Susceptibility of a spinon Fermi surface coupled to a U(1) gauge field

We study the theory of a U(1) gauge field coupled to a spinon Fermi surface. Recently this model has been proposed as a possible description of the organic compound $\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)_2 Cu_2 (CN)_3$. We calculate the susceptibility of this system and in particular examine the effect of pairing of the underlying spin liquid. We show that this proposed theory is consistent with the observed susceptibility measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Transport Properties of a spinon Fermi surface coupled to a U(1) gauge field

With the organic compound $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$-Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ in mind, we consider a spin liquid system where a spinon Fermi surface is coupled to a U(1) gauge field. Using the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, we derive the Quantum Boltzmann Equation (QBE) for this system. In this system, however, one cannot a priori assume the existence of Landau quasiparticles. We show that even without this assumption one can still derive a linearized equation for a generalized distribution function. We show that the divergence of the effective mass and of the finite temperature self-energy do not enter these transport coefficients and thus they are well-defined. Moreover, using a variational method, we calculate the temperature dependence of the spin resistivity and thermal conductivity of this system.Comment: 12 page

Metabasin dynamics and local structure in supercooled water

We employ the Distance Matrix method to investigate metabasin dynamics in supercooled water. We find that the motion of the system consists in the exploration of a finite region of configuration space (enclosing several distinct local minima), named metabasin, followed by a sharp crossing to a different metabasin. The characteristic time between metabasin transitions is comparable to the structural relaxation time, suggesting that these transitions are relevant for the long time dynamics. The crossing between metabasins is accompanied by very rapid diffusional jumps of several groups of dynamically correlated particles. These particles form relatively compact clusters and act as cooperative relaxing units responsible for the density relaxation. We find that these mobile particles are often characterized by an average coordination larger than four, i.e. are located in regions where the tetrahedral hydrogen bond network is distorted

Non-Gaussian energy landscape of a simple model for strong network-forming liquids: accurate evaluation of the configurational entropy

We present a numerical study of the statistical properties of the potential energy landscape of a simple model for strong network-forming liquids. The model is a system of spherical particles interacting through a square well potential, with an additional constraint that limits the maximum number of bonds, $N_{\rm max}$, per particle. Extensive simulations have been carried out as a function of temperature, packing fraction, and $N_{\rm max}$. The dynamics of this model are characterized by Arrhenius temperature dependence of the transport coefficients and by nearly exponential relaxation of dynamic correlators, i.e. features defining strong glass-forming liquids. This model has two important features: (i) landscape basins can be associated with bonding patterns; (ii) the configurational volume of the basin can be evaluated in a formally exact way, and numerically with arbitrary precision. These features allow us to evaluate the number of different topologies the bonding pattern can adopt. We find that the number of fully bonded configurations, i.e. configurations in which all particles are bonded to $N_{\rm max}$ neighbors, is extensive, suggesting that the configurational entropy of the low temperature fluid is finite. We also evaluate the energy dependence of the configurational entropy close to the fully bonded state, and show that it follows a logarithmic functional form, differently from the quadratic dependence characterizing fragile liquids. We suggest that the presence of a discrete energy scale, provided by the particle bonds, and the intrinsic degeneracy of fully bonded disordered networks differentiates strong from fragile behavior.Comment: Final version. Journal of Chemical Physics 124, 204509 (2006

A Variational Monte Carlo Study of the Current Carried by a Quasiparticle

With the use of Gutzwiller-projected variational states, we study the renormalization of the current carried by the quasiparticles in high-temperature superconductors and of the quasiparticle spectral weight. The renormalization coefficients are computed by the variational Monte Carlo technique, under the assumption that quasiparticle excitations may be described by Gutzwiller-projected BCS quasiparticles. We find that the current renormalization coefficient decreases with decreasing doping and tends to zero at zero doping. The quasiparticle spectral weight Z_+ for adding an electron shows an interesting structure in k space, which corresponds to a depression of the occupation number k just outside the Fermi surface. The perturbative corrections to those quantities in the Hubbard model are also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure