349 research outputs found
Emergent Nesting of the Fermi Surface from Local-Moment Description of Iron-Pnictide High-Tc Superconductors
We uncover the low-energy spectrum of a t-J model for electrons on a square
lattice of spin-1 iron atoms with 3dxz and 3dyz orbital character by applying
Schwinger-boson-slave-fermion mean-field theory and by exact diagonalization of
one hole roaming over a 4 x 4 x 2 lattice. Hopping matrix elements are set to
produce hole bands centered at zero two-dimensional (2D) momentum in the
free-electron limit. Holes can propagate coherently in the t-J model below a
threshold Hund coupling when long-range antiferromagnetic order across the d+ =
3d(x+iy)z and d- = 3d(x-iy)z orbitals is established by magnetic frustration
that is off-diagonal in the orbital indices. This leads to two hole-pocket
Fermi surfaces centered at zero 2D momentum. Proximity to a commensurate
spin-density wave (cSDW) that exists above the threshold Hund coupling results
in emergent Fermi surface pockets about cSDW momenta at a quantum critical
point (QCP). This motivates the introduction of a new Gutzwiller wavefunction
for a cSDW metal state. Study of the spin-fluctuation spectrum at cSDW momenta
indicates that the dispersion of the nested band of one-particle states that
emerges is electron-type. Increasing Hund coupling past the QCP can push the
hole-pocket Fermi surfaces centered at zero 2D momentum below the Fermi energy
level, in agreement with recent determinations of the electronic structure of
mono-layer iron-selenide superconductors.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures, published versio
Effects of disorder on the vortex charge
We study the influence of disorder on the vortex charge, both due to random
pinning of the vortices and due to scattering off non-magnetic impurities. In
the case when there are no impurities present, but the vortices are randomly
distributed, the effect is very small, except when two or more vortices are
close by. When impurities are present, they have a noticeable effect on the
vortex charge. This, together with the effect of temperature, changes
appreciably the vortex charge. In the case of an attractive impurity potential
the sign of the charge naturally changes.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figures. Accepted in Phys. Rev.
Hall conductance of a pinned vortex lattice in a high magnetic field
We calculate the quasiparticle contribution to the zero temperature Hall
conductance of two-dimensional extreme type-II superconductors in a high
magnetic field, using the Landau basis. As one enters the superconducting phase
the Hall conductance is renormalized to smaller values, with respect to the
normal state result, until a quantum level-crossing transition is reached. At
high values of the order parameter, where the quasiparticles are bound to the
vortex cores, the Hall conductance is expected to tend to zero due to a theorem
of Thouless.Comment: To appear in Journ. Phys. : Cond. Matte
Electron transmission in normal/heavy-fermion superconductor junctions
The Andreev reflection between a normal metal (N) and a heavy-fermion
superconductor (HFS) is studied and the boundary conditions for the electron's
wave function in the two systems are established in the framework of a two band
model for the HFS. Hence we show in a simple and explicit way that the mass
enhancement factors in the heavy-fermion (HF) metal do not cause impedance at
the N/HFS interface, in accordance with arguments previously presented. We also
present an extension of the theory to a two-fluid model for the heavy-fermion,
as possibly applicable to, e.g., CeCoIn_5.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Slightly expanded version, closer to that
published in Phys Rev
Enhancement of the critical temperature in iron-pnictide superconductors by finite size effects
Recent experiments have shown that, in agreement with previous theoretical
predictions, superconductivity in metallic nanostructures can be enhanced with
respect to the bulk limit. Motivated by these results we study finite size
effects (FSE) in an iron-pnictide superconductor. For realistic values of the
bulk critical temperature Tc ~ 20-50K, we find that, in the nanoscale region L
~ 10 nm, Tc(L) has a complicated oscillating pattern as a function of the
system size L. A substantial enhancement of Tc with respect to the bulk limit
is observed for different boundary conditions, geometries and two microscopic
models of superconductivity. Thermal fluctuations, which break long range
order, are still small in this region. Finally we show that the differential
conductance, an experimental observable, is also very sensitive to FSE.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Fidelity Between Partial States as Signature of Quantum Phase Transitions
We introduce a partial state fidelity approach to quantum phase transitions.
We consider a superconducting lattice with a magnetic impurity inserted at its
centre, and look at the fidelity between partial (either one-site or two-site)
quantum states. In the vicinity of the point of the quantum phase transition,
we observe a sudden drop of the fidelity between two one-site partial states
corresponding to the impurity location and its close vicinity. In the case of
two-site states, the fidelity reveals the transition point as long as one of
the two electron sites is located at the impurity, while the other lies
elsewhere in the lattice. We also determine the Uhlmann mixed state geometric
phase, recently introduced in the study of the structural change of the system
state eigenvectors in the vicinity of the lines of thermal phase transitions,
and find it to be trivial, both for one- and two-site partial states, except
when an electron site is at the impurity. This means that the system partial
state eigenvectors do not contribute significantly to the enhanced state
distinguishability around the point of this quantum phase transition. Finally,
we use the fidelity to analyze the total amount of correlations contained
within a composite system, showing that, even for the smallest two-site states,
it features an abrupt quantitative change in the vicinity of the point of the
quantum phase transition.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Mixed-valent regime of the two-channel Anderson impurity as a model for UBe_13
We investigate the mixed-valent regime of a two-configuration Anderson
impurity model for uranium ions, with separate quadrupolar and magnetic
doublets. With a new Monte Carlo approach and the non-crossing approximation we
find: (i) A non-Fermi-liquid fixed point with two-channel Kondo model critical
behavior; (ii) Distinct energy scales for screening the low-lying and excited
doublets; (iii) A semi-quantitative explanation of magnetic-susceptibility data
for UThBe assuming 60-70% quadrupolar doublet ground-state
weight, supporting the quadrupolar-Kondo interpretation.Comment: 4 Pages, 3 eps figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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