arXiv subjects

N. V. Prokof'ev

Publications and source records attributed to N. V. Prokof'ev.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Emergent BEC mechanism in flat-band superconductors

The formation of bound bosonic pairs of fermions, followed by their Bose-Einstein (quasi) condensation (BEC), is a foundational mechanism of superconductivity. At low filling, flat-band superconductivity is well captured by this mechanism provided the flat band is separated from the occupied lower band by an energy gap. However, particularly high $T_c$ values are anticipated when the non-interacting flat and lower bands touch---as in the prototypical attractive Lieb-lattice model studied here---invalidating the conventional picture: while interactions might protect the bound state by opening a gap, no small parameter guarantees the separation of the bound-state energy from this gap or occupied-band excitations, leaving the pair's fate uncertain. Based on a controlled-precision numerical protocol---which we demonstrate to be essential in this fundamentally non-perturbative problem---we show that the BEC mechanism, underpinned by an interaction-induced gap, is generically robust and remarkably efficient: fermions doped into the flat band form bound pairs within this gap with an anomalously light effective mass, enabling an exceptionally high $T_c$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Numerically Exact Study of Flat-Band Superconductivity

Current theories of high-temperature superconductivity in flat-band systems predict a linear dependence of the transition temperature on the attractive interaction, $T_c(U) = c|U|$. However, the value of $c$ and the full nonlinear $T_c(U)$ curve---with a maximum at large $|U|$---are known beyond mean-field and quantum geometry estimates only for systems with isolated flat bands. Using a controlled diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique, we trace the onset of superfluid response in the Lieb lattice with attractive Hubbard interaction. Focusing on the half-filled flat-band case, where the ordering mechanism differs fundamentally from both BCS and BEC (preformed Cooper pair) scenarios, we find that the pairing response diverges linearly with decreasing temperature over a broad range of $U$, leading to a sharp crossover to long-range correlations at a characteristic temperature $T_*$, which provides a controlled upper bound on $T_c$. The highest $T_*$ occurs when all three bands touch at a single momentum point, potentially corresponding to high $T_c$ values.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Avoided Stoner instability at a single ordinary Van Hove point

When the Fermi surface and the Brillouin zone boundary touch at a Van Hove point, mean-field analysis predicts a ferromagnetic (Stoner) instability at finite $T_{MF}$ for any coupling strength due to the divergent density of states. However, the predicted effect has not been observed experimentally. Several qualitative theoretical proposals have been put forward to explain why the mean-field prediction fails. Based on numerically exact results for the two-dimensional Hubbard model with an ordinary Van Hove singularity, we uncover the mechanisms behind the suppression of the ferromagnetic instability. We employ two diagrammatic Monte Carlo approaches: (i) the four-channel self-consistent approximation and (ii) numerically exact method of combinatorial summation of diagrams with controlled resummation of the truncated expansion. We find that the system avoids the Stoner instability down to temperatures an order of magnitude below $T_{MF}$ due to the combination of the downward renormalization of the effective coupling and the suppression of the density of states by the loss of the quasiparticle residue.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Dielectric losses in metals

Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) in the self-consistent Hartree-Fock (HF) basis is often used for describing complex many-body effects in material science applications. Its exact solution on the real-frequency axis at finite temperature for polarization using the diagrammatic Monte Carlo method [Phys. Rev. B \textbf{109}, 045152, (2024)] captures effects of multiple Coulomb scattering of a single particle-hole excitation, but does not account for multiple pair excitations important for studying dielectric loses in metals at frequencies comparable to the plasmon mode. In this paper we report technical developments which allow one to efficiently compute the dielectric response in a wide frequency range from zero to a few Fermi energies without systematic bias at finite $T$. By applying it to the homogeneous electron gas we demonstrate how at small momenta the gap in the spectral density between the electron-hole and plasmon excitations, existing within the HF-BSE approach, is filled with two particle-hole excitations and is completely washed out already at temperature $T \sim \varepsilon_F/10$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Landau Damping in an Electron Gas

