arXiv subjects

Mucio A. Continentino

Publications and source records attributed to Mucio A. Continentino.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Superconductivity in strongly correlated systems for local repulsive interactions

The understanding of the mechanisms responsible for superconductivity in strongly correlated systems is an interesting and important subject in condensed matter physics. Several theoretical proposals were considered for these systems. The Coulomb interaction between electrons allow a new approach to study this problem. In this paper, we use a usual Hubbard model with a local repulsive interaction to describe a 2D system. The system of equations are solved using the Green's functions method, within a Hubbard-I mean field approximation, which allows to treat the strong interaction limit. We consider both cases of attractive and repulsive interactions and obtain the zero temperature phase diagram of the model. Our results show, in the repulsive case, the existence of a superconducting ground state mediated by the kinetic electronic energy and described by a non-local order parameter. A minimum value of the repulsive interaction $U_{min}$ is required to create a pairing state. At finite temperatures, for strong interactions, the critical temperature $T_c$ shows a saturation similar to the Bose-Einstein condensation observed for strong attractive interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Dehybridization transition in Kondo insulators and heavy fermions

In strongly correlated multi-band systems, like inter-metallics, heavy fermions or Kondo insulators, electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering of the electrons in the bands give rise, at finite temperatures, to a damping of these quasi-particles. This is responsible for producing an effective dehybridization between the electrons in the large conduction bands and those in the narrow, correlated band. This dehybridization effect has been used to explain the transport properties of inter-metallics and ARPES experiments in heavy fermions at sufficiently high temperatures. A new insight into this problem has been recently proposed using the theory of non-Hermitian systems. In this note, we review previous work on dehybridization in Kondo insulators and strongly correlated metals within this new perspective. For this purpose, we use a parametrization of the self-energy of the strongly correlated electrons obtained from LDA+DMFT calculations. We discuss the nature of the dehybridization transition and its consequences in the electronic spectrum and transport properties.

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arXiv2024

Interplay between topology and interactions in superconducting chains

Most studies of non-trivial topological systems are carried out in non-interacting models that admit an exact solution. This raises the question, to which extent the consideration of electronic correlations and disorder, present in real systems, modify these results. Exact solutions of correlated electronic systems with non-trivial topological properties, although fundamental are scarce. Among the non-interacting soluble models, we single out the Kitaev p-wave superconducting chain. It plays a crucial role in clarifying the appearance of emergent quasi-particles, the Majorana modes, associated with non-trivial topological properties. Given the relevance of this model, it would be extremely useful if it could be extended to include correlations and still remain solvable. In this work we investigate a superconducting Kitaev chain that interacts through a Falicov-Kimball Hamiltonian with a background of localized electrons. For some relevant values of the parameters, this model can be solved exactly by mapping into a non-interacting one. This allows for a detailed study of the interplay between electronic correlations and non-trivial topological behavior. Besides, the random occupation of the chain by the local moments brings new interesting effects associated with disorder.

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arXiv2024

Hybridization induced triplet superconductivity with $S^z=0$

The Kitaev superconducting chain is a model of spinless fermions with triplet-like superconductivity. It has raised interest since for some values of its parameters it presents a non-trivial topological phase that host Majorana fermions. The physical realization of a Kitaev chain is complicated by the scarcity of triplet superconductivity in real physical systems. Many proposals have been put forward to overcome this difficulty and fabricate artificial triplet superconducting chains. In this work we study a superconducting chain of spinful fermions forming Cooper pairs, in a triplet $S=1$ state, but with $S^z=0$. The motivation is that such pairing can be induced in chains that couple through an antisymmetric hybridization to an s-wave superconducting substrate. We study the nature of edge states and the topological properties of these chains. In the presence of a magnetic field the chain can sustain gapless superconductivity with pairs of Fermi points. The momentum space topology of these Fermi points is non-trivial, in the sense that they can only disappear by annihilating each other. For small magnetic fields, we find well defined degenerate edge modes with finite Zeemann energy. These modes are not symmetry protected and decay abruptly in the bulk as their energy merges with the continuum of excitations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Incommensurate charge density wave on multiband intermetallic systems exhibiting competing orders

