arXiv subjects

M. S. Laad

Publications and source records attributed to M. S. Laad.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anomalous Quantum Criticality at a Continuous Metal-Insulator Transition

The Falicov-Kimball model (FKM) is long known to be the simplest model of correlated fermions exhibiting a novel Mott-like quantum critical point (QCP) assocaited with a {\it continuous} MIT in dimensions $D \geq 3$. It is also known to be isomorphic to an {\it annealed} binary-alloy disorder model. Notwithstanding extensive numerical studies for the FKM, analytic insight into the microscopic processes spawning novel Mott-like quantum criticality is scarce. Here, we develop a fully analytic theory for the Mott-like quantum criticality in the FKM on a hierarchical Cayley tree (Bethe lattice) by utilizing a single input from a 2-site cluster-dynamical mean-field theory (CDMFT). We find that density fluctuation modes acquire anomalous dimensions, originating from infra-red power-law singular cluster self-energies. Interestingly, we uncover, at $T=0$, that this {\it sub-diffusive} metal with glassy dynamics separating a weakly ergodic metal from a non-ergodic insulator shrinks to a single point, namely the Mott-like QCP, at least on the Bethe lattice. We detail the consequences of this anomalous quantum criticality for a range of thermal and dynamical responses in a variety of physical systems that can be effectively modelled by the FKM.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Strange-like Metallicity in a Toy Model with Selective-Mottness

The interplay between band and atomic aspects in materials with co-existing wide-band and flat-band states, or wide-band and effectively dispersionless electronic states is increasingly expected to lead to novel behavior. Using dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), we investigate strange-metal-like behavior and emergence of unconventional superconductivity in a toy model that captures this interplay. Surprisingly, we find good accord with transport features seen in underdoped cuprates and ladder Fe-arsenides. We connect our findings to proposals of FL$^{*}$ and orthogonal Fermi liquids, and present a route to it's direct instability to novel, competing orders.

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arXiv2025

Intricately Entangled Spin and Charge Diffusion and the Coherence-Incoherence Crossover in the High-Dimensional Hubbard Model

Correlation-driven metal-insulator transitions and temperature-driven quantum-coherent-to-incoherent crossovers in correlated electron systems underpin the doping, temperature and frequency-resolved evolution of physical responses. Motivated by recent experimental studies that investigate the evolution of dynamical spin and charge responses, we analyze the spin and charge diffusion spectra in both half-filled and doped one-band Hubbard model using Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) combined with the Numerical Renormalization Group (NRG). We compare the relative strengths and limitations of Density Matrix NRG (DMNRG) and Full Density Matrix NRG (FDM-NRG) in capturing low-frequency spectral features and their evolution with temperature, interaction strength and band-filling. Key measures, including characteristic frequency scales, Kullback-Leibler divergence, diffusion constants, and kurtosis provide complementary but internally consistent picture for the evolution of spin and charge excitations across bandwidth as well as the band-filling driven Mott transitions and the coherent-incoherent crossover. We find that spin and charge fluctuations cross over from quantum-coherent-to-quantum-incoherent at distinct temperatures, providing a microscopic insight into the complex, two-stage, Fermi-to-non-Fermi liquid-to-bad metal crossovers seen in transport data, in particular in the $dc$ resistivity.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

A Tale of Two Quantum Compass Models

We investigate two variants of quantum compass models (QCMs). The first, an orbital-only honeycomb QCM, is shown to exhibit a quantum phase transition (QPT) from a $XX$- to $ZZ$-ordered phase in the $3d$-Ising universality class, in accord with earlier studies. In a fractionalized parton construction, this describes a ``superfluid-Mott insulator'' transition between a higher-order topological superfluid and the toric code, the latter described as a $p$-wave resonating valence bond state of the partons. The second variant, the spinless fermion QCM on a square lattice, is of interest in the context of cold-atom lattices with higher-angular momentum states on each atom. We explore finite-temperature orbital order-disorder transitions in the itinerant and localized limits using complementary methods. In the itinerant limit, we uncover an intricate temperature ($T$)-dependent dimensional crossover from a high-$T$ quasi-$1d$ insulator-like state, via an incoherent bad-metal-like state at intermediate $T$, to a $2d$ symmetry-broken insulator at low $T$, well below the ``orbital'' ordering scale. Finally, we discuss how engineering specific, tunable, and realistic perturbations in both these variants can act as a playground for simulating a variety of exotic QPTs between topologically ordered and trivial phases. In the cold-atom context, we propose a novel way to engineer a possible realisation of the exotic exciton Bose liquid phase at a QPT between a Bose superfluid and a charge density wave insulator. We argue that advances in the design of Josephson junction arrays and manipulating cold-atom lattices offer the hope of simulating such novel phases of matter in the foreseeable future.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Stripping the planar Quantum Compass Model to its basics

