Orbital order from the on-site orbital attraction

We study the model of Fe-based superconductors with intraorbital attraction, designed to favor a spontaneous orbital polarization. Previous studies of this model within the two-orbital approximation indicated that the leading instability is toward s-wave superconductivity and the subleading one is toward anti-ferro-orbital order, which breaks the translational symmetry of the crystal. The two-orbital approximation is, however, not consistent with the Fermi surface geometry of Fe superconductors, as it yields the wrong position of one of the hole pockets. Here we analyze the model with the same interaction but with realistic Fermi surface geometry (two hole pockets at the center of the Brillouin zone and two electron pockets at its boundary). We apply the parquet renormalization-group (pRG) technique to detect the leading instability upon the lowering of the temperature. We argue that the pRG analysis strongly favors a q = 0 orbital order, which in the band basis is a d-wave Pomeranchuk order.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Spin-liquid model of the sharp resistivity drop in La1.85Ba0.125CuO4La_{1.85}Ba_{0.125}CuO_4

We use the phenomenological model proposed in our previous paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 237001 (2007)] to analyse the magnetic field dependence of the onset temperature for two-dimensional fluctuating superconductivity $T^{**} (H)$. We demonstrate that the slope of $T^{**} (H)$ progressively goes down as $H$ increases, such that the upper critical field progressively increases as $T$ decreases. The quantitative agreement with the recent measurements of $T^{**} (H)$ in $La_{1.85}Ba_{0.125}CuO_4$ is achieved for the same parameter value as was derived in our previous publication from the analysis of the electron self energy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Composite charge order in the pseudogap region of the cuprates

We study the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional for two coupled U(1) charge order parameters describing two non-equivalent charge orders with wave vector ${\bf Q}$ detected in X-ray and STM measurements of underdoped cuprates. We do not rely on a mean-field analysis, but rather utilize a field-theoretical technique suitable to study the interplay between vortex physics and discrete symmetry breaking in two-dimensional systems with U(1) symmetry. Our calculations support the idea that in the clean systems there are two transitions: from a high temperature disordered state into a state with a composite charge order which breaks time-reversal symmetry, but leaves U(1) fields disordered, and then into a state with quasi long range order in the U(1) fields.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; the version to appear in Phys. Rev. B, typos remove

On the confinement of spinons in the CPM−1CP^{M-1} model

We use the $1/M$ expansion for the $CP^{M-1}$ model to study the long-distance behaviour of the staggered spin susceptibility in the commensurate, two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet at finite temperature. At $M=\infty$ this model possesses deconfined spin-1/2 bosonic spinons (Schwinger bosons), and the susceptibility has a branch cut along the imaginary $k$ axis. We show that in all three scaling regimes at finite $T$, the interaction between spinons and gauge field fluctuations leads to divergent $1/M$ corrections near the branch cut. We identify the most divergent corrections to the susceptibility at each order in $1/M$ and explicitly show that the full static staggered susceptibility has a number of simple poles rather than a branch cut. We compare our results with the $1/N$ expansion for the $O(N)$ sigma-model.Comment: 27 pages, REVtex file, 4 figures (now in a uuencoded, gziped file). The figures are also available upon request

High Frequency Behavior of the Infrared Conductivity of Cuprates

We analyze recent infrared conductivity data in the normal state of the cuprates. We find that the high frequency behavior, which has been suggested as evidence for quantum critical scaling, is generally characteristic of electrons interacting with a broad spectrum of bosons. From explicit calculations, we find a frequency exponent for the modulus of the conductivity, and a phase angle, in good agreement with experiment. The data indicate an upper cut-off of the boson spectrum of order 300 meV. This implies that the bosons are of electronic origin rather than phonons.Comment: 4 page

Signatures of non-monotonic d-wave gap in electron-doped cuprates

We address the issue whether the data on optical conductivity and Raman scattering in electron-doped cuprates below $T_c$ support the idea that the $d-$wave gap in these materials is non-monotonic along the Fermi surface. We calculate the conductivity and Raman intensity for elastic scattering, and find that a non-monotonic gap gives rise to several specific features in optical and Raman response functions. We argue that all these features are present in the experimental data on Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_4$ and Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_4$ compounds.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Universal Behavior of the Spin-Echo Decay Rate in La_2CuO_4

We present a theoretical expression for the spin-echo decay rate, 1/T_2G, in the quantum-critical regime of square lattice quantum antiferromagnets. Our results are in good agreement with recent experimental data by Imai et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. v.71, 1254 (1993)] for La_2CuO_4.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX v3.0, PostScript file for figures is attache