Interplay of superconductivity and magnetism in strong coupling

A model is introduced describing the interplay between superconductivity and spin-ordering. It is characterized by on-site repulsive electron-electron interactions, causing antiferromagnetism, and nearest-neighbor attractive interactions, giving rise to d-wave superconductivity. Due to a special choice for the lattice, this model has a strong-coupling limit where the superconductivity can be described by a bosonic theory, similar to the strongly coupled negative U Hubbard model. This limit is analyzed in the present paper. A rich mean-field phase diagram is found and the leading quantum corrections to the mean-field results are calculated. The first-order line between the antiferromagnetic- and the superconducting phase is found to terminate at a tricritical point, where two second-order lines originate. At these lines, the system undergoes a transition to- and from a phase exhibiting both antiferromagnetic order and superconductivity. At finite temperatures above the spin-disordering line, quantum-critical behavior is found. For specific values of the model parameters, it is possible to obtain SO(5) symmetry involving the spin- and the phase-sector at the tricritical point. Although this symmetry is explicitly broken by the projection to the lower Hubbard band, it survives on the mean-field level, and modes related to a spontaneously broken SO(5) symmetry are present on the level of the random phase approximation in the superconducting phase.Comment: 16 pages Revtex, 5 figure

Quantum disordered phase in a doped antiferromagnet

A quantitative description of the transition to a quantum disordered phase in a doped antiferromagnet is obtained with a U(1) gauge-theory, where the gap in the spin-wave spectrum determines the strength of the gauge-fields. They mediate an attractive long-range interaction whose possible bound-states correspond to charge-spin separation and pairing.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex, chris-preprint-1994-

Populated Domain Walls

Several experiments suggest that the charge carriers in the normal state of certain cuprate superconductors reside on domain walls. In an earlier paper, we suggested that several aspects of the anomalous dynamical behavior of these materials could be explained, at least qualitatively, on this basis. Here, using results on the ground state energy of the 1-dimensional Hubbard model (soluble by Bethe ansatz techniques) as a function of charge density, we argue that a non-zero charge density localized to domain walls is a very plausible consequence of strong short-range electron-electron repulsion. We also suggest a method to suppress meandering of the walls, and thereby enhance their signature in neutron diffraction.Comment: Minor Corrections, References added, Phyzzx, 10 pg

The gas of elastic quantum strings in 2+1 dimensions: finite temperatures

The finite temperature physics of the gas of elastic quantum strings as introduced in J. Zaanen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 753 is investigated. This model is inspired on the stripes in the high Tc superconductors. We analyze in detail how the kinetic interactions of the zero temperature quantum problem crossover into the entropic interactions of the high temperature limit.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Periodic Coherence Peak Height Modulations in Superconducting BSCCO

In this paper we analyze, using scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), the local density of electronic states (LDOS) in nearly optimally doped BSCCO in zero field. We see both dispersive and non-dispersive spatial LDOS modulations as a function of energy in our samples. Moreover, a spatial map of the superconducting coherence peak heights shows the same structure as the low energy LDOS. This suggests that these non-dispersive LDOS modulations originate from an underlying charge-density modulation which interacts with superconductivity.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures with 15 total eps file

Dimerization versus Orbital Moment Ordering in the Mott insulator YVO3_3

We use exact diagonalization combined with mean-field theory to investigate the phase diagram of the spin-orbital model for cubic vanadates. The spin-orbit coupling competes with Hund's exchange and triggers a novel phase, with the ordering of $t_{2g}$ orbital magnetic moments stabilized by the tilting of VO$_6$ octahedra. It explains qualitatively spin canting and reduction of magnetization observed in YVO$_3$. At finite temperature an orbital Peierls instability in the $C$-type antiferromagnetic phase induces modulation of magnetic exchange constants even in absence of lattice distortions. The calculated spin structure factor shows a magnon splitting due to the orbital Peierls dimerization.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Revte

On the relation between decoherence and spontaneous symmetry breaking

We have recently shown that there is a limit to quantum coherence in many-particle spin qubits due to spontaneous symmetry breaking. These results were derived for the Lieb-Mattis spin model. Here we will show that the underlying mechanism of decoherence in systems with spontaneous symmetry breaking is in fact more general. We present here a generic route to finding the decoherence time associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking in many particle qubits, and subsequently we apply this approach to two model systems, indicating how the continuous symmetries in these models are spontaneously broken and discussing the relation of this symmetry breaking to the thin spectrum. We then present in detail the calculations that lead to the limit to quantum coherence, which is due to energy shifts in the thin spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Striped phases in the two-dimensional Hubbard model with long-range Coulomb interaction

We investigate the formation of partially filled domain walls in the two-dimensional Hubbard model in the presence of long-range interaction. Using an unrestricted Gutzwiller variational approach we show that: i) the strong local interaction favors charge segregation in stripe domain walls; ii) The long-range interaction favors the formation of half-filled vertical stripes with a period doubling due to the charge and a period quadrupling due to the spins along the wall. Our results show that, besides the underlying lattice structure, also the electronic interactions can contribute to determine the different domain wall textures in Nd doped copper oxides and nickel oxides

Combined density-functional and dynamical cluster quantum Monte Carlo calculations for three-band Hubbard models for hole-doped cuprate superconductors

Using a combined local density functional theory (LDA-DFT) and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) dynamic cluster approximation approach, the parameter dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc of several single-layer hole-doped cuprate superconductors with experimentally very different Tcmax is investigated. The parameters of two different three-band Hubbard models are obtained using the LDA and the downfolding Nth-order muffin-tin orbital technique with N=0 and 1 respectively. QMC calculations on 4-site clusters show that the d-wave transition temperature Tc depends sensitively on the parameters. While the N=1 MTO basis set which reproduces all three $pd\sigma$ bands leads to a d-wave transition, the N=0 set which merely reproduces the LDA Fermi surface and velocities does not