We introduce a novel mean-field theory (MFT) around the exactly soluble two-leg ladder limit for the planar quantum compass model (QCM). In contrast to usual MFT, our construction respects the stringent constraints imposed by emergent, lower (here $d=1$) dimensional symmetries of the QCM. Specializing our construction to the QCM on a periodic four-leg ladder, we find that a first-order transition separates two mutually dual Ising nematic phases, in good accord with state-of-the-art numerics for the planar QCM. One pseudo-spin-flip excitation in the ordered phase turns out to be two (Jordan-Wigner) fermion bound states, reminiscent of spin waves in spin-$1/2$ Heisenberg chains. We discuss the novel implications of our work on (1) the emergence of coupled orbital and magnetic ordered and liquidlike disordered phases, and (2) a rare instance of orbital-spin separation in $d>1$, in the context of a Kugel-Khomskii view of multi-orbital Mott insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Quantum critical scaling of the conductivity tensor at the metal-insulator transition in Nb$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$N

In contrast to the Landau paradigm, a metal-insulator transition (MIT), driven purely by competition between itinerance and localization and unaccompanied by any conventional (e.g, magnetic) order-disorder instabilities, admits no obvious local order parameter. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the quantum criticality in magneto-transport data on the alloy Nb$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$N across a Ti-doping-driven a MIT. We demonstrate, for the first time, clear and novel quantum criticality reflected in the full conductivity tensor across the MIT. Wide ranging, comprehensive accord with recent theoretical predictions strongly suggests that these unanticipated findings are representative of a continuous MIT of the band-splitting type, rather than a conventional Anderson disorder or a "pure" correlation-driven first-order Mott type.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Universal dielectric response across a continuous metal-insulator transition

A wide range of disordered materials, including disordered correlated systems, show "Universal Dielectric Response" (UDR), followed by a superlinear power-law increase in their optical responses over exceptionally broad frequency regimes. While extensively used in various contexts over the years, the microscopics underpinning UDR remains controversial. Here, we investigate the optical response of the simplest model of correlated fermions, Falicov-Kimball model (FKM), across the continuous metal-insulator transition (MIT) and analyze the associated quantum criticality in detail using cluster extension of dynamical mean field theory (CDMFT). Surprisingly, we find that UDR naturally emerges in the quantum critical region associated with the continuous MIT. We tie the emergence of these novel features to a many-body orthogonality catastrophe accompanying the onset of strongly correlated electronic glassy dynamics close to the MIT, providing a microscopic realization of Jonscher's time-honored proposal as well as a rationale for similarities in optical responses between correlated electronic matter and canonical glass formers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Magnetic and Structural Properties of the Iron Oxychalcogenides La$_{2}$O$_{2}$Fe$_{2}$O$M_{2}$ ($M$= S, Se)

We present the results of structural and magnetic phase comparisons of the iron oxychalcogenides La$_{2}$O$_{2}$Fe$_{2}$O$M$$_{2}$ ($M$ = S, Se). Elastic neutron scattering reveals that $M$ = S and Se have similar nuclear structures at room and low temperatures. We find that both materials obtain antiferromagnetic ordering at a Neel temperature $T_{N}$ 90.1 $\pm$ 0.16 K and 107.2 $\pm$ 0.06 K for $M$= Se and S, respectively. The magnetic arrangements of $M$ = S, Se are obtained through Rietveld refinement. We find the order parameter exponent $β$ to be 0.129 $\pm$ 0.006 for $M$ = Se and 0.133 $\pm$ 0.007 for $M$ = S. Each of these values is near the Ising symmetry value of 1/8. This suggests that although lattice and electronic structural modifications result from chalcogen exchange, the nature of the magnetic interactions is similar in these materials.

