arXiv subjects

Van Sérgio Alves

Publications and source records attributed to Van Sérgio Alves.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Podolsky quantum electrodynamics for strongly coupled Dirac fermions in (2+1)D

We investigate generalized quantum electrodynamics (GQED), a higher-derivative extension of quantum electrodynamics in (3+1) dimensions. We perform a dimensional reduction of this theory to (2+1)D by confining the Dirac current to a plane while allowing the gauge-field to propagate outside the plane. The resulting effective theory, which we denote as Pseudo Generalized QED (PGQED), is minimally coupled to massless Dirac fermions. At strong coupling, we show that a dynamical mass is generated from approximate solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson equations, leading to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and modifications of the fermion dispersion relation. We derive an analytic critical coupling constant $α_{c}(μ)$ and a critical flavor number $N_{c}(μ)$, which depend on the Podolsky parameter $μ$ and the ultraviolet cutoff $Λ$. These analytical results are in good agreement with our numerical solutions. Finally, we discuss how the model may provide qualitative insights for graphene, estimating a viable range for $μ$ in the ultrarelativistic limit and highlighting possible applications to two-dimensional materials.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Bound-State Spectra of a Lifshitz-Type Dirac Equation in (2+1) Dimensions

We investigate a Dirac-type equation in $(2+1)$ dimensions modified by Lifshitz spatial derivatives with dynamical exponent $z=2$, focusing on the spectral properties of bound-states under radial confinement. Analytical solutions are obtained for constant backgrounds, hard-wall confinement, and harmonic potentials, while logarithmic confinement is treated numerically via the Numerov method and complemented by a semiclassical WKB analysis. The resulting spectra exhibit characteristic scaling laws governed by the Lifshitz parameter $b$, including $E - M \propto b/R_0^2$ for hard-wall confinement, $E - M \propto \sqrt{2b}\,ω$ for harmonic trapping, and $E - M \sim α\ln\sqrt{b}$ in the semiclassical regime of logarithmic confinement, where $M$ is a mass scale. These results provide a consistent characterization of how higher-order spatial derivatives modify the energy spectra in two-dimensional Dirac systems and may be relevant for effective descriptions of materials with quadratic low-energy dispersion, such as bilayer graphene and related anisotropic 2D systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Dynamical mass generation and critical behavior in pseudo-Proca quantum electrodynamics

We investigate dynamical mass generation in pseudo-Proca quantum electrodynamics (PPQED) by means of Schwinger--Dyson equations in rainbow-quenched and unquenched truncations. The pseudo-Proca screening scale $m$, together with the fine-structure constant $α$, the flavor number $N$, and the ultraviolet cutoff $Λ$, control the critical thresholds for chiral symmetry breaking in the reduced $(2+1)$D theory. Within these truncation schemes, we obtain analytical estimates for both the critical coupling $α_c(m,Λ)$ and the critical number of fermion flavors $N_c(m,Λ,g)$, and show that increasing $m$ suppresses dynamical mass generation through Yukawa screening. We further assess the robustness of this physical picture by incorporating a Ball--Chiu vertex construction, which modifies the quantitative values of the critical parameters while preserving their qualitative dependence on the screening scale $m$. In addition, within the static approximation, the anisotropic extension indicates that the critical coupling decreases as the ratio $v_F/c$ increases. Taken together, our results suggest that the scale $m$ plays an important role in modulating criticality in PPQED. Furthermore, the Ball-Chiu vertex construction shows that vertex corrections modify the quantitative values of the critical parameters while preserving the screening-driven suppression of dynamical mass generation in $(2+1)$D.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Transport of Dirac magnons driven by gauge fields

