arXiv subjects

Jing-Rong Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Jing-Rong Wang.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Phase transition with trivial quantum criticality in anisotropic Weyl semimetal

When a metal undergoes continuous quantum phase transition, the correlation length diverges at the critical point and the quantum fluctuation of order parameter behaves as a gapless bosonic mode. Generically, the coupling of this boson to fermions induces a variety of unusual quantum critical phenomena, such as non-Fermi liquid behavior and various emergent symmetries. Here, we perform a renormalization group analysis of the semimetal-superconductor quantum criticality in a three-dimensional anisotropic Weyl semimetal. Surprisingly, distinct from previously studied quantum critical systems, the anomalous dimension of anisotropic Weyl fermions flows to zero very quickly with decreasing energy, and the quasiparticle residue takes a nonzero value. These results indicate that, the quantum fluctuation of superconducting order parameter is irrelevant at low energies, and a simple mean-field calculation suffices to capture the essential physics of the superconducting transition. We thus obtain a phase transition that exhibits trivial quantum criticality, which is unique comparing to other invariably nontrivial quantum critical systems. Our theoretical prediction can be experimentally verified by measuring the fermion spectral function and specific heat.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Robustness of the semimetal state of Na3Bi and Cd3As2 against Coulomb interaction

We study the excitonic semimetal-insulator quantum phase transition in three-dimensional Dirac semimetal in which the fermion dispersion is strongly anisotropic. After solving the Dyson-Schwinger equation for the excitonic gap, we obtain a global phase diagram in the plane spanned by the parameter for Coulomb interaction strength and the parameter for fermion velocity anisotropy. We find that excitonic gap generation is promoted as the interaction becomes stronger, but is suppressed if the anisotropy increases. Applying our results to two realistic three-dimensional Dirac semimetals Na$_{3}$Bi and Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$, we establish that their exact zero-temperature ground state is gapless semimetal, rather than excitonic insulator. Moreover, these two materials are far from the excitonic quantum critical point, thus there should not be any observable evidence for excitonic insulating behavior. This conclusion is in general agreement with the existing experiments of Na$_{3}$Bi and Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Superconductivity around nematic quantum critical point in two-dimensional metals

We study the properties of $s$-wave superconductivity induced around a nematic quantum critical point in two-dimensional metals. The strong Landau damping and the Cooper pairing between incoherent fermions have dramatic mutual influence on each other, and hence should be treated on an equal footing. This problem is addressed by analyzing the self-consistent Dyson-Schwinger equations for the superconducting gap and Landau damping rate. We solve the equations at zero temperature without making any linearization, and show that the superconducting gap is maximized at the quantum critical point and decreases rapidly as the system departs from this point. The interplay between nematic fluctuation and an additional pairing interaction, caused by phonon or other boson mode, is also investigated. The total superconducting gap generated by such interplay can be several times larger than the direct sum of the gaps separately induced by these two pairing interactions. This provides a promising way to achieve remarkable enhancement of superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Quantum phase transition and unusual critical behavior in multi-Weyl semimetals

The low-energy behaviors of gapless double- and triple-Weyl fermions caused by the interplay of long-range Coulomb interaction and quenched disorder are studied by performing a renormalization group analysis. It is found that an arbitrarily weak disorder drives the double-Weyl semimetal to undergo a quantum phase transition into a compressible diffusive metal, independent of the disorder type and the Coulomb interaction strength. In contrast, the nature of the ground state of triple-Weyl fermion system relies sensitively on the specific disorder type in the noninteracting limit: The system is turned into a compressible diffusive metal state by an arbitrarily weak random scalar potential or $z$ component of random vector potential but exhibits stable critical behavior when there is only $x$ or $y$ component of random vector potential. In case the triple-Weyl fermions couple to random scalar potential, the system becomes a diffusive metal in the weak interaction regime but remains a semimetal if Coulomb interaction is sufficiently strong. Interplay of Coulomb interaction and $x$, or $y$, component of random vector potential leads to a stable infrared fixed point that is likely to be characterized by critical behavior. When Coulomb interaction coexists with the $z$ component of random vector potential, the system flows to the interaction-dominated strong coupling regime, which might drive a Mott insulating transition. It is thus clear that double- and triple-Weyl fermions exhibit distinct low-energy behavior in response to interaction and disorder. The physical explanation of such distinction is discussed in detail. The role played by long-range Coulomb impurity in triple-Weyl semimetal is also considered.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical gap generation in 2D Dirac semimetal with deformed Dirac cone