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arXiv2017

Thermal transport across a continuous metal-insulator transition

The celebrated Wiedemann-Franz (WF) law is believed to be robust in metals as long as interactions between electrons preserve their fermion-quasiparticle character. We study thermal transport and the fate of the WF law close to a continuous metal-insulator transition (MIT) in the Falicov-Kimball model (FKM) using cluster-dynamical mean-field theory (CDMFT). Surprisingly, as for electrical transport, we find robust and novel quantum critical scaling in thermal transport across the MIT. We unearth the deeper reasons for these novel findings in terms of (i) the specific structure of energy-current correlations for the FKM and (ii) the microscopic electronic processes which facil- itate energy transport while simultaneously blocking charge transport close to the MIT. However, within (C)DMFT, we also find that the WF law survives at T=0 in the incoherent metal right up to the MIT, even in absence of Landau quasiparticles.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quantum critical magneto-transport at a continuous metal-insulator transition

In contrast to the seminal weak localization prediction of a non-critical Hall constant ($R_{H}$) at the Anderson metal-insulator transition (MIT), $R_{H}$ in quite a few real disordered systems exhibits both, a strong $T$-dependence and critical scaling near their MIT. Here, we investigate these issues in detail within a non-perturbative "strong localization" regime using cluster-dynamical mean field theory (CDMFT). We uncover $(i)$ clear and unconventional quantum-critical scaling of the $γ$-function, finding that $γ(g_{xy})\simeq$ log$(g_{xy})$ over a wide range spanning the continuous MIT, very similar to that seen for the longitudinal conductivity, $(ii)$ strongly $T$-dependent and clear quantum critical scaling in both transverse conductivity and $R_{H}$ at the MIT. We find that these surprising results are in comprehensive and very good accord with signatures of a novel kind of localization in disordered NbN near the MIT, providing substantial support for our "strong" localization view.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quantum critical transport at a continuous metal-insulator transition

In contrast to the first-order correlation-driven Mott metal-insulator transition (MIT), contin- uous disorder-driven transitions are intrinsically quantum critical. Here, we investigate transport quantum criticality in the Falicov-Kimball model, a representative of the latter class in the "strong disorder" category. Employing cluster-dynamical mean-field theory (CDMFT), we find clear and anomalous quantum critical scaling behavior manifesting as perfect mirror symmetry of scaling curves on both sides of the MIT. Surprisingly, we find that the beta-function, \b{eta}(g), scales like log(g) deep into the bad-metallic phase as well, providing sound unified basis for these findings. We argue that such "strong localization" quantum criticality may manifest in real three-dimensional systems where disorder effects are more important than electron-electron interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Real-space cluster dynamical mean-field approach to the Falicov-Kimball model: An alloy-analogy approach

It is long known that the best single-site coherent potential approximation (CPA) falls short of describing Anderson localization (AL). Here, we study a binary alloy disorder (or equivalently, a spinless Falicov-Kimball (FK)) model and construct a dominantly analytic cluster extension that treats intra-cluster ($1/d$, $d$=spatial dimension) correlations exactly. We find that, in general, the irreducible two-particle vertex exhibits clear non-analyticities before the band-splitting transition of the Hubbard type occurs, signaling onset of an unusual type of localization at strong coupling. Using time-dependent response to a sudden local quench as a diagnostic, we find that the long-time wave function overlap changes from a power-law to an anomalous form at strong coupling, lending additional support to this idea. Our results also imply such novel "strong" localization in the equivalent FK model, the simplest interacting fermion system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Hidden Fermi Liquidity and Topological Criticality in the Finite Temperature Kitaev Model

The fate of exotic spin liquid states with fractionalized excitations at finite temperature ($T$) is of great interest, since signatures of fractionalization manifest in finite-temperature ($T$) dynamics in real systems, above the tiny magnetic ordering scales. Here, we study a Jordan-Wigner fermionized Kitaev spin liquid at finite $T$ employing combined Exact diagonalization and Monte Carlo simulation methods. We uncover $(i)$ checkerboard or stripy-ordered flux crystals depending on density of flux, and $(ii)$ establish, surprisingly, that: $(a)$ the finite-$T$ version of the $T=0$ transition from a gapless to gapped phases in the Kitaev model is a Mott transition of the fermions, belonging to the two-dimensional Ising universality class. These transitions correspond to a topological transition between a string condensate and a dilute closed string state $(b)$ the Mott "insulator" phase is a precise realization of Laughlin's gossamer (here, p-wave) superconductor (g-SC), and $(c)$ the Kitaev Toric Code phase (TC) is a {\it fully} Gutzwiller-projected p-wave SC. These findings establish the finite-$T$ QSL phases in the $d = 2$ to be {\it hidden} Fermi liquid(s) of neutral fermions.

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arXiv2016

Do Dynamical Excitonic Liquid Correlations Mediate Superconductivity in Elemental Bismuth?

Motivated by the remarkable discovery of superconductivity in elemental Bismuth, we study its normal state in detail using a combination of tight-binding (TB) and-structural supplemented by dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). We show that a two-fluid model composed of preformed and dynamically fluctuating excitons coupled to a tiny number of carriers provides a unified rationalization of a range of ill-understood normal state spectral and transport data. Based on these, we propose that resonant scattering involving a very low density of renormalized carriers and the excitonic liquid drives logarithmic enhancement of vertex corrections, boosting superconductivity in $Bi$. A confirmatory test for our proposal would be the experimental verification of an excitonic semiconductor with electronic nematicity as a `competing order' on inducing a semi-metal-to semiconductor transition in $Bi$ by an external perturbation like pressure.

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arXiv2016

Realization of a "Two Relaxation Rates" in the Hubbard-Falicov-Kimball Model

A single transport relaxation rate governs the decay of both, longitudinal and Hall currents in Landau Fermi Liquids (LFL). Breakdown of this fundamental feature, first observed in cuprates and subsequently in other three-dimensional correlated systems close to (partial or complete) Mott metal-insulator transitions, played a pivotal role in emergence of a non-Landau Fermi liquid paradigm in higher dimensions $D(>1)$. Motivated hereby, we explore the emergence of this "two relaxation rates" scenario in the Hubbard-Falicov-Kimball model (HFKM) using the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). Specializing to $D=3$, we find, beyond a critical FK interaction, that two distinct relaxation rates governing distinct temperature ($T$) dependence of the longitudinal and Hall currents naturally emerges in the non-LFL metal. We rationalize this surprising finding by an analytical analysis of the structure of charge and spin correlations in the underlying impurity problem, and point out good accord with observations in the famed case of V$_{2-y}$O$_3$ near the MIT.

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arXiv2016

Exploring Novel Quantum Criticality in Strained Graphene

Strain tuning is increasingly being recognized as a clean tuning parameter to induce novel behavior in quantum matter. Motivated by the possibility of straining graphene up to $20$ percent, we investigate novel quantum criticality due to interplay between strain-induced anisotropic band structure and critical antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations (AFSF) in this setting. We detail how this interplay drives $(i)$ a quantum phase transition (QPT) between the Dirac-semimetal-incoherent pseudogapped metal-correlated insulator as a function of strain ($ε$), and $(ii)$ critical AFSF-driven divergent nematic susceptibility near critical strain ($ε_{c}$) manifesting as critical singularities in magneto-thermal expansion and Grüneisen co-efficients. The correlated band insulator at large strain affords realization of a two-dimensional dimerized spin-singlet state due to this interplay, and we argue how doping such an insulator can lead to a spin-charge separated metal, leading to anomalous metallicity and possible unconventional superconductivity. On a wider front, our work serves to illustrate the range of novel states realizable by strain-tuning quantum materials.

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arXiv2016

First-Principles Correlated Approach to the Normal State of Strontium Ruthenate

The interplay between multiple bands, sizable multi-band electronic correlations and strong spin-orbit coupling may conspire in selecting a rather unusual unconventional pairing symmetry in layered Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$. This mandates a detailed revisit of the normal state and, in particular, the $T$-dependent incoherence-coherence crossover. Using a modern first-principles correlated view, we study this issue in the actual structure of Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ and present a unified and quantitative description of a range of unusual physical responses in the normal state. Armed with these, we propose that a new and important element, that of dominant multi-orbital charge fluctuations in a Hund's metal, may be a primary pair glue for unconventional superconductivity. Thereby we establish a connection between the normal state responses and superconductivity in this system.

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arXiv2016

Microscopic description of insulator-metal transition in high-pressure oxygen

Unusual metallic states involving breakdown of the standard Fermi-liquid picture of long-lived quasiparticles in well-defined band states emerge at low temperatures near correlation-driven Mott transitions. Prominent examples are ill-understood metallic states in $d$- and $f$-band compounds near Mott-like transitions. Finding of superconductivity in solid O$_{2}$ on the border of an insulator-metal transition at high pressures close to 96~GPa is thus truly remarkable. Neither the insulator-metal transition nor superconductivity are understood satisfactorily. Here, we undertake a first step in this direction by focussing on the pressure-driven insulator-metal transition using a combination of first-principles density-functional and many-body calculations. We report a striking result: the finding of an orbital-selective Mott transition in a pure $p$-band elemental system. We apply our theory to understand extant structural and transport data across the transition, and make a specific two-fluid prediction that is open to future test. Based thereupon, we propose a novel scenario where soft multiband modes built from microscopically coexisting itinerant and localized electronic states are natural candidates for the pairing glue in pressurized O$_{2}$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