The appearance of an incommensurate charge density wave vector $\textbf{Q} = (Q_x,Q_y)$ on multiband intermetallic systems presenting commensurate charge density wave (CDW) and superconductivity (SC) orders is investigated. We consider a two-band model in a square lattice, where the bands have distinct effective masses. The incommensurate CDW (inCDW) and CDW phases arise from an interband Coulomb repulsive interaction, while the SC emerges due to a local intraband attractive interaction. For simplicity, all the interactions, the order parameters and hybridization between bands are considered $\textbf{k}$-independent. The multiband systems that we are interested are intermetallic systems with a $d$-band coexisting with a large $c$-band, for which a mean-field approach has proved suitable. We obtain the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian numerically and minimize the free energy density with respect to the diverse parameters of the model by means of the Hellmann-Feynman theorem. We investigate the system in real as well as momentum space and we find an inCDW phase with wave vector $\textbf{Q} = (π, Q_y) = (Q_x, π)$. Our numerical results show that the arising of an inCDW state depends on parameters, such as the magnitude of the inCDW and CDW interactions, band filling, hybridization and the relative depth of the bands. In general, inCDW tends to emerge at low temperatures, away from half-filling. We also show that, whether the CDW ordering is commensurate or incommensurate, large values of the relative depth between bands may suppress it. We discuss how each parameter of the model affects the emergence of an inCDW phase.

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arXiv2022

Thermoelectric properties of topological chains coupled to a quantum dot

Topological one-dimensional superconductors can sustain in their extremities zero energy modes that are protected by different kinds of symmetries. The observation of these excitations in the form of Majorana fermions is one of the most intensive quests in condensed matter physics. Their study is not only interesting in itself, but also because they have promising applications in the area of quantum computation. In this work we are interested in another class of one dimensional topological systems, namely topological insulators. These also present symmetry protected end modes with robust properties and do not require the low temperatures necessary for topological superconductivity. We consider the simplest kind of topological insulators, namely chains of atoms with hybridized $sp$ orbitals. We study the transport properties of these chains in the trivial, non-trivial topological phases and at the quantum topological transition. We use a simple device consisting of two semi-infinite hybridized $sp$-chains connected to a quantum dot and obtain the thermoelectric properties of this system as a function of temperature and distance to the topological transition. We show that the electrical conductance and the Wiedemann-Franz ratio of the device at the topological transition have universal values at very low temperatures. The thermopower gives direct evidence of fractional charges in these systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Excitonic insulators and Gross-Neveu models

We introduce a generalized Gross-Neveu (GN) model to describe the excitonic instabilities in two different systems: a small overlap semi-metal (SM) and a small gap semi-conductor (SMC), both in two (2d) and three-dimensions (3d). We identify the excitonic order parameter (EOP) and obtain the effective potential within the Large $N$ limit approach where the GN model can be exactly solved. We obtain the excitonic insulator (EI) phase diagrams as a function of temperature, chemical potential, overlap between bands and gaps of the system. We show that the EI may undergo first- or second-order thermal transitions depending on the regime whereupon this phase is approached. We also investigate the expected thermodynamic signatures for the specific heat above the fine-tuned excitonic quantum critical point (EQCP), in both 2d and 3d, in the SMC regime. We show that the EQCP is a different kind of critical point since although the EOP vanishes at the EQCP, there is always a finite gap in the SMC regime. We find that for high temperatures, the specific heat might exhibit a scaling behavior in the form $C_V/T \propto T^{(d-z)/z}$, where $d$ is the dimension of the system and $z$ is the dynamical critical exponent. The very low temperature behavior has a dominant exponential thermally activated term due to the presence of a gap that does not vanish at the excitonic transition.

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arXiv2021

Interplay between charge density wave and superconductivity in multi-band systems with inter-band Coulomb interaction

In this work we study the competition or coexistence between charge density wave (CDW) and superconductivity (SC) in a two-band model system in a square lattice. One of the bands has a net attractive interaction ($J_d$) that is responsible for SC. The model includes on-site Coulomb repulsion between quasi-particles in different bands ($U_{dc}$) and the hybridization ($V$) between them. We are interested in describing inter-metallic systems with a $d$-band of moderately correlated electrons, for which a mean-field approximation is adequate, coexisting with a large $sp$-band. For simplicity, all interactions and the hybridization $V$ are considered site-independent. We obtain the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian numerically and minimize the free energy density with respect to the relevant parameters to obtain the phase diagrams as function of $J_d$, $U_{dc}$, $V$, composition ($n_{\mathrm{tot}}$) and the relative depth of the bands ($ε_{d0}$). We consider two types of superconducting ground states coexisting with the CDW. One is a homogeneous ground state and the other is a pair density wave where the SC order parameter has the same spatial modulation of the CDW. Our results show that the CDW and SC orders compete, but depending on the parameters of the model these phases may coexist. The model reproduces most of the experimental features of high dimensionality ($d>1$) metals with competing CDW and SC states, including the existence of first and second-order phase transitions in their phase diagrams.

