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arXiv:0802.2455 · Iranian Journal of Physics Research

Pacifying the Fermi-liquid: battling the devious fermion signs

Jan Zaanen, Frank Krüger, Jian-Huang She, Darius J Sadri, Sergei I. Mukhin

Published Feb 18, 2008• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The fermion sign problem is studied in the path integral formalism. The standard picture of Fermi liquids is first critically analyzed, pointing out some of its rather peculiar properties. The insightful work of Ceperley in constructing fermionic path integrals in terms of constrained world-lines is then reviewed. In this representation, the minus signs associated with Fermi-Dirac statistics are self consistently translated into a geometrical constraint structure (the {\em nodal hypersurface}) acting on an effective bosonic dynamics. As an illustrative example we use this formalism to study 1+1-dimensional systems, where statistics are irrelevant, and hence the sign problem can be circumvented. In this low-dimensional example, the structure of the nodal constraints leads to a lucid picture of the entropic interaction essential to one-dimensional physics. Working with the path integral in momentum space, we then show that the Fermi gas can be understood by analogy to a Mott insulator in a harmonic trap. Going back to real space, we discuss the topological properties of the nodal cells, and suggest a new holographic conjecture relating Fermi liquids in higher dimensions to soft-core bosons in one dimension. We also discuss some possible connections between mixed Bose/Fermi systems and supersymmetry.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.0802.2455

