arXiv subjects

Michele Fabrizio

Publications and source records attributed to Michele Fabrizio.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Absence of thermalisation in a Fermi liquid

We study a weak interaction quench in a three-dimensional Fermi gas. We first show that, under some general assumptions on time-dependent perturbation theory, the perturbative expansion of the long-wavelength structure factor $S(\bq)$ is not compatible with the hypothesis that steady-state averages correspond to thermal ones. In particular, $S(\bq)$ does develop an analytical component $\sim const. + O(q^2)$ at $\bq\to\bnot$, as implied by thermalization, but, in contrast, it maintains a non-analytic part $\sim |\bq|$ characteristic of a Fermi-liquid at zero-temperature. In real space, this non-analyticity corresponds to persisting power-law decaying density-density correlations, whereas thermalization would predict only an exponential decay. We next consider the case of a dilute gas, where one can obtain non-perturbative results in the interaction strength but at lowest order in the density. We find that in the steady-state the momentum distribution jump at the Fermi surface remains finite, though smaller than in equilibrium, up to second order in $k_F f_0$, where $f_0$ is the scattering length of two particles in the vacuum. Both results question the emergence of a finite length scale in the quench-dynamics as expected by thermalization.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Non-equilibrium gap-collapse near a first-order Mott transition

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of a simple model for V2O3 that consists of a quarter-filled Hubbard model for two orbitals that are split by a weak crystal field. Peculiarities of this model are: (1) a Mott insulator whose gap corresponds to transferring an electron from the occupied lower orbital to the empty upper one, rather than from the lower to the upper Hubbard sub-bands; (2) a Mott transition generically of first order even at zero temperature. We simulate by means of time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation the evolution within the insulating phase of an initial state endowed by a non-equilibrium population of electrons in the upper orbital and holes in the lower one. We find that the excess population may lead, above a threshold, to a gap-collapse and drive the insulator into the metastable metallic phase within the coexistence region around the Mott transition. This result foresees a non-thermal pathway to revert a Mott insulator into a metal. Even though this physical scenario is uncovered in a very specific toy-model, we argue it might apply to other Mott insulating materials that share similar features.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Nonadiabatic stationary behaviour in a driven low-dimensional gapped system

We discuss the emergence of nonadiabatic behavior in the dynamics of the order parameter in a low-dimensional quantum many-body system subject to a linear ramp of one of its parameters. While performing a ramp within a gapped phase seems to be the most favorable situation for adiabaticity, we show that such a change leads eventually to the disruption of the order, no matter how slowly the ramp is performed. We show this in detail by studying the dynamics of the one-dimensional quantum Ising model subject to linear variation of the transverse magnetic field within the ferromagnetic phase, and then propose a general argument applicable to other systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Robust $s\pm$ Superconductivity in a Two-Band Hubbard-Fr{ö}hlich Model of Alkali Doped Organics

The damaging effect of strong electron-electron repulsion on regular, electron-phonon %$s$-wave superconductivity is a standard tenet. In spite of that, an increasing number of compounds such as fullerides and more recently alkali-doped aromatics exhibit %$s$-wave or presumably $s$ wave superconductivity despite very narrow bands and very strong electron repulsion. Here, we explore superconducting solutions of a model Hamiltonian inspired by the electronic structure of alkali doped aromatics. The model is a two-site, two-narrow-band metal with a single intersite phonon, leading to attraction-mediated, two-order parameter superconductivity. On top of that, the model includes a repulsive on-site Hubbard $U$, whose effect on the superconductivity we study. Starting within mean field, we find that $s \pm$ superconductivity is the best solution surviving the presence of $U$, whose effect is canceled out by the opposite signs of the two order parameters. The correlated Gutzwiller study that follows is necessary because without electron correlations the superconducting state would in this model be superseded by an antiferromagnetic insulating state with lower energy. The Gutzwiller correlations lower the energy of the metallic state, with the consequence that the $s \pm$ superconducting state is stabilized and even strengthened for small Hubbard $U$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Linear Ramps of Interaction in the Fermionic Hubbard Model

We study the out of equilibrium dynamics of the Fermionic Hubbard Model induced by a linear ramp of the repulsive interaction $U$ from the metallic state through the Mott transition. To this extent we use a time dependent Gutzwiller variational method and complement this analysis with the inclusion of quantum fluctuations at the leading order, in the framework of a $Z_2$ slave spin theory. We discuss the dynamics during the ramp and the issue of adiabaticity through the scaling of the excitation energy with the ramp duration $τ$. In addition, we study the dynamics for times scales longer than the ramp time, when the system is again isolated and the total energy conserved. We establish the existence of a dynamical phase transition analogous to the one present in the sudden quench case and discuss its properties as a function of final interaction and ramp duration. Finally we discuss the role of quantum fluctuations on the mean field dynamics for both long ramps, where spin wave theory is sufficient, and for very short ramps, where a self consistent treatment of quantum fluctuations is required in order to obtain relaxation.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Light-cone effect and supersonic correlations in one- and two-dimensional bosonic superfluids