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arXiv2019

Finite temperature effects in quantum systems with competing scalar orders

The study of the competition or coexistence of different ground states in many-body systems is an exciting and actual topic of research, both experimentally and theoretically. Quantum fluctuations of a given phase can suppress or enhance another phase depending on the nature of the coupling between the order parameters, their dynamics and the dimensionality of the system. The zero temperature phase diagrams of systems with competing scalar order parameters with quartic and bilinear coupling terms have been previously studied for the cases of a zero temperature bicritical point and of coexisting orders. In this work, we apply the Matsubara summation technique from finite temperature quantum field theory to introduce the effects of thermal fluctuations on the effective potential of these systems. This is essential to make contact with experiments. We consider two and three-dimensional materials characterized by a Lorentz invariant quantum critical theory. We obtain that in both cases, thermal fluctuations lead to weak first-order temperature phase transitions, at which coexisting phases arising from quantum corrections become unstable. We show that above this critical temperature, the system presents scaling behavior consistent with that approaching a quantum critical point. Below the transition the specific heat has a thermally activated contribution with a gap related to the size of the domains of the ordered phases. We show that the critical temperature (Tc) in the coexistence region decreases as a function of the distance to the zero temperature classical bicritical point. This indicates that at the fine tuned value of this transition, the system attains the highest Tc in the region of coexistence.

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arXiv2019

Multi-critical Behavior in Topological Phase Transitions

Topological phase transitions can be described by the theory of critical phenomena and identified by critical exponents that define their universality classes. This is a consequence of the existence of a diverging length at the transition that has been identified as the penetration depth of the surface modes in the non-trivial topological phase. In this paper, we characterize different universality classes of topological transitions by determining their correlation length exponents directly from numerical calculations of the penetration length of the edge modes as a function of the distance to the topological transition. We consider generalizations of the topological non-trivial Su-Schrieefer-Heeger (SSH) model, for the case of next nearest neighbors hopping and in the presence of a synthetic potential. The latter allows the system to transit between two universality classes with different correlation length and dynamic critical exponents. It presents a multi-critical point in its phase diagram since the behavior of the Berry connection depends on the path it is approached. We compare our results with those obtained from a scaling approach to the Berry connection.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Influence of the symmetry of the hybridization on the critical temperature of multi-band superconductors

In this work we study a two-band model of a superconductor in a square lattice. One band is narrow in energy and includes local Coulomb correlations between its quasi-particles. Pairing occurs in this band due to nearest neighbor attractive interactions. Extended s-wave, as well as d-wave symmetries of the superconducting order parameter are considered. The correlated electrons hybridize with those in another, wide conduction band through a k-dependent mixing, with even or odd parity depending on the nature of the orbitals. The many-body problem is treated within a slave-boson approach that has proved adequate to deal with the strong electronic correlations that are assumed here. Since applied pressure changes mostly the ratio between hybridization and bandwidths, we can use this ratio as a control parameter to obtain the phase diagrams of the model. We find that for a wide range of parameters, the critical temperature increases as a function of hybridization (pressure), with a region of first-order transitions. When frustration is introduced it gives rise to a stable superconducting phase. We find that superconductivity can be suppressed for specific values of band-filling due to the Coulomb repulsion. We show how pressure, composition and strength of correlations affect the superconductivity for different symmetries of the order parameter and the hybridization.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

One-loop effective potential for two-dimensional competing scalar order parameters

Using the method of the effective potential of quantum field theory, we compute the quantum corrections to the phase diagram of systems with competing order parameters. This is specially useful to study metallic systems with competing antiferromagnetic and superconducting ground states. We focus on the two-dimensional (2d) case that is relevant for high Tc superconductors and heavy fermion systems. We consider two different types of couplings between the order parameters and obtain the modifications in the phase diagrams due to critical quantum fluctuations in these systems with conflicting orders. We consider z = 1, as well as, a dissipative z = 2 dynamics, typical of antiferromagnetic metals close to the magnetic quantum critical point. Our results, when compared to those in the 3d case, show that these depend strongly on both dimensionality and dynamics of the propagators describing the excitations of the possible ordered states. We find stable unconventional coexisting phases, as well as, the enhancement of the region of coexistence by fluctuations. These effects may be observed experimentally in many interesting cases of strongly correlated materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Finite Size Effects in Topological Quantum Phase Transitions