Material science methods aim at developing efficient computational schemes for describing complex many-body effects and how they are revealed in experimentally measurable properties. Bethe-Salpeter equation in the self-consistent Hartree-Fock basis is often used for this purpose, and in this paper we employ the real-frequency diagrammatic Monte Carlo framework for solving the ladder-type Bethe-Salpeter equation for the 3-point vertex function (and, ultimately, for the system's polarization) to study the effect of electron-hole Coulomb scattering on Landau damping in the homogeneous electron gas. We establish how this damping mechanism depends on the Coulomb parameter $r_s$ and changes with temperature between the correlated liquid and thermal gas regimes. In a broader context of dielectric response in metals, we also present the full polarization and the typical dependence of the exchange-correlation kernel on frequency at finite momentum and temperature within the same computational framework.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Interaction-enhanced nesting in Spin-Fermion and Fermi-Hubbard models

The spin-fermion (SF) model postulates that the dominant coupling between low-energy fermions in near critical metals is mediated by collective spin fluctuations (paramagnons) peaked at the Néel wave vector, ${\bf Q}_N$, connecting hot spots on opposite sides of the Fermi surface. It has been argued that strong correlations at hot spots lead to a Fermi surface deformation (FSD) featuring flat regions and increased nesting. This conjecture was confirmed in the perturbative self-consistent calculations when the paramagnon propagator dependence on momentum deviation from ${\bf Q}_N$ is given by $χ^{-1} \propto |Δq|$. Using diagrammatic Monte Carlo (diagMC) technique we show that such a dependence holds only at temperatures orders of magnitude smaller than any other energy scale in the problem, indicating that a different mechanism may be at play. Instead, we find that a $χ^{-1} \propto |Δq|^{2}$ dependence yields a robust finite-$T$ scenario for achieving FSD. To link phenomenological and microscopic descriptions, we applied the connected determinant diagMC method to the $(t-t')$ Hubbard model and found that in this case: (i) the FSD is not very pronounced, and, instead, it is the lines of zeros of the renormalized dispersion relation that deform towards nesting; (ii) this phenomenon appears at large $U/t>5.5$ before the formation of electron and hole pockets; (iii) the static spin susceptibility is well described by $χ^{-1} \propto |Δq|^{2}$. Flat FS regions yield a non-trivial scenario for realizing a non-Fermi liquid state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Solving the Bethe-Salpeter Equation in Real Frequencies at Finite Temperature

Self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation combined with solutions of the Bethe-Salpeter equation offers a powerful tool for studies of strong correlation effects arising in condensed matter models, nuclear physics, quantum field theories, and real materials. The standard finite-temperature approach would be to first solve the problem in the Matsubara representation and then apply numerical analytic continuation to the real-frequency axis to link theoretical results with experimental probes, but this ill-conditioned procedure often distorts important spectral features even for very accurate imaginary-frequency data. We demonstrate that the ladder-type finite-temperature Bethe-Salpeter equation in the Hartree-Fock basis for the 3-point vertex function and, ultimately, system's polarization can be accurately solved directly on the real frequency axis using the diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique and series resummation. We illustrate the method by applying it to the homogeneous electron gas model and demonstrate how multiple scattering events renormalize Landau damping.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Bipolaronic high-temperature superconductivity

Electron-lattice interactions play a prominent role in quantum materials, making a deeper understanding of direct routes to phonon-mediated high-transition-temperature ($T_{\mathrm{c}}$) superconductivity desirable. However, it has been known for decades that weak electron-phonon coupling gives rise to low values of $T_{\mathrm{c}}$, while strong electron-phonon coupling leads to lattice instability or formation of bipolarons, generally assumed to be detrimental to superconductivity. Thus, the route to high-$T_{\mathrm{c}}$ materials from phonon-mediated mechanisms has heretofore appeared to be limited to raising the phonon frequency as in the hydrogen sulfides. Here we present a simple model for phonon-mediated high-$T_{\mathrm{c}}$ superconductivity based on superfluidity of light bipolarons. In contrast to the widely studied Holstein model where lattice distortions modulate the electron's potential energy, we investigate the situation where lattice distortions modulate the electron hopping. This physics gives rise to small-size, yet light bipolarons, which we study using an exact sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo approach, demonstrating a new route to phonon-mediated high-$T_\mathrm{c}$ superconductivity. We find that $T_\mathrm{c}$ in our model generically and significantly exceeds typical upper bounds based on Migdal-Eliashberg theory or superfluidity of Holstein bipolarons. The key ingredient in this bipolaronic mechanism that gives rise to high $T_\mathrm{c}$ is the combination of light mass and small size of bipolarons. Our work establishes principles towards the design of high-$T_{\mathrm{c}}$ superconductors via functional material engineering.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Bipolaronic superconductivity out of a Coulomb gas