We present a unified quantum field theory for Dirac magnons coupled to emergent gauge fields. At zero temperature, any space- and time-dependent gauge perturbation drives magnons out of equilibrium, generating spin currents and magnon accumulation without conventional thermal or chemical potential gradients. For a honeycomb ferromagnet, we derive closed-form expressions for the induced density and current. In the DC limit, the transverse spin conductivity quantizes to $σ^{xy}=α^2\text{sgn}(m)\hbar/4π$, a magnonic analog of the quantum Hall effect, where $m$ is the topological magnon mass and $α$ a dimensionless coupling constant. In the AC regime, the conductivity exhibits a sharp resonance when the drive frequency matches the topological gap $Δ$, signaling interband transitions. Our work establishes gauge fields as a versatile tool for controlling magnon transport and reveals topologically protected quantized responses.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Renormalization of the optical band gap through an effective Thirring interaction for massive Dirac-like electrons

We analyze mass renormalization in massive Dirac-like systems in (2+1) dimensions arising from electron-phonon interactions at finite temperatures, employing the large-$N$ expansion. Our model combines the low-energy description of charge carriers in a buckled honeycomb lattice with the low-energy approximation for phonons and electron-phonon interactions in two-dimensional materials. Consequently, the system is modeled as a massive Dirac-like field coupled to a two-component vector field $\mathcal{A}_i$, representing the phonon modes. This framework allows us to compute the one-loop electron self-energy at finite temperature, from which we derive the renormalized band gap, $m^R$. The effective model is subsequently applied to describe the renormalized optical band gap in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), including MoS$_2$, MoSe$_2$, WS$_2$, and WSe$_2$. A good agreement is observed with experimental data for reasonable values of the ultraviolet cutoff, $Λ\approx 1$ eV. Our main findings indicate that $m^R$ remains nearly constant at low temperatures, whereas at higher temperatures it decreases linearly with the temperature $T$. Specifically, we find that $m^R$ reduces by approximately $\approx [0.1,0.2]$ eV as the temperature increases from $\approx 4$ K to $500$ K, consistent with recent experimental observations. Furthermore, we estimate the temperature range at which the transition to the linear regime occurs, obtaining typical values within $\approx [110,150]$ K for the four materials under consideration.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Renormalization of the band gap in 2D materials near an interface between two dielectrics

We investigate how the renormalization of the band gap in a planar 2D material is affected by the consideration of two nondispersive semi-infinite dielectrics, with dielectric constants $ε_1$ and $ε_2$, separated by a planar interface. Using the pseudo quantum electrodynamics to model the Coulomb interaction between electrons, we show how the renormalization of the band gap depends on $ε_1$ and $ε_2$, and also of the distance between the 2D material and the interface between the two dielectrics. In the appropriate limits, our results reproduce those found in the literature for the band gap renormalization when a single dielectric medium is considered.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Effects of the two-dimensional Coulomb interaction in both Fermi velocity and energy gap for Dirac-like electrons at finite temperature

We describe both the Fermi velocity and the mass renormalization due to the two-dimensional Coulomb interaction in the presence of a thermal bath. To achieve this, we consider an anisotropic version of pseudo quantum electrodynamics (PQED), within a perturbative approach in the fine-structure constant $α$. Thereafter, we use the so-called imaginary-time formalism for including the thermal bath. In the limit $T\rightarrow 0$, we calculate the renormalized mass $m^R(p)$ and compare this result with the experimental findings for the energy band gap in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides, namely, WSe$_2$ and MoS$_2$. In these materials, the quasi-particle excitations behave as a massive Dirac-like particles in the low-energy limit, hence, its mass is related to the energy band gap of the material. In the low-temperature limit $T\ll v_F p $, where $v_F p$ is taken as the Fermi energy, we show that $m^R(p)$ decreases linearly on the temperature, i.e, $m^R(p,T)-m^R(p,T\rightarrow 0)\approx -A_αT +O(T^3)$, where $A_α$ is a positive constant. On the other hand, for the renormalized Fermi velocity, we find that $v^R_F(p,T)-v^R_F(p,T\rightarrow 0)\approx -B_αT^3 +O(T^5)$, where $B_α$ is a positive constant. We also perform numerical tests which confirm our analytical results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