According to the extensive theoretical and experimental investigations, it is widely accepted that the long-range Coulomb interaction is too weak to generate a dynamical excitonic gap in graphene with a perfect Dirac cone. We study the impact of the deformation of Dirac cone on dynamical gap generation. When a uniaxial strain is applied to graphene, the Dirac cone is made elliptical in the equal-energy plane and the fermion velocity becomes anisotropic. The applied uniaxial strain has two effects: it decreases the fermion velocity; it increases the velocity anisotropy. After solving the Dyson-Schwinger gap equation, we show that dynamical gap generation is promoted by the former effect, but is suppressed by the latter one. For suspended graphene, we find that the systems undergoes an excitonic insulating transition when the strain is roughly 7.34$\%$. We also solve the gap equation in case the Dirac cone is tiled, which might be realized in the organic material $α$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$I$_{3}$, and find that the tilt of Dirac cone can suppress dynamical gap generation. It turns out that the geometry of the Dirac cone plays an important role in the formation of excitonic pairing.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Polarization, plasmon, and Debye screening in doped 3D ani-Weyl semimetal

We compute the polarization function in a doped three-dimensional anisotropic-Weyl semimetal, in which the fermion energy dispersion is linear in two components of the momenta and quadratic in the third. Through detailed calculations, we find that the long wavelength plasmon mode depends on the fermion density $n_e$ in the form $Ω_{p}^{\bot}\propto n_{e}^{3/10}$ within the basal plane and behaves as $Ω_{p}^{z}\propto n_{e}^{1/2}$ along the third direction. This unique characteristic of the plasmon mode can be probed by various experimental techniques, such as electron energy-loss spectroscopy. The Debye screening at finite chemical potential and finite temperature is also analyzed based on the polarization function.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Excitonic pairing and insulating transition in two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetals

A sufficiently strong long-range Coulomb interaction can induce excitonic pairing in gapless Dirac semimetals, which generates a finite gap and drives semimetal-insulator quantum phase transition. This phenomenon is in close analogy to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in high energy physics. In most realistic Dirac semimetals, including suspended graphene, Coulomb interaction is too weak to open an excitonic gap. The Coulomb interaction plays a more important role at low energies in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetal, in which the fermion spectrum is linear in one component of momenta and quadratic in the other, than a Dirac semimetal, and indeed leads to breakdown of Fermi liquid theory. We study dynamical excitonic gap generation in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetal by solving the Dyson-Schwinger equation, and show that a moderately strong Coulomb interaction suffices to induce excitonic pairing. Additional short-range four-fermion coupling tends to promote excitonic pairing. Among the available semi-Dirac semimetals, we find that TiO$_{2}$/VO$_{2}$ nanostructure provides a promising candidate for the realization of excitonic insulator. We also apply the renormalziation group method to analyze the strong coupling between the massless semi-Dirac fermions and the quantum critical fluctuation of excitonic order parameter at the semimetal-insulator quantum critical point, and reveal non-Fermi liquid behaviors of semi-Dirac fermions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Superconductivity in two-dimensional disordered Dirac semimetals

In two-dimensional Dirac semimetals, Cooper pairing instability occurs only when the attractive interaction strength $|u|$ is larger than some critical value $|u_{c}|$ because the density of states vanishes at Dirac points. Disorders enhance the low-energy density of states but meanwhile shorten the lifetime of fermions, which tend to promote and suppress superconductivity, respectively. To determine which of the two competing effects wins, we study the interplay of Cooper pairing interaction and disorder scattering by means of renormalization group method. We consider three types of disorders, including random mass, random gauge potential, and random chemical potential, and show that the first two suppress superconductivity. In particular, the critical BCS coupling $|u_{c}|$ is increased to certain larger value if the system contains only random mass or random gauge potential, which makes the onset of superconductivity more difficult. In the case of random chemical potential, the effective disorder parameter flows to the strong coupling regime, where the perturbation expansion breaks down and cannot provide a clear answer concerning the fate of superconductivity. When different types of disorder coexist in one system, their strength parameters all flow to strong couplings. In the strong coupling regime, the perturbative renormalization group method becomes invalid, and one needs to employ other methods to treat the disorder effects. We perform a simple gap equation analysis of the impact of random chemical potential on superconductivity by using the Abrikosov-Gorkov diagrammatic approach, and also briefly discuss the possible generalization of this approach.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Renormalization of fermion velocity in finite temperature QED_{3}

