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arXiv:0907.3732 · Physical Review B

Fluctuating spin density waves in metals

Subir Sachdev A, Max A. Metlitski, Yang Qi, Cenke Xu

Published Oct 22, 2009• 92 citations
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Abstract

Recent work has used a U(1) gauge theory to describe the physics of Fermi pockets in the presence of fluctuating spin density wave order. We generalize this theory to an arbitrary band structure and ordering wave vector. The transition to the large Fermi-surface state, without pockets induced by local spin density wave order, is described by embedding the U(1) gauge theory in a SU(2) gauge theory. The phase diagram of the SU(2) gauge theory shows that the onset of spin density wave order in the Fermi liquid occurs either directly, in the framework discussed by Hertz, or via intermediate non-Fermi-liquid phases with Fermi surfaces of fractionalized excitations. We discuss application of our results to the phase diagram of the cuprates.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.80.155129

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Recent work has used a U(1) gauge theory to describe the physics of Fermi pockets in the presence of fluctuating spin density wave order. We generalize this theory to an arbitrary band structure and ordering wave vector. The transition to the large Fermi-surface state, without pockets induced by local spin density wave order, is described by embedding the U(1) gauge theory in a SU(2) gauge theory. The phase diagram of the SU(2) gauge theory shows that the onset of spin density wave order in the Fermi liquid occurs either directly, in the framework discussed by Hertz, or via intermediate non-Fermi-liquid phases with Fermi surfaces of fractionalized excitations. We discuss application of our results to the phase diagram of the cuprates.
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We present an SU(2) gauge theory of fluctuating stripe order in the two-dimensional Hubbard model. The theory is based on a fractionalization of the electron operators in fermionic chargons with a pseudospin degree of freedom, and charge-neutral spinons capturing fluctuations of the spin orientation. The chargons are treated in a renormalized mean-field theory. We focus on regions of the phase diagram where they undergo stripe order. The spinons are described by a nonlinear sigma model with pseudospin stiffnesses determined by the chargons. They prevent breaking of the physical SU(2) spin symmetry at any finite temperature, resulting in a charge-ordered pseudogap phase with a reconstructed Fermi surface and a spin gap. The spectral function for single-particle excitations exhibits a collection of Fermi arcs and other structures. The arcs appear in various regions of the Brillouin zone, but never exclusively near the Brillouin zone diagonals. For a suitable choice of the bare dispersion relation, the form of the low energy spectral function resembles experimental observations from angular resolved photoemission on cuprates in which stripe fluctuations play an important role.