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arXiv:0809.1104 · Physical Review B

Long-wavelength correlations and transport in a marginal Fermi liquid

Arkady Shekhter, Chandra Mohan Varma

Published Jan 23, 2009• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Marginal Fermi liquid was originally introduced as a phenomenological description of the cuprates in a part of the metallic doping range which appears to be governed by fluctuations due to a quantum-critical point. An essential result due to the form of the assumed fluctuation spectra is that the large inelastic quasiparticle relaxation rate near the Fermi surface is proportional to the energy measured from the chemical potential, ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{i}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\propto}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$. We present a microscopic long-wavelength derivation of the hydrodynamic properties in such a situation by an extension of the procedure that Eliashberg used for the derivation of the hydrodynamic properties of a Landau-Fermi liquid. In particular, the density-density and the current-current correlations and the relation between the two are derived, and the connection to microscopic calculations of the frequency dependence of the optical conductivity with an additional Fermi-liquid correction factor shown to follow. The method used here may be necessary, quite generally, for the correct hydrodynamic theory for any problem of quantum-critical fluctuations in fermions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.79.045117

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Marginal Fermi liquid was originally introduced as a phenomenological description of the cuprates in a part of the metallic doping range which appears to be governed by fluctuations due to a quantum-critical point. An essential result due to the form of the assumed fluctuation spectra is that the large inelastic quasiparticle relaxation rate near the Fermi surface is proportional to the energy measured from the chemical potential, \ensuremathτi\ensuremath−1\ensuremath∝\ensuremathϵ{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{i}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\propto}\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremathτi\ensuremath−1​\ensuremath∝\ensuremathϵ. We present a microscopic long-wavelength derivation of the hydrodynamic properties in such a situation by an extension of the procedure that Eliashberg used for the derivation of the hydrodynamic properties of a Landau-Fermi liquid. In particular, the density-density and the current-current correlations and the relation between the two are derived, and the connection to microscopic calculations of the frequency dependence of the optical conductivity with an additional Fermi-liquid correction factor shown to follow. The method used here may be necessary, quite generally, for the correct hydrodynamic theory for any problem of quantum-critical fluctuations in fermions.
We use the Kubo response functions to calculate the electrical and thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient at low temperatures and frequencies in the quantum-critical region for fermions on a lattice. The theory uses scattering of the fermions with the previously derived collective fluctuations due to topological defects of the quantum XY model coupled to fermions. The microscopic model is applicable to the fluctuations of the loop-current order in cuprates as well as to a class of quasi-two-dimensional heavy-fermion and other metallic antiferromagnets, and proposed recently also for the possible loop-current order in Moiré twisted bi-layer graphene and bilayer WSe2_22​. All these metals have a linear-in-temperature electrical resistivity in the quantum-critical region of their phase diagrams, often termed ``Planckian" resistivity. The solution of the Kubo equation for transport shows that vertex renormalizations to the external fields, beside those caused by Aslamazov-Larkin (A-L) processes, are absent. A-L appears as an Umklapp scattering matrix, which gives a temperature-independent multiplicative factor for the electrical resistivity but does not affect the thermal conductivity. We also show that the mass renormalization which gives a logarithmic enhancement of the marginal Fermi-liquid specific heat does not appear in the electrical resistivity and, more remarkably, in the thermal conductivity. On the other hand the mass renormalization ∝ln⁡ωc/T\propto \ln ω_c/T∝lnωc​/T appears in the Seebeck coefficient. We also discuss in detail the conservation laws which play a crucial role in all transport properties. We calculate exactly, the numerical coefficients of the transport properties for a circular Fermi surface. The leading temperature dependences is shown to remain the same for a general Fermi surface, but it is too messy to calculate the numerical coefficient.
Landau (1958) gave a rigorous microscopic derivation of his phenomenological Fermi -liquid theory starting from the first principles Hamiltonian of strongly interacting Fermions. The derivation is based on an asymptotic expansion in small parameters such as q/kF, bc.>/EF, kT/EF, where q and c.> represent the wave numbers and frequencies of real excitations of the system. Landau showed that the dynamics of these low-lying excitations (quasiparticles and collective modes) is governed by classical transport equations with all quantum many-body effects absorbed into effective interaction parameters. Landau's approach has been generalized to superfluid Fermi liquids and superconductors by Leggett (1965) and, going beyond linear response, by Eliashberg (1971). Their ideas merged into a recent review on the quasiclassical approach to superfluid 3 He by Serene and Rainer (1983). I will use the notation of this review throughout this paper. Landau's transport theory together with its offsprings will be called 'quasiclassical theory in the following. In this context it is important to mention that Eilenberger (1968) and Larkin and Ovchinnikov (1968) have shown that the complete theory of superconductors can be formulated as a quasiclassical transport theory. Surprisingly, this theory permits calculating microscopic properties, e.g. the quasiparticle excitation spectrum, which are predominantly governed by quantum effects.