On the supersymmetric pseudo-QED

Within the superfield approach, we discuss the three-dimensional supersymmetric (SUSY) pseudo-QED. We prove that it is all-loop renormalizable. We demonstrate that the SUSY pseudo-QED action can be generated as a quantum correction from the coupling of a spinor gauge superfield to a set of $N$ massless complex scalar superfields. Afterwards, we calculate the two-point function of the scalar superfields in the pseudo-QED which displays a divergence vanishing in a certain gauge.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Effects of the Pseudo-Chern-Simons action for strongly correlated electrons in the plane

Chiral symmetry breaking comes from the mass dynamically generated through interaction of Dirac fermions for both quantum electrodynamics in (2+1)D (QED3) and (3+1)D (QED4). In QED3, the presence of a Chern-Simons (CS) parameter affects the critical structure of the theory, favoring the symmetric phase where the electron remains massless. Here, we calculate the main effects of a Pseudo-Chern-Simons (PCS) parameter $θ$ into the dynamical mass generation of Pseudo quantum electrodynamics (PQED). The $θ$-parameter provides a mass scale for PQED at classical level and appears as the pole of the gauge-field propagator. After calculating the full electron propagator with the Schwinger-Dyson equation at quenched-rainbow and large-$N$ approximations, we conclude that $θ$ affects the critical parameters related to the fine-structure constant, $α_c(θ)$, and to the number of copies of the matter field, $N_c(θ)$, by favoring the symmetric phase. In the continuum limit ($Λ\to \infty$), nevertheless, the $θ$-parameter do not affect the critical parameters. We also compare our analytical results with numerical findings of the integral equation for the mass function of the electron.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Influence of the four-fermion interactions in (2+1)D massive electrons system

The description of the electromagnetic interaction in two-dimensional Dirac materials, such as graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides, in which electrons move in the plane and interact via virtual photons in 3d, leads naturally to the emergence of a projected non-local theory, called pseudo-quantum electrodynamics (PQED), as an effective model suitable for describing electromagnetic interaction in these systems. In this work, we investigate the role of a complete set of four-fermion interactions in the renormalization group functions when we coupled it with the anisotropic version of massive PQED, where we take into account the fact that the Fermi velocity is not equal to the light velocity. We calculate the electron self-energy in the dominant order in the $1/N$ expansion in the regime where $m ^ 2 \ll p ^ 2$. We show that the Fermi velocity renormalization is insensitive to the presence of quartic fermionic interactions, whereas the renormalized mass may have two different asymptotic behaviors at the high-density limit, which means a high-energy scale.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Dynamical Mass Generation in Pseudo Quantum Electrodynamics with Gross-Neveu Interaction at finite temperature

We study the dynamical mass generation in Pseudo Quantum Electrodynamics (PQED) coupled to the Gross-Neveu (GN) interaction, in (2+1) dimensions, at both zero and finite temperatures. We start with a gapless model and show that, under particular conditions, a dynamically generated mass emerges. In order to do so, we use a truncated Schwinger-Dyson equation, at the large-N approximation, in the imaginary-time formalism. In the instantaneous-exchange approximation (the static regime), we obtain two critical parameters, namely, the critical number of fermions $N_c(T)$ and the critical coupling constant $α_c(T)$ as a function of temperature and of the cutoff $Λ$, which must be provided by experiments. In the dynamical regime, we find an analytical solution for the mass function $Σ(p,T)$ as well as a zero-external momentum solution for $p=0$. We compare our analytical results with numerical tests and a good agreement is found.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Projected Proca Field Theory: a One-Loop Study