At zero temperature, the Lorentz invariance is strictly preserved in three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics. This property ensures that the velocity of massless fermions is not renormalized by the gauge interaction. At finite temperature, however, the Lorentz invariance is explicitly broken by the thermal fluctuation. The longitudinal component of gauge interaction becomes short-ranged due to thermal screening, whereas the transverse component remains long-ranged because of local gauge invariance. The transverse gauge interaction leads to singular corrections to the fermion self-energy and thus results in an unusual renormalization of the fermion velocity. We calculate the renormalized fermion velocity $v^R(p_0,\mathbf{p},T)$ by employing a renormalization group analysis, and discuss the influence of the anomalous dimension $η_n$ on the fermion specific heat.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Interplay of Coulomb interaction and disorder in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac fermion system

It was recently found that Coulomb interaction can induce a series of nontrivial spectral and transport properties in a two-dimensional anisotropic Weyl semimetal. Different from graphehe that is basically an ordinary Fermi liquid, the Coulomb interaction in this system makes the Fermi liquid description invalid over a wide range of energy scales. We present a systematic renormalization group analysis of the interplay of Coulomb interaction and quenched disorder, and show that they have substantial mutual effects on each other, which then leads to a variety of quantum phase transitions and non-Fermi liquid behaviors. The low-energy physics of the system depends sensitively on the effective strength of Coulomb interaction and disorder.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Unconventional non-Fermi liquid state caused by nematic criticality in cuprates

At the nematic quantum critical point that exists in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconducting dome of cuprates, the massless nodal fermions interact strongly with the quantum critical fluctuation of nematic order. We study this problem by means of renormalization group approach and show that, the fermion damping rate $\left|\mathrm{Im}Σ^R(ω)\right|$ vanishes more rapidly than the energy $ω$ and the quasiparticle residue $Z_f\rightarrow 0$ in the limit $ω\rightarrow 0$. The nodal fermions thus constitute an unconventional non-Fermi liquid that represents an even weaker violation of Fermi liquid theory than a marginal Fermi liquid. We also investigate the interplay of quantum nematic critical fluctuation and gauge-potential-like disorder, and find that the effective disorder strength flows to the strong coupling regime at low energies. Therefore, even an arbitrarily weak disorder can drive the system to become a disorder controlled diffusive state. Based on these theoretical results, we are able to understand a number of interesting experimental facts observed in curpate superconductors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Connection between in-plane upper critical field $H_{c2}$ and gap symmetry in layered $d$-wave superconductors revisited

Angle-resolved upper critical field $H_{c2}$ provides an efficient tool to probe the gap symmetry of unconventional superconductors. We revisit the behavior of in-plane $H_{c2}$ in $d$-wave superconductors by considering both the orbital effect and Pauli paramagnetic effect. After carrying out systematic analysis, we show that the maxima of $H_{c2}$ could be along either nodal or antinodal directions of a $d$-wave superconducting gap, depending on the specific values of a number of tuning parameters. This behavior is in contrast to the common belief that the maxima of in-plane $H_{c2}$ are along the direction where the superconducting gap takes its maximal value. Therefore, identifying the precise $d$-wave gap symmetry through fitting experiments results of angle-resolved $H_{c2}$ with model calculations at a fixed temperature, as widely used in previous studies, is difficult and practically unreliable. However, our extensive analysis of angle-resolved $H_{c2}$ show that there is a critical temperature $T^{*}$: in-plane $H_{c2}$ exhibits its maxima along nodal directions at $T < T^{*}$ and along antinodal directions at $T^{*} < T < T_c$. The concrete value of $T^{*}$ may change as other parameters vary, but the existence of $π/4$ shift of $H_{c2}$ at $T^{\ast}$ appears to be a general feature. Thus a better method to identify the precise $d$-wave gap symmetry is to measure $H_{c2}$ at a number of different temperatures, and examine whether there is a $π/4$ shift in its angular dependence at certain $T^{*}$. We further show that Landau level mixing does not change this general feature. However, in the presence of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state, the angular dependence of $H_{c2}$ becomes quite complicated, which makes it more difficult to determine the gap symmetry by measuring $H_{c2}$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Influence of Coulomb interaction on the anisotropic Dirac cone in graphene