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The fermion sign problem is studied in the path integral formalism. The standard picture of Fermi liquids is first critically analyzed, pointing out some of its rather peculiar properties. The insightful work of Ceperley in constructing fermionic path integrals in terms of constrained world-lines is then reviewed. In this representation, the minus signs associated with Fermi-Dirac statistics are self consistently translated into a geometrical constraint structure (the {\em nodal hypersurface}) acting on an effective bosonic dynamics. As an illustrative example we use this formalism to study 1+1-dimensional systems, where statistics are irrelevant, and hence the sign problem can be circumvented. In this low-dimensional example, the structure of the nodal constraints leads to a lucid picture of the entropic interaction essential to one-dimensional physics. Working with the path integral in momentum space, we then show that the Fermi gas can be understood by analogy to a Mott insulator in a harmonic trap. Going back to real space, we discuss the topological properties of the nodal cells, and suggest a new holographic conjecture relating Fermi liquids in higher dimensions to soft-core bosons in one dimension. We also discuss some possible connections between mixed Bose/Fermi systems and supersymmetry.
The fermion sign problem is often viewed as a sheer inconvenience that plagues numerical studies of strongly interacting electron systems. Only recently, it has been suggested that fermion signs are fundamental for the universal behavior of critical metallic systems and crucially enhance their degree of quantum entanglement. In this work we explore potential connections between emergent scale invariance of fermion sign structures and scaling properties of bipartite entanglement entropies. Our analysis is based on a wavefunction ansatz that incorporates collective, long-range backflow correlations into fermionic Slater determinants. Such wavefunctions mimic the collapse of a Fermi liquid at a quantum critical point. Their nodal surfaces -- a representation of the fermion sign structure in many-particle configurations space -- show fractal behavior up to a length scale ξ\xiξ that diverges at a critical backflow strength. We show that the Hausdorff dimension of the fractal nodal surface depends on ξ\xiξ, the number of fermions and the exponent of the backflow. For the same wavefunctions we numerically calculate the second R\'enyi entanglement entropy S2S_2S2​. Our results show a cross-over from volume scaling, S2∼ℓθS_2\sim \ell^\thetaS2​∼ℓθ (θ=2\theta=2θ=2 in d=2d=2d=2 dimensions), to the characteristic Fermi-liquid behavior S2∼ℓln⁡ℓS_2\sim \ell\ln \ellS2​∼ℓlnℓ on scales larger than ξ\xiξ. We find that volume scaling of the entanglement entropy is a robust feature of critical backflow fermions, independent of the backflow exponent and hence the fractal dimension of the scale invariant sign structure.
The fermion sign problem is often viewed as a sheer inconvenience that plagues numerical studies of strongly interacting electron systems. Only recently has it been suggested that fermion signs are fundamental for the universal behavior of critical metallic systems and crucially enhance their degree of quantum entanglement. In this work we explore potential connections between emergent scale invariance of fermion sign structures and scaling properties of bipartite entanglement entropies. Our analysis is based on a wave-function Ansatz that incorporates collective, long-range backflow correlations into fermionic Slater determinants. Such wave functions mimic the collapse of a Fermi liquid at a quantum critical point. Their nodal surfaces, a representation of the fermion sign structure in many-particle configurations space, show fractal behavior up to a length scale $\ensuremath{\xi}$ that diverges at a critical backflow strength. We show that the Hausdorff dimension of the fractal nodal surface depends on $\ensuremath{\xi}$, the number of fermions and the exponent of the backflow. For the same wave functions we numerically calculate the second R\'enyi entanglement entropy S2{S}_{2}S2​. Our results show a crossover from volume scaling, ${S}_{2}\ensuremath{\sim}{\ensuremath{\ell}}^{\ensuremath{\theta}}$ $(\ensuremath{\theta}=2$ in d=2d=2d=2 dimensions), to the characteristic Fermi-liquid behavior ${S}_{2}\ensuremath{\sim}\ensuremath{\ell}ln\ensuremath{\ell}$ on scales larger than $\ensuremath{\xi}$. We find that volume scaling of the entanglement entropy is a robust feature of critical backflow fermions, independent of the backflow exponent and hence the fractal dimension of the scale invariant sign structure.
We develop, in this dissertation, a theoretical formalism for Fermi liquids by exploiting an underlying algebro-geometric structure described by the group of canonical transformations of a single particle phase space. This infinite-dimensional group governs the space of states of zero temperature Fermi liquids and thereby allows us to write down a nonlinear, bosonized action that reproduces Landau's kinetic theory in the classical limit. Upon quantizing, we obtain a systematic effective field theory as an expansion in nonlinear and higher derivative corrections suppressed by the Fermi momentum pF , without the need to introduce artificial momentum scales through, e.g., decomposition of the Fermi surface into patches. We find that Fermi liquid theory can essentially be thought of as a non-trivial representation of the Lie group of canonical transformations, bringing it within the fold of effective theories in many-body physics whose structure is determined by symmetries. We survey the benefits and limitations of this geometric formalism in the context of scaling, diagrammatic calcu- lations, scattering and interactions, coupling to background gauge fields, etc. After setting up a path to extending this formalism to include superconducting and magnetic phases, as well as applications to the problem of non-Fermi liquids, we conclude with a discussion on possible future directions for Fermi surface physics, and more broadly, the usefulness of diffeomorphism groups in condensed matter physics.
We develop and describe new approaches to the problem of interacting fermions in spatial dimensions greater than 1. These approaches are based on generalizations of powerful tools previously applied to problems in one spatial dimension. We begin with a review of one-dimensional interacting fermions. We then introduce a simplified model in two spatial dimensions to study the role that spin and perfect nesting play in destabilizing fermion liquids. The complicated functional renormalization-group equations of the full problem are made tractable in our model by replacing the continuum of points that make up the closed Fermi line with four Fermi points. Despite this drastic approximation, the model exhibits physically reasonable behavior both at half-filling (where instabilities occur) and away from half-filling (where a Luttinger liquid arises). Next we implement the bosonization of higher-dimensional Fermi surfaces introduced by Luther and advocated most recently by Haldane. Bosonization incorporates the phase-space and small-angle scattering processes neglected in our model (but does not, as yet, address questions of stability). The charge sector is equivalent to an exactly solvable Gaussian quantum field theory; the spin sector, however, must be solved semiclassically. Using the Luther-Haldane approach we recover the collective mode equation of Fermi-liquid theory and in three dimensions reproduce the T3{\mathit{T}}^{3}T3ln(T) contribution to the specific heat due to small-angle scattering processes. We conclude with a discussion of our results and some speculation about future possibilities.
Understanding non-Fermi liquids in dimensions higher than one has been a subject of great interest. Such phases may serve as parent states for other unconventional phases of quantum matter, in a similar manner that conventional broken symmetry states can be understood as instabilities of the Fermi liquid. In this work, we investigate the emergence of an exotic non-Fermi liquid in two dimensions, where the fermions with quadratic band-touching dispersion interact with Bose metal. The bosonic excitations in Bose metal possess an extended nodal-line spectrum in momentum space, which arises due to the subsystem symmetry or the restricted motion of bosons. Using renormalization group analysis and direct computations, we show that the extended infrared singularity of Bose metal leads to a line of interacting fixed points of an exotic non-Fermi liquids, where the anomalous dimension of the fermions varies continuously, akin to the Luttinger liquid in one dimension. Further, the generalization of the model with multiple low-energy excitations is used to explore other unusual features of the resulting ground state.
We show that solutions to fermion sign problems that are found in the formulation where the path integral is expanded in powers of the interaction in continuous time can be extended to systems involving fermions interacting with dynamical quantum spins. While these sign problems seem unsolvable in the auxiliary field approach, solutions emerge in the world-line representation of quantum spins. Combining this idea with meron-cluster methods, we are able to further extend the class of models that are solvable. We demonstrate these solutions to sign problems by considering several examples of strongly correlated systems that contain the physics of semimetals, insulators, superfluidity, and antiferromagnetism.