Employing unbiased sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo, we investigate the effects of long-range Coulomb forces on BEC of bipolarons using a model of bond phonon-modulated electron hopping. In absence of long-range repulsion, this model was recently shown to give rise to small-size, light-mass bipolarons that undergo a superfluid transition at high values of the critical transition temperature $T_\mathrm{c}$. We find that $T_\mathrm{c}$ in our model even with the long-range Coulomb repulsion remains much larger than that of Holstein bipolarons, and can be on the order of or greater than the typical upper bounds on phonon-mediated $T_\mathrm{c}$ based on the Migdal-Eliashberg and McMillan approximations. Our work points to a physically simple mechanism for superconductivity in the low-density regime that may be relevant to current experiments on dilute superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Real-frequency response functions at finite temperature

Building on previous developments, we show that the Diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique allows to compute finite temperature response functions directly on the real-frequency axis within any field-theoretical formulation of the interacting fermion problem. There are no limitations on the type and nature of the system's action or whether partial summation and self-consistent treatment of certain diagram classes are used. In particular, by eliminating the need for numerical analytic continuation from a Matsubara representation, our scheme allows to study spectral densities of arbitrary complexity with controlled accuracy in models with frequency-dependent effective interactions. For illustrative purposes we consider the problem of the plasmon line-width in a homogeneous electron gas (jellium).

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Extended crossover from Fermi liquid to quasi-antiferromagnet in the half-filled 2D Hubbard model

The ground state of the Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping on the square lattice at half filling is known to be that of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) band insulator for any on-site repulsion. At finite temperature, the absence of long-range order makes the question of how the interaction-driven insulator is realized nontrivial. We address this problem with controlled accuracy in the thermodynamic limit using self-energy diagrammatic determinant Monte Carlo and dynamical cluster approximation methods and show that development of long-range AFM correlations drives an extended crossover from Fermi liquid to insulating behavior in the parameter regime that precludes a metal-to-insulator transition. The intermediate crossover state is best described as a non-Fermi liquid with a partially gapped Fermi surface.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering in Metals: A Diagrammatic Approach

We develop a formalism to study the Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) response in metals based on the diagrammatic expansion for its cross section. The standard approach to the solution of the RIXS problem relies on two key approximations: short-range potentials and non-interacting conduction electrons. However, these approximations are inaccurate for charged particles in metals, where the long-range Coulomb interaction and dynamic screening effects are very important. In this work we study how to extract important information about collective excitations in the Coulomb plasma, plasmons and electron-hole pairs, from RIXS data. We find that single- and multi-plasmon excitations can easily be distinguished by positions of the corresponding peaks, singularities, and their intensities. We also discuss the hybrid processes, where plasmon emission is accompanied by excitation of electron-hole pairs, and study how they manifest themselves.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Magnetic Correlations in the Two-dimensional Repulsive Fermi Hubbard Model

The repulsive Fermi Hubbard model on the square lattice has a rich phase diagram near half-filling (corresponding to the particle density per lattice site $n=1$): for $n=1$ the ground state is an antiferromagnetic insulator, at $0.6 < n \lesssim 0.8$, it is a $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superfluid (at least for moderately strong interactions $U \lesssim 4t$ in terms of the hopping $t$), and the region $1-n \ll 1$ is most likely subject to phase separation. Much of this physics is preempted at finite temperatures and to an extent driven by strong magnetic fluctuations, their quantitative characteristics and how they change with the doping level being much less understood. Experiments on ultra-cold atoms have recently gained access to this interesting fluctuation regime, which is now under extensive investigation. In this work we employ a self-consistent skeleton diagrammatic approach to quantify the characteristic temperature scale $T_{M}(n)$ for the onset of magnetic fluctuations with a large correlation length and identify their nature. Our results suggest that the strongest fluctuations---and hence highest $T_{M}$ and easiest experimental access to this regime---are observed at $U/t \approx 4-6$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Solutions of the Two Dimensional Hubbard Model: Benchmarks and Results from a Wide Range of Numerical Algorithms

