207 research outputs found
Magnetic impurities in the one-dimensional spin-orbital model
Using one-dimensional spin-orbital model as a typical example of quantum spin
systems with richer symmetries, we study the effect of an isolated impurity on
its low energy dynamics in the gapless phase through bosonization and
renormalization group methods. In the case of internal impurities, depending on
the symmetry, the boundary fixed points can be either an open chain with a
residual spin or (and) orbital triplet left behind, or a periodic chain.
However, these two fixed points are indistinguishable in the sense that in both
cases, the lead-correction-to-scaling boundary operators (LCBO) only show
Fermi-liquid like corrections to thermodynamical quantities. (Except the
possible Curie-like contributions from the residual moments in the latter
cases.) In the case of external (Kondo) impurities, the boundary fixed points,
depending on the sign of orbital couplings, can be either an open chain with an
isolated orbital doublet due to Kondo screening or it will flow to an
intermediate fixed point with the same LCBO as that of the two-channel Kondo
problem. Comparison with the Kondo effect in one-dimensional (1D) Heisenberg
spin chain and multi-band Hubbard models is also made.Comment: 7 pages, No figur
One-Dimensional Electron Liquid in an Antiferromagnetic Environment: Spin Gap from Magnetic Correlations
We study a one-dimensional electron liquid coupled by a weak spin-exchange
interaction to an antiferromagnetic spin-S ladder with n legs. A perturbative
renormalization group analysis in the semiclassical limit reveals the opening
of a spin gap, driven by the local magnetic correlations on the ladder. The
effect, which we argue is present for any gapful ladder or gapless ladder with
, is enhanced by the repulsive interaction among the conduction
electrons but is insensitive to the sign of the spin exchange interaction with
the ladder. Possible implications for the striped phases of the cuprates are
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in a cuprate superconductor
The behaviour of electrons in solids is remarkably well described by Landau's
Fermi-liquid theory, which says that even though electrons in a metal interact
they can still be treated as well-defined fermions, called ``quasiparticles''.
At low temperature, the ability of quasiparticles to transport heat is strictly
given by their ability to transport charge, via a universal relation known as
the Wiedemann-Franz law, which no material in nature has been known to violate.
High-temperature superconductors have long been thought to fall outside the
realm of Fermi-liquid theory, as suggested by several anomalous properties, but
this has yet to be shown conclusively. Here we report on the first experimental
test of the Wiedemann-Franz law in a cuprate superconductor,
(Pr,Ce)CuO. Our study reveals a clear departure from the universal law
and provides compelling evidence for the breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in
high-temperature superconductors.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Scaling and criticality of the Kondo effect in a Luttinger liquid
A quantum Monte Carlo simulation method has been developed and applied to
study the critical behavior of a single Kondo impurity in a Luttinger liquid.
This numerically exact method has no finite-size limitations and allows to
simulate the whole temperature range. Focusing on the impurity magnetic
susceptibility, we determine the scaling functions, in particular for
temperatures well below the Kondo temperature. In the absence of elastic
potential scattering, we find Fermi-liquid behavior for strong
electron-electron interactions, g_c < 1/2, and anomalous power laws for 1/2<g_c
< 1, where g_c is the correlation parameter of the Luttinger liquid. These
findings resolve a recent controversy. If elastic potential scattering is
present, we find a logarithmically divergent impurity susceptibility at g_c<1/2
which can be rationalized in terms of the two-channel Kondo model.Comment: 11 pages REVTeX, incl. 9 PS figures, subm. to PR
Quantal phases, disorder effects and superconductivity in spin-Peierls systems
In view of recent developments in the investigation on cuprate high-T superconductors and the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO, we study the
effect of dilute impurity doping on the spin-Peierls state in quasi-one
dimensional systems. We identify a common origin for the emergence of
antiferromagnetic order upon the introduction of static vacancies, and
superconductivity for mobile holes.Comment: 4 pages revtex; revised versio
Metal-Kondo insulating transitions and transport in one dimension
We study two different metal-insulating transitions possibly occurring in
one-dimensional Kondo lattices. First, we show how doping the pure Kondo
lattice model in the strong-coupling limit, results in a Pokrovsky-Talapov
transition. This produces a conducting state with a charge susceptibility
diverging as the inverse of the doping, that seems in agreement with numerical
datas. Second, in the weak-coupling region, Kondo insulating transitions arise
due to the consequent renormalization of the backward Kondo scattering. Here,
the interplay between Kondo effect and electron-electron interactions gives
rise to significant phenomena in transport, in the high-temperature delocalized
(ballistic) regime. For repulsive interactions, as a perfect signature of Kondo
localization, the conductivity is found to decrease monotonically with
temperature. When interactions become attractive, spin fluctuations in the
electron (Luttinger-type) liquid are suddenly lowered. The latter is less
localized by magnetic impurities than for the repulsive counterpart, and as a
result a large jump in the Drude weight and a maximum in the conductivity arise
in the entrance of the Kondo insulating phase. These can be viewed as remnants
of s-wave superconductivity arising for attractive enough interactions.
