Gauge Invariance and Spinon-Dopon Confinement in the t-J Model: implications for Fermi Surface Reconstruction in the Cuprates

We discuss the application of the two-band spin-dopon representation of the t-J model to address the issue of the Fermi surface reconstruction observed in the cuprates. We show that the electron no double occupancy (NDO) constraint plays a key role in this formulation. In particular, the auxiliary lattice spin and itinerant dopon degrees of freedom of the spin-dopon formulation of the t-J model are shown to be confined in the emergent U(1) gauge theory generated by the NDO constraint. This constraint is enforced by the requirement of an infinitely large spin-dopon coupling. As a result, the t-J model is equivalent to a Kondo-Heisenberg lattice model of itinerant dopons and localized lattice spins at infinite Kondo coupling at all dopings. We show that mean-field treatment of the large vs small Fermi surface crossing in the cuprates which leaves out the NDO constraint, leads to inconsistencies and it is automatically excluded form the t - J model framework

Fermi surface renormalization and quantum confinement in the two-coupled chains model

We address the problem of the Fermi surface renormalization and the quantum confinement regime (QCR) in the two coupled chains model(TCCM) of spinless fermions. We perform a self-consistent calculation of the renormalization group(RG) flows of the renormalized TCCM couplings and quasiparticle weight. On top of that we take explicitly into account the renormalization of the Fermi surface. The flow of the difference of the renormalized Fermi wave vectors associated with the bonding and antibonding bands has a dramatic effect on the single particle spectrum. Although the quasiparticle amplitude is nullified already at intermediate coupling the QCR is only observed at strong coupling. The state associated with this regime has a charge gap and it is not a Luttinger liquid. In contrast, the Fermi liquid regime is stabilized by the umklapp "$g_2$--like" interactions at very weak coupling regime.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Insulating spin liquid in the lightly doped two-dimensional Hubbard model

We calculate the charge compressibility and uniform spin susceptibility for the two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model slightly away from half-filling within a two-loop renormalization group scheme. We find numerically that both those quantities flow to zero as we increase the initial interaction strength from weak to intermediate couplings. This result implies gap openings in both charge and spin excitation spectra for the latter interaction regime. When this occurs, the ground state of the lightly doped 2D Hubbard model may be interpreted as an insulating spin liquid as opposed to a Mott insulating state.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Self-consistent Fermi surface renormalization of two coupled Luttinger liquids

Using functional renormalization group methods, we present a self-consistent calculation of the true Fermi momenta k_F^a (antibonding band) and k_F^b (bonding band) of two spinless interacting metallic chains coupled by small interchain hopping. In the regime where the system is a Luttinger liquid, we find that Delta = k_F^b - k_F^a is self-consistently determined by Delta = Delta_{1} [ 1 + {g}_0^2 ln (Lambda_0 / Delta)^2]^{-1} where g_0 is the dimensionless interchain backscattering interaction, Delta_{1} is the Hartree-Fock result for k_F^{b}-k_F^a, and Lambda_0 is an ultraviolet cutoff. If {g}_0^2 ln (Lambda_0 / Delta_{1})^2 is much larger than unity than even weak interachain backscattering leads to a strong reduction of the distance between the Fermi momenta.Comment: extended version with additional technical details; 5 RevTex pages, 2 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Low-energy effective representation of the Gutzwiller-projected BCS Hamiltonian close to half filling

We investigate analytically a connection between the t-J model and the strongly correlated Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) Hamiltonian, with the effect of strong electron correlations accounted by the Gutzwiller projection. We show that in the immediate vicinity of half filling the projected 2D BCS Hamiltonian with strong pairing develops an antiferromagnetically (AF) ordered ground state. This result explicitly demonstrates that antiferromagnetism in this model appears as a natural consequence of the strong Coulomb repulsion in a low doped regime. At moderate doping the ground state of the Gutzwiller-projected BCS Hamiltonian becomes qualitatively similar to Anderson's resonating valence bond state which is known to fit nicely the properties of the t-J model in this regime. These two properties taken together indicate that the projected BCS Hamiltonian captures the essential low-energy physics of the t-J model in the whole underdoped region