Numerical results for ground state and excited state properties (energies, double occupancies, and Matsubara-axis self energies) of the single-orbital Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice are presented, in order to provide an assessment of our ability to compute accurate results in the thermodynamic limit. Many methods are employed, including auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo, bare and bold-line diagrammatic Monte Carlo, method of dual fermions, density matrix embedding theory, density matrix renormalization group, dynamical cluster approximation, diffusion Monte Carlo within a fixed node approximation, unrestricted coupled cluster theory, and multi-reference projected Hartree-Fock. Comparison of results obtained by different methods allows for the identification of uncertainties and systematic errors. The importance of extrapolation to converged thermodynamic limit values is emphasized. Cases where agreement between different methods is obtained establish benchmark results that may be useful in the validation of new approaches and the improvement of existing methods.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Deconfined criticality flow in the Heisenberg model with ring-exchange interactions

Quantum transition points in the J -Q model---the test bed of the deconfined critical point theory---and the SU(2)-symmetric discrete noncompact CP^1 representation of the deconfined critical action are directly compared by the flowgram method. We find that the flows of two systems coincide in a broad region of linear system sizes (10 < L < 50 for the J -Q model), implying that the deconfined critical point theory correctly captures the mesoscopic physics of competition between the antiferromagnetic and valence-bond orders in quantum spin systems. At larger sizes, however, we observe significant deviations between the two flows which both demonstrate strong violations of scale invariance. This reliably rules out the second-order transition scenario in at least one of the two models and suggests the most likely explanation for the nature of the transition in the J-Q model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Classical-Field Renormalization Flow of One-Dimensional Disordered Bosons

We show that in the regime when strong disorder is more relevant than field quantization the superfluid--to--Bose-glass criticality of one-dimensional bosons is preceded by the prolonged logarithmically slow classical-field renormalization flow of the superfluid stiffness at mesoscopic scales. With the system compressibility remaining constant, the quantum nature of the system manifests itself only in the renormalization of dilute weak links. On the insulating side, the flow ultimately reaches a value of the Luttinger parameter at which the instanton--anti-instanton pairs start to proliferate, in accordance with the universal quantum scenario. This happens first at astronomic system sizes because of the suppressed instanton fugacity. We illustrate our result by first-principles simulations.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2012

The Higgs mode in a two-dimensional superfluid

We present solid evidence for the existence of a well-defined Higgs amplitude mode in two-dimensional relativistic field theories based on analytically continued results from quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model in the vicinity of the superfluid-Mott insulator quantum critical point, featuring emergent particle-hole symmetry and Lorentz-invariance. The Higgs boson, seen as a well-defined low-frequency resonance in the spectral density, is quickly pushed to high energies in the superfluid phase and disappears by merging with the broad secondary peak at the characteristic interaction scale. Simulations of a trapped system of ultra-cold $^{87}$Rb atoms demonstrate that the low-frequency resonance feature is lost for typical experimental parameters, while the characteristic frequency for the onset of strong response is preserved.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Sharp transition for single polarons in the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

We study a single polaron in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model using four different techniques (three numerical and one analytical). Polarons show a smooth crossover from weak to strong coupling, as a function of the electron-phonon coupling strength $λ$, in all models where this coupling depends only on phonon momentum $q$. In the SSH model the coupling also depends on the electron momentum $k$; we find it has a sharp transition, at a critical coupling strength $λ_c$, between states with zero and nonzero momentum of the ground state. All other properties of the polaron are also singular at $λ= λ_c$, except the average number of phonons in the polaronic cloud. This result is representative of all polarons with coupling depending on $k$ and $q$, and will have important experimental consequences (eg., in ARPES and conductivity experiments).

cond-mat.str-el↗