Comparisons with transport in the single impurity model are also performed. We
finally discuss the case of randomly distributed magnetic defects, and the
applications on persistent currents of mesoscopic rings.Comment: 21 pages, two columns, 5 figures and 1 table; Final version: To
appear in Physical Review
Competing Orders in Coupled Luttinger Liquids
We consider the problem of two coupled Luttinger liquids both at half filling
and at low doping levels, to investigate the problem of competing orders in
quasi-one-dimensional strongly correlated systems. We use bosonization and
renormalization group equations to investigate the phase diagrams, to determine
the allowed phases and to establish approximate boundaries among them. Because
of the chiral translation and reflection symmetry in the charge mode away from
half filling, orders of charge density wave (CDW) and spin-Peierls (SP)
diagonal current (DC) and -density wave (DDW) form two doublets and thus can
be at most quasi-long range ordered. At half-filling, umklapp terms break this
symmetry down to a discrete group and thus Ising-type ordered phases appear as
a result of spontaneous breaking of the residual symmetries. Quantum disordered
Haldane phases are also found, with finite amplitudes of pairing orders and
triplet counterparts of CDW, SP, DC and DDW. Relations with recent numerical
results and implications to similar problems in two dimensions are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. Revised manuscript; a misprint in Eq.
B3 has been corrected. The paper is already in print in PR
Pairing and Density Correlations of Stripe Electrons in a Two-Dimensional Antiferromagnet
We study a one-dimensional electron liquid embedded in a 2D antiferromagnetic
insulator, and coupled to it via a weak antiferromagnetic spin exchange
interaction. We argue that this model may qualitatively capture the physics of
a single charge stripe in the cuprates on length- and time scales shorter than
those set by its fluctuation dynamics. Using a local mean-field approach we
identify the low-energy effective theory that describes the electronic spin
sector of the stripe as that of a sine-Gordon model. We determine its phases
via a perturbative renormalization group analysis. For realistic values of the
model parameters we obtain a phase characterized by enhanced spin density and
composite charge density wave correlations, coexisting with subleading triplet
and composite singlet pairing correlations. This result is shown to be
independent of the spatial orientation of the stripe on the square lattice.
Slow transverse fluctuations of the stripes tend to suppress the density
correlations, thus promoting the pairing instabilities. The largest amplitudes
for the composite instabilities appear when the stripe forms an antiphase
domain wall in the antiferromagnet. For twisted spin alignments the amplitudes
decrease and leave room for a new type of composite pairing correlation,
breaking parity but preserving time reversal symmetry.Comment: Revtex, 28 pages incl. 5 figure
Mid-Infrared Conductivity from Mid-Gap States Associated with Charge Stripes
The optical conductivity of La(2-x)Sr(x)NiO(4) has been interpreted in
various ways, but so far the proposed interpretations have neglected the fact
that the holes doped into the NiO(2) planes order in diagonal stripes, as
established by neutron and X-ray scattering. Here we present a study of optical
conductivity in La(2)NiO(4+d) with d=2/15, a material in which the charge
stripes order three-dimensionally. We show that the conductivity can be
decomposed into two components, a mid-infrared peak that we attribute to
transitions from the filled valence band into empty mid-gap states associated
with the stripes, and a Drude peak that appears at higher temperatures as
carriers are thermally excited into the mid-gap states. The shift of the mid-IR
peak to lower energy with increasing temperature is explained in terms of the
Franck-Condon effect. The relevance of these results to understanding the
optical conductivity in the cuprates is discussed.Comment: final version of paper (minor changes from previous version
How to detect fluctuating order in the high-temperature superconductors
We discuss fluctuating order in a quantum disordered phase proximate to a
quantum critical point, with particular emphasis on fluctuating stripe order.
Optimal strategies for extracting information concerning such local order from
experiments are derived with emphasis on neutron scattering and scanning
tunneling microscopy. These ideas are tested by application to two model
systems - the exactly solvable one dimensional electron gas with an impurity,
and a weakly-interacting 2D electron gas. We extensively review experiments on
the cuprate high-temperature superconductors which can be analyzed using these
strategies. We adduce evidence that stripe correlations are widespread in the
cuprates. Finally, we compare and contrast the advantages of two limiting
perspectives on the high-temperature superconductor: weak coupling, in which
correlation effects are treated as a perturbation on an underlying metallic
(although renormalized) Fermi liquid state, and strong coupling, in which the
magnetism is associated with well defined localized spins, and stripes are
viewed as a form of micro-phase separation. We present quantitative indicators
that the latter view better accounts for the observed stripe phenomena in the
cuprates.Comment: 43 pages, 11 figures, submitted to RMP; extensively revised and
greatly improved text; one new figure, one new section, two new appendices
and more reference
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