We study the spreading of density-density correlations in Bose-Hubbard models after a quench of the interaction strength, using time-dependent variational Monte Carlo simulations. It gives access to unprecedented long propagation times and to dimensions higher than one. In both one and two dimensions, we find ballistic light-cone spreading of correlations and extract accurate values of the light-cone velocity in the superfluid regime. We show that the spreading of correlations is generally supersonic, with a light-cone propagating faster than sound modes but slower than the maximum group velocity of density excitations, except at the Mott transition, where all the characteristic velocities are equal. Further, we show that in two dimensions the correlation spreading is highly anisotropic and presents nontrivial interference effects.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Stroemgren - near-infrared photometry of the Baade's Window. I. The bulge globular cluster NGC6528 and the surrounding field

We present Stroemgren-NIR photometry of NGC6528 and its surroundings in the Baade's Window. uvby images were collected with EFOSC2@NTT, while NIR catalogs are based on VIRCAM@VISTA and SOFI@NTT data. The matching with HST photometry allowed us to obtain proper-motion-cleaned samples of cluster and bulge stars. The huge color sensitivity of Stroemgren-NIR CMDs helped us in disentangling age and metallicity effects. The RGB of NGC6528 is reproduced by scaled-solar isochrones with solar abundance or alpha-enhanced isochrones with the same iron content, and an age of t = 11+/-1 Gyr. These findings support literature age estimates for NGC6528. We also performed a theoretical metallicity calibration based on the Stroemgren index m1 and on visual-NIR colors for RGs, by adopting scaled-solar and alpha-enhanced models. We applied the calibration to estimate the metallicity of NGC6528, finding [Fe/H] = -0.04+/-0.02, with an intrinsic dispersion of 0.27 dex (by averaging abundances based on the scaled-solar [m], y - J and [m], y - K Metallicity-Index-Color relations), and of -0.11+/-0.01 (sig = 0.27 dex), by using the m1, y - J and m1, y - K relations. These findings support the results of Zoccali et al. (2004) which give [Fe/H] = -0.10+/-0.2, and a low alpha-enhancement, [alpha/Fe] = 0.1, and of Carretta et al. (2001), that find [Fe/H] = 0.07+/-0.01, with [alpha/Fe] = 0.2. By applying the scaled-solar MIC relations to Baade's window RGs, we find a metallicity distribution extending from [Fe/H] ~ -1.0 to ~ 1 dex, with peaks at [Fe/H] ~ -0.2 and +0.55 ([m], y - J and [m], y - K relations), and [Fe/H] ~ -0.25 and +0.4 (m1, y - J and m1, y - K relations). These findings are in good agreement with the spectroscopic studies of Hill et al. (2011) for the Baade's window, of Uttenthaler et al. (2012) for a region centered at (l,b) = (0, -10), and with the results of the ARGOS survey (Ness et al. 2013a).

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Kondo conductance across the smallest spin 1/2 radical molecule

Molecular contacts are generally poorly conducting because their energy levels tend to lie far from the Fermi energy of the metal contact, necessitating undesirably large gate and bias voltages in molecular electronics applications. Molecular radicals are an exception because their partly filled orbitals undergo Kondo screening, opening the way to electron passage even at zero bias. While that phenomenon has been experimentally demonstrated for several complex organic radicals, quantitative theoretical predictions have not been attempted so far. It is therefore an open question whether and to what extent an ab initio-based theory is able to make accurate predictions for Kondo temperatures and conductance lineshapes. Choosing nitric oxide NO as a simple and exemplary spin 1/2 molecular radical, we present calculations based on a combination of density functional theory and numerical renormalization group (DFT+NRG) predicting a zero bias spectral anomaly with a Kondo temperature of 15 K for NO/Au(111). A scanning tunneling spectroscopy study is subsequently carried out to verify the prediction, and a striking zero bias Kondo anomaly is confirmed, still quite visible at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Comparison shows that the experimental Kondo temperature of about 43 K is larger than the theoretical one, while the inverted Fano lineshape implies a strong source of interference not included in the model. These discrepancies are not a surprise, providing in fact an instructive measure of the approximations used in the modeling, which supports and qualifies the viability of the DFT+NRG approach to the prediction of conductance anomalies in larger molecular radicals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Non-equilibrium dynamics in the antiferromagnetic Hubbard model

