Collective transport and optical absorption near the stripe criticality

Within the stripe quantum critical point scenario for high $T_c$ superconductors, we point out the possible direct contribution of charge collective fluctuations to the optical absorption and to the d.c. resistivity.Comment: 2 pages 2 figures 1 style fil

Single-particle spectra near a stripe instability

We analyze the single-particle spectra of a bi-layered electron system near a stripe instability and compare the results with ARPES experiments on the Bi2212 cuprate superconductor near optimum doping, addressing also the issue of the puzzling absence of bonding-antibonding splitting.Comment: Proceedings of the XXII International Conference on Low Temperature Physics August 4-11, 1999, Espoo and Helsinki, Finland (minor changes to the figure) Similar results in the Proceedings of the International Workshop on ``Electronic crystals, ECRYS-99'', May 31-June 5 1999, La Colle sur Loup (France), J. Phys. IV France 9, Pr10-337 (1999

Electron-phonon coupling close to a metal-insulator transition in one dimension

We consider a one-dimensional system of electrons interacting via a short-range repulsion and coupled to phonons close to the metal-insulator transition at half filling. We argue that the metal-insulator transition can be described as a standard one dimensional incommensurate to commensurate transition, even if the electronic system is coupled to the lattice distortion. By making use of known results for this transition, we prove that low-momentum phonons do not play any relevant role close to half-filling, unless their coupling to the electrons is large in comparison with the other energy scales present in the problem. In other words the effective strength of the low-momentum transferred electron-phonon coupling does not increase close to the metal-insulator transition, even though the effective velocity of the mobile carriers is strongly diminished.Comment: 20 pages, REVTEX styl

On the contribution of nearly-critical spin and charge collective modes to the Raman spectra of high-Tc cuprates

We discuss how Raman spectra are affected by nearly-critical spin and charge collective modes, which are coupled to charge carriers near a stripe quantum critical point. We show that specific fingerprints of nearly-critical collective modes can indeed be observed in Raman spectra and that the selectivity of Raman spectroscopy in momentum space may also be exploited to distinguish the spin and charge contribution. We apply our results to discuss the spectra of high-Tc superconducting cuprates finding that the collective modes should have masses with substantial temperature dependence in agreement with their nearly critical character. Moreover spin modes should be more diffusive than charge modes indicating that in stripes the charge is nearly ordered, while spin modes are strongly overdamped and fluctuate with high frequency.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Dynamical charge density waves rule the phase diagram of cuprates

In the last few years charge density waves (CDWs) have been ubiquitously observed in high-temperature superconducting cuprates and are now the most investigated among the competing orders in the still hot debate on these systems. A wealth of new experimental data raise several fundamental issues that challenge the various theoretical proposals. Here, we account for the complex experimental temperature vs. doping phase diagram and we provide a coherent scenario explaining why different CDW onset curves are observed by different experimental probes and seem to extrapolate at zero temperature into seemingly different quantum critical points (QCPs) in the intermediate and overdoped region. We also account for the pseudogap and its onset temperature T*(p) on the basis of dynamically fluctuating CDWs. The nearly singular anisotropic scattering mediated by these fluctuations also account for the rapid changes of the Hall number seen in experiments and provides the first necessary step for a possible Fermi surface reconstruction fully establishing at lower doping. Finally we show that phase fluctuations of the CDWs, which are enhanced in the presence of strong correlations near the Mott insulating phase, naturally account for the disappearance of the CDWs at low doping with yet another QCP.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Anomalous isotopic effect near the charge-ordering quantum criticality

Within the Hubbard-Holstein model, we evaluate the various crossover lines marking the opening of pseudogaps in the cuprates, which, in our scenario, are ruled by the proximity to a charge-ordering quantum criticality (stripe formation). We provide also an analysis of their isotopic dependencies, as produced by critical fluctuations. We find no isotopic shift of the temperature $T^0$ marked as a reduction of the quasiparticle density of states in various experiments, and a substantial positive shift of the pseudogap-formation temperature $T^*$. We infer that the superconducting critical temperature $T_c$ has almost no shift in the optimally- and overdoped regimes while it has a small negative isotopic shift in the underdoped, which increses upon underdoping. We account also for the possible dynamical nature of the charge-ordering transition, and explain in this way the spread of the values of $T^*$ and its of isotopic shift, obtained with experimental probes having different characteristic timescales.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Phase Separation close to the density-driven Mott transition in the Hubbard-Holstein model

The density driven Mott transition is studied by means of Dynamical Mean-Field Theory in the Hubbard-Holstein model, where the Hubbard term leading to the Mott transition is supplemented by an electron-phonon (e-ph) term. We show that an intermediate e-ph coupling leads to a first-order transition at T=0, which is accompanied by phase separation between a metal and an insulator. The compressibility in the metallic phase is substantially enhanced. At quite larger values of the coupling a polaronic phase emerges coexisting with a non-polaronic metal.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Slightly revised text. More details in Fig.1 and 2. Smaller size version of Fig.