arXiv subjects

M. Grilli

Publications and source records attributed to M. Grilli.

104 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

Fermi Surface and gap parameter in high-Tc superconductors: the Stripe Quantum Critical Point scenario

We study the single-particle spectral properties of electrons coupled to quasicritical charge and spin fluctuations close to a stripe-phase, which is governed by a Quantum Critical Point near optimum doping. We find that spectral weight is transferred from the quasiparticle peak to incoherent dispersive features. As a consequence the distribution of low-laying spectral weight is modified with respect to the quasiparticle Fermi surface. The interplay of charge and spin fluctuations reproduces features of the observed Fermi surface, such as the asymmetric suppression of spectral weight near the M points of the Brillouin zone. Within the model, we also analyze the interplay between repulsive spin and attractive charge fluctuations in determining the symmetry and the peculiar momentum dependence of the superconducting gap parameter. When both spin and charge fluctuations are coupled to the electrons, we find $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave gap symmetry in a wide range of parameter. A crossover $d$- vs $s$-wave symmetry of the gap may occur when the strength of charge fluctuations increases with respect to spin fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1998

Single-particle properties of a model for coexisting charge and spin quasi-critical fluctuations coupled to electrons

We study the single-particle spectral properties of a model for coexisting AFM and ICDW critical fluctuations coupled to electrons, which naturally arises in the context of the stripe-quantum-critical-point scenario for high-Tc superconducting materials. Within a perturbative approach, we show that the on-shell inverse scattering time deviates from the normal Fermi-liquid behavior near the points of the Fermi surface connected by the characteristic wave-vectors of the critical fluctuations (hot spots). The anomalous behavior is stronger when the hot spots are located near singular points of the electronic spectrum. The violations to the normal Fermi-liquid behavior are associated with the transfer of spectral weight from the quasi-particle peak to incoherent shadow peaks, which produces an enhancement of incoherent spectral weight near the Fermi level. We use our results to discuss recent ARPES experiments on Bi2212 near optimal doping.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Stripe formation: A quantum critical point for cuprate superconductors

We discuss the effects of a quantum critical point located nearby optimum doping and related to local charge segregation (stripe phase). The fluctuations in the critical region produce at the same time a strong pairing mechanism and a non-Fermi liquid behavior in the normal phase above the superconducting critical temperature. Superconductivity is a stabilizing mechanism against charge ordering, i.e. the incommensurate charge density wave quantum critical point is unstable with respect to superconductivity. A complete scenario for the cuprates is presented.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Striped phases in the two-dimensional Hubbard model with long-range Coulomb interaction

We investigate the formation of partially filled domain walls in the two-dimensional Hubbard model in the presence of long-range interaction. Using an unrestricted Gutzwiller variational approach we show that: i) the strong local interaction favors charge segregation in stripe domain walls; ii) The long-range interaction favors the formation of half-filled vertical stripes with a period doubling due to the charge and a period quadrupling due to the spins along the wall. Our results show that, besides the underlying lattice structure, also the electronic interactions can contribute to determine the different domain wall textures in Nd doped copper oxides and nickel oxides.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Joint superexchange--Jahn-Teller mechanism for A-type antiferromagnetism in $LaMnO_3$

We propose a mechanism for A-type antiferromagnetism in orthorombic LaMnO_3, compatible with the large Jahn-Teller splitting inferred from structural data. Orbital ordering resulting from Jahn-Teller distortions effectively leads to A-type ordering (antiferromagnetic in the c axis and ferromagnetic in the ab plane) provided the in-plane distorsion Q_2 is large enough, a condition generally fulfilled in existing data.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Comment on ``Insulator-to-Metal Crossover in the Normal State of $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ Near Optimum Doping''

We underline and comment some features of the data obtained in the beautiful experiment by G. S. Boebinger, Y. Ando, A. Passner, T. Kimura, M. Okuya, J. Shimoyama, K. Kishio, K. Tamasaku, N. Ichikawa, and S. Uchida, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 5417 (1996). While in our general interpretation we agree with the authors that ``It is possible that charge ordering could underlie the unusual insulating behavior'' observed ``in all underdoped LSCO samples'', we further notice that some specific features of the data are most naturally interpreted in the light of our proposal for an incommensurate charge-density-wave quantum-critical-point scenario.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1997

The incommensurate charge-density-wave instability in the extended three-band Hubbard model

The infinite-U three-band Hubbard model is considered in order to describe the CuO_2 planes of the high temperature superconducting cuprates. The charge instabilities are investigated when the model is extended with a nearest-neighbor repulsion between holes on copper d and oxygen p orbitals and in the presence of a long-range Coulombic repulsion. It is found that a first-order valence instability line ending with a critical point is present like in the previously investigated model without long-range forces. However, the dominant critical instability is the formation of incommensurate charge-density-waves, which always occur before the valence-instability critical point is reached. An effective singular attraction arises in the proximity of the charge-density wave instability, accounting for both a strong pairing mechanism and for the anomalous normal state properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1997

Non-Fermi-liquid behavior and d-wave superconductivity near the charge-density-wave quantum critical point