We investigate by means of the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of an antiferromagnetic state evolved with the Hubbard model Hamiltonian after a sudden change of the repulsion strength $U$. We find that magnetic order survives more than what expected on the basis of thermalization arguments, in agreement with recent DMFT calculations. In addition, we find evidence of a dynamical transition for quenches to large values of $U$ between a coherent antiferromagnet characterized by a finite quasiparticle residue to an incoherent one with vanishing residue, that finally turns into a paramagnet for even larger $U$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Electron-doped organics: Charge-disproportionate insulators and Hubbard-Fröhlich metals

Several examples of metallic electron doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) molecular crystals have recently been experimentally proposed. Some of them have superconducting components, but most other details are still unknown beginning with structure and the nature of metallicity. We carried out ab-initio density functional calculations for La-Phenanthrene (La-PA), here meant to represent a generic case of three-electron doping, to investigate structure and properties of a conceptually simple case. To our surprise we found first of all that the lowest energy state is not metallic but band insulating, with a disproportionation of two inequivalent PA molecular ions and a low P1 symmetry, questioning the common assumption that three electrons will automatically metallize a PAH crystal. Our best metallic structure is metastable and slightly higher in energy, and retains equivalent PA ions and a higher P21 symmetry -- the same generally claimed for metallic PAHs. We show that a "dimerizing" periodic distortion opens very effectively a gap in place of a symmetry related degeneracy of all P21 structures near the Fermi level, foreshadowing a possible role of that special intermolecular phonon in superconductivity of metallic PAHs. A Hubbard-Frohlich model describing that situation is formulated for future studies.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Ferromagnetic Kondo effect in a triple quantum dot system

We propose that a simple device of three laterally-coupled quantum dots, the central one contacted by metal leads, can realize the ferromagnetic Kondo model, which is characterized by interesting properties like a non-analytic inverted zero-bias anomaly and an extreme sensitivity to a magnetic field. Furthermore, by tuning the gate voltages of the lateral dots, this device may allow to study the transition from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic Kondo effect, a simple case of a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. We model the device by three coupled Anderson impurities that we study by numerical renormalization group. We calculate the single-particle spectral function of the central dot, which at zero frequency is proportional to the zero-bias conductance, across the transition, both in the absence and in the presence of a magnetic field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Self-consistent Gutzwiller study of bcc Fe: interplay of ferromagnetic order and kinetic energy

The Gutzwiller technique has long been known as a method to include correlations in electronic structure calculations. Here we implement an ab-initio Gutzwiller+LDA calculation, and apply it to a classic problem, the ferromagnetism of bulk bcc Fe, whose nature has attracted recent interest. In the conventional Stoner-Wohlfarth model, the ferromagnetic ordering of iron sets in so that the electrons can reduce their mutual Coulomb repulsion at the extra cost of some increase of electron kinetic energy. Density functional theory within the spin polarized local density approximation (LDA) has long supported that picture, showing that ferromagnetic alignment causes band narrowing and a corresponding wavefunction localization, whence a kinetic energy increase. However, because of its inadequate treatment of strong intra-site correlations for localized d orbitals, LDA cannot be relied upon, particularly when it comes to separately describing fine potential and kinetic energy imbalances. With ab-initio Gutzwiller+LDA, we indeed find that the effect of correlations is to dramatically reverse the balance, the ferromagnetic ordering of Fe in fact causing a decrease of kinetic energy, at the cost of some increase of potential energy. The underlying physical mechanism, foreshadowed long ago by Goodenough and others, and more recently supported by LDA+DMFT calculations, is that correlations cause eg and t2g 3d orbitals to behave very differently. Weakly dispersive eg states are spin-polarized and almost localized, while, more than half filled, the t2g are broad band, fully delocalized states. Owing to intra-atomic Hund's rule exchange which aligns eg and t2g spins, the propagation of itinerant t2g holes is only allowed when different atomic spins are ferromagnetically aligned. We thus conclude that double exchange is at work already in the most popular ferromagnetic metal.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Extended dynamic Mott-transition in the two-band Hubbard model out of equilibrium

We reformulate the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation by M. Schiró and M. Fabrizio [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 076401 (2010)] in the framework of slave-boson mean-field theory, which is used to investigate the dynamical Mott transition of the generic two-band Hubbard model at half filling upon an interaction quench. Interorbital fluctuations lead to notable changes with respect to the single-band case. The singular dynamical transition is replaced by a broad regime of long-lived fluctuations between metallic and insulating states, accompanied by intriguing precursor behavior. A mapping to a spin model proves helpful to analyze the different regions in terms of the evolution of an Ising-like order parameter. Contrary to the static case, singlet occupations remain vital in the Mott-insulating regime with finite Hund's exchange.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Finite-temperature Gutzwiller approximation and the phase diagram of a toy-model for V2O3