The density correlations of some singular Fermi liquids with anomalous properties such as resistivity varying linearly with TTT at low temperatures and a TlogTTlogTTlogT contribution to the entropy and thermopower are expected to be quite different from that in Landau Fermi liquids. A possible statistical mechanical model for the quantum-critical fluctuations in diverse systems with such properties is the 2D dissipative quantum XY model. Exact relations between the density correlations and singular irreducible vertices due to coupling of fermions to the topological excitations of the 2D dissipative quantum XY model are used to derive results which have become measurable only recently because of advances in experimental techniques. The density correlations are unusual at all momenta q\mathbf{q}q and energy $\ensuremath{\omega}$, from the hydrodynamic limit to that for large momenta and energy. The hydrodynamic limit together with the continuity equation gives the linear in TTT resistivity. The density correlations are almost independent of frequency up to a high-frequency cutoff for ${q}_{ZB}\ensuremath{\gtrsim}q\ensuremath{\gg}\ensuremath{\omega}/{v}_{F}$; qZB{q}_{ZB}qZB​ is the Brillouin zone boundary and vF{v}_{F}vF​ is the Fermi velocity. The results should be applicable to loop-current quantum criticality in cuprates, and to 2D Fe-based compounds near their antiferromagnetic quantum criticality. The relation of the results to the temperature and frequency dependent conductivity and to Raman response is also discussed.
We give a Hamiltonian-based interpretation of microscopic Fermi liquid theory within a renormalization group framework. The Fermi liquid fixed-point Hamiltonian with its leading-order corrections is identified and we show that the mean field calculations for this model correspond to the Landau phenomenological approach. This is illustrated first of all for the Kondo and Anderson models of magnetic impurities which display Fermi liquid behaviour at low temperatures. We then show how these results can be deduced by a reorganization of perturbation theory, in close parallel to that for the renormalized φ4 field theory. The Fermi liquid results follow from the two lowest order diagrams of the renormalized perturbation expansion. The calculations for the impurity models are simpler than for the general case because the self-energy depends on frequency only. We show, however, that a similar renormalized expansion can be derived also for the case of a translationally invariant system. The parameters specifying the Fermi liquid fixed-point Hamiltonian are related to the renormalized vertices appearing in the perturbation theory. The collective zero sound modes appear in the quasiparticle-quasihole ladder sum of the renormalized perturbation expansion. The renormalized perturbation expansion can in principle be used beyond the Fermi liquid regime to higher temperatures. This approach should be particularly useful for heavy fermions and other strongly correlated electron systems, where the renormalization of the single-particle excitations are particularly large. We briefly look at the breakdown of Fermi liquid theory from a renormalized perturbation theory point of view. We show how a modified version of the approach can be used in some situations, such as the spinless Luttinger model, where Fermi liquid theory is not applicable. Other examples of systems where the Fermi liquid theory breaks down are also briefly discussed.
Abstract The low-temperature properties of a wide range of many-fermion systems spanning metals, quantum gases and liquids to nuclear matter are well understood within the framework of Landau’s theory of Fermi liquids. The low-energy physics of these systems is governed by interacting fermionic quasiparticles with momenta and energies near a Fermi surface in momentum space. Nonequilibrium properties are described by a kinetic equation for the distribution function for quasiparticles proposed by Landau. Quasiparticle interactions with other quasiparticles, phonons, or impurities lead to internal forces acting on a distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles, as well as collision processes that ultimately limit the transport of mass, heat, charge, and magnetization, as well as limiting the coherence times of quasiparticles. For Fermi liquids that are close to a second-order phase transition, e.g., Fermi liquids that undergo a superfluid transition, incipient Cooper pairs—long-lived fluctuations of the ordered phase—provide a new channel for scattering quasiparticles, as well as corrections to internal forces acting on the distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles. We develop the theory of quasiparticle transport for Fermi liquids in the vicinity of a BCS-type superfluid transition starting from Keldysh’s field theory for nonequilibrium, strongly interacting fermions. The leading corrections to Fermi-liquid theory for nonequilibrium quasiparticle transport near a Cooper instability arise from the virtual emission and absorption of incipient Cooper pairs. Our theory is applicable to quasiparticle transport in superconductors, nuclear matter, and the low-temperature phases of liquid 3He. As an implementation of the theory we calculate the pairing-fluctuation corrections to the attenuation of zero sound in liquid 3He near the superfluid transition and demonstrate quantitative agreement with experimental results.
Kinetic properties of a two-dimensional model of fermions interacting with antiferromagnetic spin excitations near the quantum critical point are considered. The temperature or doping are assumed to be sufficiently high, such that the pseudogap does not appear. In contrast to standard spin-fermion models, it is assumed that there are intrinsic inhomogeneities in the system suppressing space correlations of the antiferromagnetic excitations. It is argued that the inhomogeneities in the spin excitations in the ``strange metal'' phase can be a consequence of the existence of ``$\ensuremath{\pi}$-shifted'' domain walls in the doped antiferromagnetic phase. Averaging over the inhomogeneities and calculating physical quantities such as resistivity and some others one can explain unusual properties of cuprates unified under the name ``marginal Fermi liquid.'' The dependence of the slope of the linear temperature dependence of the resistivity on doping is compared with experimental data.