The recent discovery of two-dimensional Dirac materials, such as graphene and transition-metaldichalcogenides, has raised questions about the treatment of hybrid systems, in which electrons moving in a two-dimensional plane interact via virtual photons from the three-dimensional space. In this case, a projected non-local theory, known as Pseudo-QED, or reduced QED, has shown to provide a correct framework for describing the interactions displayed by these systems. In a related situation, in planar materials exhibiting a superconducting phase, the electromagnetic field has a typical exponential decay that is interpreted as the photons having an effective mass, as a consequence of the Anderson-Higgs mechanism. Here, we use an analogous projection to that used to obtain the pseudo-QED to derive a Pseudo-Proca equivalent model. In terms of this model, we unveil the main effects of attributing a mass to the photons and to the quasi-relativistic electrons. The one-loop radiative corrections to the electron mass, to the photon and to the electron-photon vertex are computed. We calculate the quantum corrections to the electron g-factor and show that it smoothly goes to zero in the limit when the photon mass is much larger than the electron mass. In addition, we correct the results obtained for graphene within Pseudo-QED in the limit when the photon mass vanishes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Renormalization of the band gap in 2D materials through the competition between electromagnetic and four-fermion interactions

Recently the renormalization of the band gap $m$, in both WSe$_2$ and MoS$_2$, has been experimentally measured as a function of the carrier concentration $n$. The main result establishes a decreasing of hundreds of meV, in comparison with the bare band gap, as the carrier concentration increases. These materials are known as transition metal dichalcogenides and their low-energy excitations are, approximately, described by the massive Dirac equation. Using Pseudo Quantum Electrodynamics (PQED) to describe the electromagnetic interaction between these quasiparticles and from renormalization group analysis, we obtain that the renormalized mass describes the band gap renormalization with a function given by $m(n)/m_0=(n/n_0)^{C_λ/2}$, where $m_0=m(n_0)$ and $C_λ$ is a function of the coupling constant $λ$. We compare our theoretical results with the experimental findings for WSe$_2$ and MoS$_2$, and we conclude that our approach is in agreement with these experimental results for reasonable values of $λ$. In addition we introduced a Gross-Neveu (GN) interaction which could simulate an disorder/impurity-like microscopic interaction. In this case, we show that there exists a critical coupling constant, namely, $λ_c \approx 0,66$ in which the beta function of the mass vanishes, providing a stable fixed point in the ultraviolet limit. For $λ>λ_c$, the renormalized mass decreases while for $λ<λ_c$ it increases with the carrier concentration.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Superconducting and Pseudogap Transition Temperatures in High-Tc Cuprates and the $T_{c}$ Dependence on Pressure

We derive analytic expressions for the critical temperatures of the superconducting (SC) and pseudogap (PG) transitions of the high-Tc cuprates as a function of doping. These are in excellent agreement with the experimental data both for single-layered materials such as LSCO, Bi2201 and Hg1201 and multi-layered ones, such as Bi2212, Bi2223, Hg1212 and Hg1223. Optimal doping occurs when the chemical potential vanishes, thus leading to an universal expression for the optimal SC transition temperatures. This allows for the obtainment of a quantitative description of the growth of such temperatures with the number of layers, N, which accurately applies to the $Bi$, $Hg$ and $Tl$ families of cuprates. We study the pressure dependence of the SC transition temperatures, obtaining excellent agreement with the experimental data for different materials and dopings. These results are obtained from an effective Hamiltonian for the itinerant oxygen holes, which includes both the electric repulsion between them and their magnetic interactions with the localized copper ions. We show that the former interaction is responsible for the SC and the latter, for the PG phases, the phase diagram of cuprates resulting from the competition of both. The Hamiltonian is defined on a bipartite oxygen lattice, which results from the fact that only the $p_x$ and $p_y$ oxygen orbitals alternatively hybridize with the $3d$ copper orbitals. From this, we can provide an unified explanation for the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ symmetry of both the SC and PG order parameters and obtain the Fermi pockets observed in ARPES experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Bosonic interactions in a nonlocal theory in (2+1) dimensions

