Excited state spectra at the superfluid-insulator transition out of paired condensates

We describe gapped single-particle and collective excitations across a superfluid to insulator quantum phase transition of particles (bosons or fermions) in a periodic potential, with an even number of particles per unit cell. We demonstrate that the dynamics is controlled by a quantum impurity problem of a localized particle interacting with the bulk critical modes. Critical exponents are determined by a renormalization group analysis. We discuss applications to spin oscillations of ultracold atoms in optical lattices, and to the electronic phases in the cuprate and related compounds.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; fixed referenc

Insulator-metal transition on the triangular lattice

Mott insulators with a half-filled band of electrons on the triangular lattice have been recently studied in a variety of organic compounds. All of these compounds undergo transitions to metallic/superconducting states under moderate hydrostatic pressure. We describe the Mott insulator using its hypothetical proximity to a Z_2 spin liquid of bosonic spinons. This spin liquid has quantum phase transitions to descendant confining states with Neel or valence bond solid order, and the insulator can be on either side of one of these transitions. We present a theory of fermionic charged excitations in these states, and describe the route to metallic states with Fermi surfaces. We argue that an excitonic condensate can form near this insulator-metal transition, due to the formation of charge neutral pairs of charge +e and charge -e fermions. This condensate breaks the lattice space group symmetry, and we propose its onset as an explanation of a low temperature anomaly in kappa-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3. We also describe the separate BCS instability of the metallic states to the pairing of like-charge fermions and the onset of superconductivity.Comment: 26+15 page

Quantum Hall to Insulator Transition in the Bilayer Quantum Hall Ferromagnet

We describe a new phase transition of the bilayer quantum Hall ferromagnet at filling fraction $\nu = 1$. In the presence of static disorder (modeled by a periodic potential), bosonic $S=1/2$ spinons can undergo a superfluid-insulator transition while preserving the ferromagnetic order. The Mott insulating phase has an emergent U(1) photon, and the transition is between Higgs and Coulomb phases of this photon. Physical consequences for charge and counterflow conductivity, and for interlayer tunneling conductance in the presence of quenched disorder are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

Percolation quantum phase transitions in diluted magnets

We show that the interplay of geometric criticality and quantum fluctuations leads to a novel universality class for the percolation quantum phase transition in diluted magnets. All critical exponents involving dynamical correlations are different from the classical percolation values, but in two dimensions they can nonetheless be determined exactly. We develop a complete scaling theory of this transition, and we relate it to recent experiments in La$_{2}$Cu$_{1-p}$(Zn,Mg)$_{p}$O$_{4}$. Our results are also relevant for disordered interacting boson systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, final version, as publishe

Effective theory of Fermi pockets in fluctuating antiferromagnets

We describe fluctuating two-dimensional metallic antiferromagnets by transforming to a rotating reference frame in which the electron spin polarization is measured by its projections along the local antiferromagnetic order. This leads to a gauge-theoretic description of an `algebraic charge liquid' involving spinless fermions and a spin S=1/2 complex scalar. We propose a phenomenological effective lattice Hamiltonian which describes the binding of these particles into gauge-neutral, electron-like excitations, and describe its implications for the electron spectral function across the entire Brillouin zone. We discuss connections of our results to photoemission experiments in the pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure

Low temperature broken symmetry phases of spiral antiferromagnets

We study Heisenberg antiferromagnets with nearest- (J1) and third- (J3) neighbor exchange on the square lattice. In the limit of large spin S, there is a zero temperature (T) Lifshitz point at J3 = (1/4) J1, with long-range spiral spin order at T=0 for J3 > (1/4) J1. We present classical Monte Carlo simulations and a theory for T>0 crossovers near the Lifshitz point: spin rotation symmetry is restored at any T>0, but there is a broken lattice reflection symmetry for 0 <= T < Tc ~ (J3-(1/4) J1) S^2. The transition at T=Tc is consistent with Ising universality. We also discuss the quantum phase diagram for finite S.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Fermi surfaces and Luttinger's theorem in paired fermion systems

We discuss ground state properties of a mixture of two fermion species which can bind to form a molecular boson. When the densities of the fermions are unbalanced, one or more Fermi surfaces can appear: we describe the constraints placed by Luttinger's theorem on the volumes enclosed by these surfaces in such Bose-Fermi mixtures. We also discuss the nature of the quantum phase transitions involving changes in the number of Fermi surfaces.Comment: 7 pages with one figure embedded. V2: Minor modifications. Final version as appeared in prin

Exotic vs. conventional scaling and universality in a disordered bilayer quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We present large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations of a two-dimensional (2d) bilayer quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with random dimer dilution. In contrast to the exotic scaling scenarios found in many other random quantum systems, the quantum phase transition in this system is characterized by a finite-disorder fixed point with power-law scaling. After accounting for strong corrections to scaling, characterized by a leading irrelevant exponent of \omega = 0.48, we find universal, i.e., disorder-independent, critical exponents z=1.310(6) and \nu=1.16(3). We discuss the consequences of these findings and suggest new experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5eps figures included, final version as publishe

Quantum phase transitions of the diluted O(3) rotor model

We study the phase diagram and the quantum phase transitions of a site-diluted two-dimensional O(3) quantum rotor model by means of large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations. This system has two quantum phase transitions, a generic one for small dilutions, and a percolation transition across the lattice percolation threshold. We determine the critical behavior for both transitions and for the multicritical point that separates them. In contrast to the exotic scaling scenarios found in other random quantum systems, all these transitions are characterized by finite-disorder fixed points with power-law scaling. We relate our findings to a recent classification of phase transitions with quenched disorder according to the rare region dimensionality, and we discuss experiments in disordered quantum magnets.Comment: 11 pages, 14 eps figures, final version as publishe

Liquid ground state, gap and excited states of a strongly correlated spin chain

We present an exact solution of an experimentally realizable and strongly interacting one-dimensional spin system which is a limiting case of a quantum Ising model with long range interaction in a transverse and longitudinal field. Pronounced quantum fluctuations lead to a strongly correlated liquid ground state. For open boundary conditions the ground state manifold consists of four degenerate sectors whose quantum numbers are determined by the orientation of the edge spins. Explicit expressions for the entanglement properties, the excitation gap as well as the exact wave functions for a couple of excited states are analytically derived and discussed