A scenario is presented, in which the presence of a quantum critical point due to formation of incommensurate charge density waves accounts for the basic features of the high temperature superconducting cuprates, both in the normal and in the superconducting states. Specifically, the singular interaction arising close to this charge-driven quantum critical point gives rise to the non-Fermi liquid behavior universally found at optimal doping. This interaction is also responsible for d-wave Cooper pair formation with a superconducting critical temperature strongly dependent on doping in the overdoped region and with a plateau in the optimally doped region. In the underdoped region a temperature dependent pairing potential favors local pair formation without superconducting coherence, with a peculiar temperature dependence of the pseudogap and a non-trivial relation between the pairing temperature and the gap itself. This last property is in good qualitative agreement with so far unexplained features of the experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1996

Small polaron formation in the Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models: The criteria from analytic and numerical analyses

We investigate the conditions leading to polaron formation for a single electron interacting with dispersionless optical phonons within the Holstein and the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models. Both from analytic perturbation theory and exact numerical diagonalization of small clusters, we find different criteria for the model parameters ruling the setting in of the polaronic regime. We also illustrate the common physical origin of polarons in the two models as arising from the simultaneous fulfilling of two conditions: A sizable ionic displacement and a lattice deformation energy gain larger that the loss in the bare electron kinetic energy.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

d-wave superconductivity near charge instabilities

We investigate the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter in the proximity of a phase-separation or of an incommensurate charge-density-wave instability. The attractive effective interaction at small or intermediate transferred momenta is singular near the instability. This strongly $q$-dependent interaction, together with a residual local repulsion between the quasiparticles and an enhanced density of states for band structures appropriate for the high temperature superconducting oxides, strongly favors the formation of $d$-wave superconductivity. The relative stability with respect to superconductivity in the $s$-wave channel is discussed in detail, finding this latter hardly realized in the above conditions. The superconducting temperature is mostly determined by the closeness to the quantum critical point associated to the charge instability and displays a stronger dependence on doping with respect to the simple proximity to a Van Hove singularity. The relevance of this scenario and the generic agreement of the resulting phase diagram with the properties displayed by high temperature superconducting oxides is discussed.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Influence of electron-phonon interaction on superexchange

We investigate the influence of electron-phonon coupling on the superexchange interaction of magnetic insulators. Both the Holstein-Hubbard model where the phonons couple to the electron density, as well as an extended Su, Schrieffer, Heeger model where the coupling arises from modulation of the overlap integral are studied using exact diagonalization and perturbative methods. In all cases for both the adiabatic (but non-zero frequency) and anti-adiabatic parameter regions the electron-phonon coupling is found to enhance the superexchange.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Charge-density-waves and superconductivity as an alternative to phase separation in the infinite-U Hubbard-Holstein model

We investigate the density instabilities present in the infinite-U Hubbard-Holstein model both at zero and finite momenta as well as the occurrence of Cooper instabilities with a specific emphasis on the role of long-range Coulomb forces. In carrying out this analysis a special attention is devoted to the effects of the strong local $e$-$e$ interaction on the $e$-$ph$ coupling and particularly to both the static and dynamic screening processes dressing this coupling. We also clarify under which conditions in strongly correlated electron systems a weak additional interaction, e.g. a phonon-mediated attraction, can give rise to a charge instability. In the presence of long-range Coulomb forces, the frustrated phase separation leads to the formation of incommensurate charge density waves. These instabilities, in turn, lead to strong residual scattering processes between quasiparticles and to superconductivity, thus providing an interesting clue to the interpretation of the physics of the copper oxides.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Singular quasiparticle scattering in the proximity of charge instabilities

We analyze the behavior of the dynamic scattering amplitude between Fermi liquid quasiparticles at the Fermi surface in the proximity of a charge instability, which may occur in the high temperature superconducting cuprates. Within the infinite-U Hubbard-Holstein model in the slave-boson large-N technique we find that, in the absence of long-range Coulomb forces the scattering amplitude is strongly singular at zero momentum transfer close to the phase separation instability and it has the same form provided by gauge-field theories. In the presence of long-range Coulomb forces the charge instability occurs at finite wavevectors and concomitantly the scattering is still singular but anisotropic. Nevertheless it remains strong over extended regions of the momentum space. In both cases we show how normal state properties are largely affected by this scattering.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1994

The Electron-Phonon Interaction in the Presence of Strong Correlations

We investigate the effect of strong electron-electron repulsion on the electron-phonon interaction from a Fermi-liquid point of view: the strong interaction is responsible for vertex corrections, which are strongly dependent on the $v_Fq/ω$ ratio. These corrections generically lead to a strong suppression of the effective coupling between quasiparticles mediated by a single phonon exchange in the $v_Fq/ω\gg 1$ limit. However, such effect is not present when $v_Fq/ω\ll 1$. Analyzing the Landau stability criterion, we show that a sizable electron-phonon interaction can push the system towards a phase-separation instability. A detailed analysis is then carried out using a slave-boson approach for the infinite-U three-band Hubbard model. In the presence of a coupling between the local hole density and a dispersionless optical phonon, we explicitly confirm the strong dependence of the hole-phonon coupling on the transferred momentum versus frequency ratio. We also find that the exchange of phonons leads to an unstable phase with negative compressibility already at small values of the bare hole-phonon coupling. Close to the unstable region, we detect Cooper instabilities both in s- and d-wave channels supporting a possible connection between phase separation and superconductivity in strongly correlated systems.

cond-mat↗