic potential

We study DC magnetotransport in a quantum critical metal in the presence of a lattice. In the regime where the transport is hydrodynamical the interplay of the Lorentz force and the lattice gives rise to a natural anomalous contribution to the cyclotron frequency that changes it from its canonical charge-to-mass ratio. The size of this effect is universal as it is determined only by thermodynamic quantities. Remarkably the Drude weight changes in such a way that to first subleading order in the lattice strength the Hall resistivity and Hall coefficient do not change, though the Hall angle does change. We confirm our results with numerical simulations in a holographic model of a strange metal. For weak lattice strength these hydrodynamic effects are shown to be present. The numerical simulations also suggest that strong lattice effects beyond a hydrodynamic regime may provide a resolution to the experimentally observed anomalous Hall response of cuprate strange metals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

T-linear resistivity, optical conductivity and Planckian transport for a holographic local quantum critical metal in a periodic potential

High $T_c$ cuprate strange metals are noted for a DC-resistivity that scales linearly with $T$ from the onset of superconductivity to the crystal melting temperature, indicative of a Planckian dissipation life time $\tau_{\hbar}\simeq \hbar /(k_B T)$. At the same time, the optical conductivity ceases to be of Drude form at high temperatures, suggesting a change of the underlying dynamics that surprisingly leaves the $T$-linear DC-resistivity unaffected. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence that describes strongly coupled, densely entangled metals to study DC thermo-electrical transport and the optical conductivities of the local quantum critical Gubser-Rocha holographic strange metal in the presence of a lattice potential, a prime candidate to compare with experiment. We find that the DC-resistivity is linear in $T$ at low temperatures for a range of lattice strengths and wavevectors, even as it transitions between different dissipative regimes. At weak lattice potential the optical conductivity evolves with increasing temperature from a Drude form to a bad-metal characterized by a mid-IR resonance without changing the DC transport, similar to that seen in cuprate strange metals. This mid-IR peak and its temperature evolution can be understood as a consequence of Umklapp hydrodynamics: hydrodynamic perturbations are Bloch modes in the presence of a lattice. At strong lattice potential an incoherent metal is realized instead where momentum conservation no longer plays a role in transport. In this regime the thermal diffusivity can be explained by Planckian dissipation originating in universal microscopic chaos, similar to holographic metals with strong homogeneous momentum relaxation. The charge diffusivity does not submit to this chaos explanation, even though the continuing linear-in-$T$ DC resistivity saturates to an apparent universal slope, numerically equal to a Planckian rate.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Quantization and variational problem of the Gubser-Rocha Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton model, conformal and non-conformal deformations, and its proper thermodynamics

We show that the strongly coupled field theory holographically dual to the Gubser-Rocha anti-de-Sitter Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theory describes not a single non-trivial AdS$_2$ IR fixed point, but a one-parameter family. It is dual to a local quantum critical phase instead of a quantum critical point. This result follows from a detailed analysis of the possible quantizations of the gravitational theory that is consistent with the thermodynamics of the analytical Gubser-Rocha black hole solution. The analytic Gubser-Rocha black hole is only a 2-parameter subset of all possible solutions, and we construct other members numerically. These new numerical solutions correspond to turning on an additional scalar charge. Moreover, each solution has multiple holographic interpretations depending on the quantization chosen. In one particular quantization involving a multitrace deformation the scalar charge is a marginal operator. In other quantizations where the marginal multitrace operator is turned off, the analytic Gubser-Rocha black hole does not describe a finite temperature conformal fluid.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Crystal gravity

We address a subject that could have been analyzed century ago: how does the universe of general relativity look like when it would have been filled with solid matter? Solids break spontaneously the translations and rotations of space itself. Only rather recently it was realized in various context that the order parameter of the solid has a relation to Einsteins dynamical space time which is similar to the role of a Higgs field in a Yang-Mills gauge theory. Such a "crystal gravity" is therefore like the Higgs phase of gravity. The usual Higgs phases are characterized by a special phenomenology. A case in point is superconductivity exhibiting phenomena like the Type II phase, characterized by the emergence of an Abrikosov lattice of quantized magnetic fluxes absorbing the external magnetic field. What to expect in the gravitational setting? The theory of elasticity is the universal effective field theory associated with the breaking of space translations and rotations having a similar status as the phase action describing a neutral superfluid. A geometrical formulation appeared in its long history, similar in structure to general relativity, which greatly facilitates the marriage of both theories. With as main limitation that we focus entirely on stationary circumstances -- the dynamical theory is greatly complicated by the lack of Lorentz invariance -- we will present a first exploration of a remarkably rich and often simple physics of "Higgsed gravity".

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Isolated zeros destroy Fermi surface in holographic models with a lattice

We study the fermionic spectral density in a strongly correlated quantum system described by a gravity dual. In the presence of periodically modulated chemical potential, which models the effect of the ionic lattice, we explore the shapes of the corresponding Fermi surfaces, defined by the location of peaks in the spectral density at the Fermi level. We find that at strong lattice potentials sectors of the Fermi surface are unexpectedly destroyed and the Fermi surface becomes an arc-like disconnected manifold. We explain this phenomenon in terms of a collision of the Fermi surface pole with zeros of the fermionic Green's function, which are explicitly computable in the holographic dual.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Theory of high pressure hydrogen, made simple

Phase I of hydrogen has several peculiarities. Despite having a close-packed crystal structure, it is less dense than either the low temperature Phase II or the liquid phase. At high pressure, it transforms into either phase III or IV, depending on the temperature. Moreover, spectroscopy suggests that the quantum rotor behaviour disappears with pressurisation, without any apparent phase transition. Here we present a simple thermodynamic model for this behaviour based on packing atoms and molecules and discuss the thermodynamics of the phase boundaries. We also report first principles molecular dynamics calculations for a more detailed look at the same phase transitions.

physics.comp-ph↗