Anisotropic Dirac cones can appear in a number of correlated electron systems, such as cuprate superconductors and deformed graphene. We study the influence of long-range Coulomb interaction on the physical properties of an anisotropic graphene by using the renormalization group method and 1/N expansion, where N is the flavor of Dirac fermions. Our explicit calculations reveal that the anisotropic fermion velocities flow monotonously to an isotropic fixed point in the lowest energy limit in clean graphene. We then incorporate three sorts of disorders, including random chemical potential, random gauge potential, and random mass, and show that the interplay of Coulomb interaction and disorders can lead to rich and unusual behaviors. In the presence of strong Coulomb interaction and a random chemical potential, the fermion velocities are driven to vanish at low energies and the system turns out to be an exotic anisotropic insulator. In the presence of Coulomb interaction and other two types of disorders, the system flows to an isotropic low-energy fixed point more rapidly than the clean case, and exhibits non-Fermi liquid behaviors. We also investigate the nonperturbative effects of Coulomb interaction, focusing on how the dynamical gap is affected by the velocity anisotropy. It is found that the dynamical gap is enhanced (suppressed) as the fermion velocities decrease (increase), but is suppressed as the velocity anisotropy increases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Infrared behavior of dynamical fermion mass generation in QED$_{3}$

Extensive investigations show that QED$_{3}$ exhibits dynamical fermion mass generation at zero temperature when the fermion flavor $N$ is sufficiently small. However, it seems difficult to extend the theoretical analysis to finite temperature. We study this problem by means of Dyson-Schwinger equation approach after considering the effect of finite temperature or disorder-induced fermion damping. Under the widely used instantaneous approximation, the dynamical mass displays an infrared divergence in both cases. We then adopt a new approximation that includes an energy-dependent gauge boson propagator and obtain results for dynamical fermion mass that do not contain infrared divergence. The validity of the new approximation is examined by comparing to the well-established results obtained at zero temperature.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Novel behavior of upper critical field due to nematic order in $d$-wave superconductors

In recent years, there have been increasing experimental evidence suggesting the existence of an electronic nematic state in a number of unconventional $d$-wave superconductors. Interestingly, it is expected that the long-range nematic order can coexist with $d$-wave superconductivity. We analyze the in-plane upper critical field $H_{c2}$ after taking the influence of nematic state into account, and find that the four-fold oscillation of angle-dependent $H_{c2}$ in a pure $d$-wave superconducting state is turned into a novel two-fold oscillation pattern by a weak nematic order. Moreover, such effect is much more significant at higher temperatures. These behaviors are measurable and may be used to probe the predicted coexisting nematic order in $d$-wave superconductors. In addition, we show that the concrete angular dependence of $H_{c2}$ and the positions of its maximum can be strongly affected by several parameters, including temperature and $T_c$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Additional electron pairing in a d-wave superconductor driven by nematic order

We perform a non-perturbative analysis of the strong interaction between gapless nodal fermions and the nematic order parameter in two-dimensional d_{x^2-y^2} superconductors. We predict that the critical nematic fluctuation can generate a dynamical nodal gap if the fermion flavor N is smaller than a threshold N_c. Such gap generation leads to an additional is-wave Cooper pairing instability, which induces a fully gapped d_{x^2-y^2}+is superconducting dome in the vicinity of the nematic quantum critical point. The opening of a dynamical gap has important consequences, including the saturation of fermion velocity renormalization, a weak confinement of fermions and the suppression of observable quantities.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Influence of Fermion Velocity Renormalization on Dynamical Mass Generation in QED$_3$

We study dynamical fermion mass generation in (2+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics with a gauge field coupling to massless Dirac fermions and non-relativistic scalar bosons. We calculate the fermion velocity renormalization and then examine its influence on dynamical mass generation by using the Dyson-Schwinger equation. It is found that dynamical mass generation takes place even after including the scalar bosons as long as the bosonic compressibility parameter $ξ$ is sufficiently small. In addition, the fermion velocity renormalization enhances the dynamically generated mass.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Suppression of superconductivity at nematic critical point in underdoped cuprates

A nematic quantum critical point is anticipated to exist in the superconducting dome of some high-temperature superconductors. The nematic order competes with the superconducting order and hence reduces the superconducting condensate at $T = 0$. Moreover, the critical fluctuations of nematic order can excite more nodal quasiparticles out of the condensate. We address these two effects within an effective field theory and show that superfluid density $ρ^s(T)$ and superconducting temperature $T_c$ are both suppressed strongly by the critical fluctuations. The strong suppression of superconductivity provides a possible way to determine the nematic quantum critical point.

cond-mat.supr-con↗