Pseudo-Quantum Electrodynamics (PQED) provides an excellent description of the interaction between charged particles confined to a plane. When we couple pseudo-gauge field with a bosonic matter field, we obtain the so-called Scalar Pseudo-Quantum Electrodynamics (SPQED). In this work, we make a perturbative analysis of SPQED via Feynman diagrams. We compute the one loop Green functions: bosonic field self-energy, electromagnetic field self-energy, and vertex corrections. Finally, we consider the non-relativistic interaction potential between two bosonic particles. We compute the radiative corrections to the usual Coulomb potential and comment on the analogies and the differences with the fermionic case.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Bounded particle interactions driven by a nonlocal dual Chern-Simons model

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) of electrons confined in a plane and that yet can undergo interactions mediated by an unconstrained photon has been described by the so-called {\it pseudo-QED} (PQED), the (2+1)-dimensional version of the equivalent dimensionally reduced original QED. In this work, we show that PQED with a nonlocal Chern-Simons term is dual to the Chern-Simons Higgs model at the quantum level. We apply the path-integral formalism in the dualization of the Chern-Simons Higgs model to first describe the interaction between quantum vortex particle excitations in the dual model. This interaction is explicitly shown to be in the form of a Bessel-like type of potential in the static limit. This result {\it per se} opens exciting possibilities for investigating topological states of matter generated by interactions, since the main difference between our new model and the PQED is the presence of a nonlocal Chern-Simons action. Indeed, the dual transformation yields an unexpected square root of the d'Alembertian operator, namely, $(\sqrt{-\Box})^{-1}$ multiplied by the well-known Chern-Simons action. Despite the nonlocality, the resulting model is still gauge invariant and preserves the unitarity, as we explicitly prove. {}Finally, when coupling the resulting model to Dirac fermions, we then show that pairs of bounded electrons are expected to appear, with a typical distance between the particles being inversely proportional to the topologically generated mass for the gauge field in the dual model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

The Superconducting and Pseudogap Phase Diagram of High-Tc Cuprates

We derive analytic expressions for the critical temperatures of the superconducting (SC) and pseudogap (PG) phases of the high-Tc cuprates, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental data for single-layered materials such as LSCO, Bi2201 and Hg1201. Our effective Hamiltonian, defined in the oxygen square sub-lattices formed by the alternate hybridization of $p_x$ and $p_y$ orbitals with the $3d$ copper orbitals, provides an unified explanation for the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ symmetry of both the SC and PG order parameters. Attractive and repulsive interactions involve holes of the two different sublattices and can be derived from the spin-fermion model. Optimal doping occurs when the chemical potential vanishes. For $N$-layered cuprates, the growth of the optimal temperature with $N$, as well as the trend of the SC and AF domes to superimpose, can be simply understood. Our results for the optimal SC transition temperature are in excellent agreement with the experiments for $N=2$ materials of the $Bi$ and $Hg$ families. For $N=3$ the agreement is still satisfactory, while for $N>3$, it becomes poor. The explanation for these facts allows us to suggest a method for increasing the critical SC temperature in cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Quantum-electrodynamical approach to the exciton spectrum in Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides

Manipulation of intrinsic electron degrees of freedom, such as charge and spin, gives rise to electronics and spintronics, respectively. Electrons in monolayer materials with a honeycomb lattice structure, such as the Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides (TMD's), can be distinguished according to the region (valley) of the Brillouin zone to which they belong. Valleytronics, the manipulation of this electron's property, is expected to set up a new era in the realm of electronic devices. In this work, we accurately determine the energy spectrum and lifetimes of exciton (electron-hole) bound-states for different TMD materials, namely WSe$_2$, WS$_2$ and MoS$_2$. For all of them, we obtain a splitting of the order of 170 meV between the exciton energies from different valleys, corresponding to an effective Zeeman magnetic field of 1400 T. Our approach, which employs quantum-field theory (QFT) techniques based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation and the Schwinger-Dyson formalism, takes into account the full electromagnetic interaction among the electrons. The valley selection mechanism operates through the dynamical breakdown of the time-reversal (TR) symmetry, which originally interconnects the two valleys. This symmetry is spontaneously broken whenever the full electromagnetic interaction vertex is used to probe the response of the system to an external field.

cond-mat.str-el↗