The interest in the topological properties of materials brings into question the problem of topological phase transitions. As a control parameter is varied, one may drive a system through phases with different topological properties. What is the nature of these transitions and how can we characterize them? The usual Landau approach, with the concept of an order parameter that is finite in a symmetry broken phase is not useful in this context. Topological transitions do not imply a change of symmetry and there is no obvious order parameter. A crucial observation is that they are associated with a diverging length that allows a scaling approach and to introduce critical exponents which define their universality classes. At zero temperature the critical exponents obey a quantum hyperscaling relation. We study finite size effects at topological transitions and show they exhibit universal behavior due to scaling. We discuss the possibility that they become discontinuous as a consequence of these effects and point out the relevance of our study for real systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Annealed Criticality

Experimentally there exist many materials with first-order phase transitions at finite temperature that display quantum criticality. Classically a strain-energy density coupling is known to drive first-order transitions in compressible systems, and here we generalize this Larkin-Pikin mechanism to the quantum case. We show that if the T=0 system lies above its upper critical dimension, the line of first-order transitions can end in a quantum annealed critical point where zero-point fluctuations restore the underlying criticality of the order parameter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Quantum corrections for the phase diagram of systems with competing order

We use the effective potential method of quantum field theory to obtain the quantum corrections to the zero temperature phase diagram of systems with competing order parameters. We are particularly interested in two different scenarios: regions of the phase diagram where there is a bicritical point, at which both phases vanish continuously, and the case where both phases coexist homogeneously. We consider different types of couplings between the order parameters, including a bilinear one. This kind of coupling breaks time-reversal symmetry and it is only allowed if both order parameters transform according to the same irreducible representation. This occurs in many physical systems of actual interest like competing spin density waves, different types of orbital antiferromagnetism, elastic instabilities of crystal lattices, vortices in a multigap SC and also applies to describe the unusual magnetism of the heavy fermion compound URu2Si2. Our results show that quantum corrections have an important effect on the phase diagram of systems with competing orders.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

A Two-band Model for p-wave Superconductivity

In this paper we study the effects of hybridization in the superconducting properties of a two-band system. We consider the cases that these bands are formed by electronic orbitals with angular momentum, such that, the hybridization $V(\mathbf{k})$ among them can be symmetric or antisymmetric under inversion symmetry. We take into account only intra-band attractive interactions in the two bands and investigate the appearance of an induced inter-band pairing gap. We show that (inter-band) superconducting orderings are induced in the total absence of attractive interaction between the two bands, which turns out to be completely dependent on the hybridization between them. For the case of antisymmetric hybridization we show that the induced inter-band superconductivity has a p-wave symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

s- and d-wave superconductivity in a two-band model

Superconductivity in strongly correlated systems is a remarkable phenomenon that attracts a huge interest. The study of this problem is relevant for materials as the high Tc oxides, pnictides and heavy fermions. In this work we study a realistic model that includes the relevant physics of superconductivity in the presence of strong Coulomb correlations. We consider a two-band model, since most of these correlated systems have electrons from at least two different atomic orbitals coexisting at their Fermi surface. The Coulomb repulsion is taken into account through a local repulsive interaction. Pairing is considered among quasi- particles in neighbouring sites and we allow for different symmetries of the order parameter. In order to deal with the strong local correlations, we use the well known slave boson approach that has proved very successful for this problem. Here we are interested in obtaining the zero temperature properties of the model, specifically its phase diagram and the existence and nature of superconducting quantum critical points. We show that these can arise by increasing the mixing between the two bands. Since this can be controlled by external pressure or doping, our results have a direct relation with experiments. We show that the superconductor-to-normal transition can be either to a metal, a correlated metal or to an insulator. Also we compare the relative stability of s and d-wave paired states for different regions of parameter space and investigate the BCS- BEC crossover in the two-band lattice model as function of the strength of the pairing interaction.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Induced p-wave superconductivity without spin-orbit interactions

The study of Majorana fermions is of great importance for the implementation of a quantum computer. These modes are topologically protected and very stable. It is now well known that a p-wave superconducting wire can sustain, in its topological non-trivial phase, Majorana quasi-particles at its ends. Since this type of superconductor is not found in nature, many methods have been devised to implement it. Most of them rely on the spin-orbit interaction. In this paper we study the superconducting properties of a two-band system in the presence of antisymmetric hybridization. We consider inter-band attractive interactions and also an attractive interaction in one of the bands. We show that superconducting fluctuations with p-wave character are induced in the non-interacting band due to the combined effects of inter-band coupling and hybridization. In the case of a wire, this type of induced superconductivity gives rise to four Majorana modes at its ends. The long range correlation between the different charge states of these modes offers new possibilities for the implementation of protected q-bits.

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