We exploit exact inequalities that refer to the entropy of a distribution to derive a simple variational principle at finite temperature for trial density matrices of Gutzwiller and Jastrow type. We use the result to extend at finite temperature the Gutzwiller approximation, which we apply to study a two-orbital model that we believe captures some essential features of V$_2$O$_3$. We indeed find that the phase diagram of the model bears many similarities to that of real vanadium sesquioxide. In addition, we show that in a Bethe lattice, where the finite temperature Gutzwiller approximation provides a rigorous upper bound of the actual free energy, the results compare well with the exact phase diagram obtained by the dynamical mean field theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Variational Monte Carlo approach to the two-dimensional Kondo lattice model

We study the phase diagram of the Kondo-lattice model with nearest-neighbor hopping in the square lattice by means of the variational Monte Carlo technique. Specifically, we analyze a wide class of variational wave functions that allow magnetic and superconducting order parameters, so to assess the possibility that superconductivity might emerge close to the magnetic instability, as often observed in heavy fermion systems. Indeed, we do find evidence of d-wave superconductivity in the paramagnetic sector, i.e., when magnetic order is not allowed in the variational wave function. However, when magnetism is allowed, it completely covers the superconducting region, which thus disappears from the phase diagram.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Dynamical quantum phase transitions and broken-symmetry edges in the many-body eigenvalue spectrum

Many body models undergoing a quantum phase transition to a broken-symmetry phase that survives up to a critical temperature must possess, in the ordered phase, symmetric as well as non-symmetric eigenstates. We predict, and explicitly show in the fully-connected Ising model in a transverse field, that these two classes of eigenstates do not overlap in energy, and therefore that an energy edge exists separating low-energy symmetry-breaking eigenstates from high-energy symmetry-invariant ones. This energy is actually responsible, as we show, for the dynamical phase transition displayed by this model under a sudden large increase of the transverse field. A second situation we consider is the opposite, where the symmetry-breaking eigenstates are those in the high-energy sector of the spectrum, whereas the low-energy eigenstates are symmetric. In that case too a special energy must exist marking the boundary and leading to unexpected out-of-equilibrium dynamical behavior. An example is the fermionic repulsive Hubbard model Hamiltonian H. Exploiting the trivial fact that the high energy spectrum of H is also the low energy one of -H, we conclude that the high energy eigenstates of the Hubbard model are superfluid. Simulating in a time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation the time evolution of a high energy BCS-like trial wave function, we show that a small superconducting order parameter will actually grow in spite of the repulsive nature of interaction.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

The Out-of-Equilibrium Time-Dependent Gutzwiller Approximation

We review the recently proposed extension of the Gutzwiller approximation, M. Schiro' and M. Fabrizio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 076401 (2010), designed to describe the out-of-equilibrium time-evolution of a Gutzwiller-type variational wave function for correlated electrons. The method, which is strictly variational in the limit of infinite lattice-coordination, is quite general and flexible, and it is applicable to generic non-equilibrium conditions, even far beyond the linear response regime. As an application, we discuss the quench dynamics of a single-band Hubbard model at half-filling, where the method predicts a dynamical phase transition above a critical quench that resembles the sharp crossover observed by time-dependent dynamical mean field theory. We next show that one can actually define in some cases a multi-configurational wave function combination of a whole set of mutually orthogonal Gutzwiller wave functions. The Hamiltonian projected in that subspace can be exactly evaluated and is equivalent to a model of auxiliary spins coupled to non-interacting electrons, closely related to the slave-spin theories for correlated electron models. The Gutzwiller approximation turns out to be nothing but the mean-field approximation applied to that spin-fermion model, which displays, for any number of bands and integer fillings, a spontaneous $Z_2$ symmetry breaking that can be identified as the Mott insulator-to-metal transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Lattice and surface effects in the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the Hubbard model

We study, by means of the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation, the out of equilibrium dynamics of a half-filled Hubbard-Holstein model of correlated electrons interacting with local phonons. Inspired by pump-probe experiments, where intense light pulses selectively induce optical excitations that trigger a transient out-of-equilibrium dynamics, here we inject energy in the Hubbard bands by a non-equilibrium population of empty and doubly-occupied sites. We first consider the case of a global perturbation, acting over the whole sample, and find evidence of a mean-field dynamical transition where the lattice gets strongly distorted above a certain energy threshold, despite the weak strength of the electron-phonon coupling by comparison with the Hubbard repulsion. Next, we address a slab geometry for a correlated heterostructure and study the relaxation dynamics across the system when the perturbation acts locally on the first layer. While for weak deviations from equilibrium the excited surface is able to relax by transferring its excess energy to the bulk, for large deviations the excess energy stays instead concentrated into the surface layer. This self-trapping occurs both in the absence as well as in the presence of electron-phonon coupling. Phonons actually enforce the trapping by distorting at the surface.

cond-mat.str-el↗