We show that the fermionic and bosonic spectrum of $d=2$ fermions at finite density coupled to a critical boson can be determined nonperturbatively in the combined limit ${k}_{F}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty},\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{N}_{f}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ with ${N}_{f}{k}_{F}$ fixed. In this double scaling limit, the boson two-point function is corrected but only at one loop. This double scaling limit therefore incorporates the leading effect of Landau damping. The fermion two-point function is determined analytically in real space and numerically in (Euclidean) momentum space. The resulting spectrum is discontinuously connected to the quenched ${N}_{f}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ result. For $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ with $k$ fixed the spectrum exhibits the distinct non-Fermi-liquid behavior previously surmised from the RPA approximation. However, the exact answer obtained here shows that the RPA result does not fully capture the IR of the theory.
We show that the fermionic and bosonic spectrum of d=2 fermions at finite density coupled to a critical boson can be determined nonperturbatively in the combined limit kF\ensuremath→\ensuremath∞,Nf\ensuremath→0 with NfkF fixed. In this double scaling limit, the boson two-point function is corrected but only at one loop. This double scaling limit therefore incorporates the leading effect of Landau damping. The fermion two-point function is determined analytically in real space and numerically in (Euclidean) momentum space. The resulting spectrum is discontinuously connected to the quenched Nf\ensuremath→0 result. For \ensuremathω\ensuremath→0 with k fixed the spectrum exhibits the distinct non-Fermi-liquid behavior previously surmised from the RPA approximation. However, the exact answer obtained here shows that the RPA result does not fully capture the IR of the theory.
Landau theory of Fermi liquids is the foundational concept behind our understanding of conventional metals. Its basic postulate is that the low-energy physics can be described by weakly interacting quasiparticles --- a dressed but effectively free version of electrons formally represented by poles of the single-particle Green's function. However, this concept notoriously fails for strongly interacting systems such as high-Tc cuprate superconductors, and our understanding of properties of these ``non-Fermi'' quantum liquids is far from complete. One well-known candidate theory for non-Fermi liquids is Hertz-Millis theory: a finite-density fermion system coupled to a massless critical boson. In (2+1) dimensions, this theory is strongly interacting at low energies, but as of yet there is no controlled insight in this regime; conventional perturbation theory fails. In this article, the authors show that in the so-called quenched approximation the fermionic spectrum can be computed exactly to all orders in the coupling constant. They show extensive detailed analysis that, in this quenched limit, the nonperturbative low-energy dynamics are indeed that of a non-Fermi liquid. Instead of coherent quasiparticles one finds the emergence of critical fermionic excitations described by branch cuts in the single particle Green's function.
We develop a theoretical framework based on the nonperturvative renormalization group (RG) in the one-particle irreducible (Wetterich) formulation to tackle the interplay of coupled fermionic and order-parameter fluctuations at metallic quantum critical points (QCPs) with ordering wavevector Q=0. We consistently treat the dynamical emergence of the Landau damping of the bosonic mode and non-Fermi liquid scaling of fermions upon lowering the cutoff scale. The loop integrals of the present theory involve only contributions from fluctuations above the cutoff scale, which protects the system from developing singular bosonic interactions. We emphasize the importance of the nontrivial relative scaling of the bosonic and fermionic cutoffs Λ and Λf, which we fix by analyzing the RG flow of the scale-dependent ordering wave-vector QΛ. Upon neglecting Fermi self-energy in the loop integrals of the functional RG flow, we identify a non-Fermi liquid RG fixed point and recover the features obtained earlier within RPA-type approaches. In a subsequent step, we self-consistently include the scaling of the self-energy and the Yukawa coupling. We find a generic instability of the non-Fermi liquid RG fixed point. This implies, at least at this truncation level, absence of the QCP with Q=0 and development of a first-order phase transition or a phase characterized by Q=0.
We present a functional renormalization-group calculation of the properties of a quantum critical metal in d=2 spatial dimensions. Our theory describes a general class of Pomeranchuk instabilities with Nb flavors of boson. At small Nb we find a family of fixed points characterized by weakly non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the conduction electrons and $z\ensuremath{\approx}2$ critical dynamics for the order-parameter fluctuations, in agreement with the scaling observed by Schattner et al. [Phys. Rev. X 6, 031028 (2016)] for the Ising-nematic transition. Contrary to recent suggestions that this represents an intermediate regime en route to the scaling limit, our calculation suggests that this behavior may persist all the way to the critical point. As the number of bosons Nb is increased, the model's fixed-point properties cross over to $z\ensuremath{\approx}1$ scaling and non-Fermi-liquid behavior similar to that obtained by Fitzpatrick et al. [Phys. Rev. B 88, 125116 (2013)].
Understanding the influence of quenched random potential is crucial for comprehending the exotic electronic transport of non-Fermi liquid metals near metallic quantum critical points. In this study, we identify a stable fixed point governing the quantum critical behavior of two-dimensional non-Fermi liquid metals in the presence of a random potential disorder. By performing renormalization group analysis on a dimensional-regularized field theory for Ising-nematic quantum critical points, we systematically investigate the interplay between random potential disorder for electrons and Yukawa-type interactions between electrons and bosonic order-parameter fluctuations in a perturbative epsilon expansion. At the one-loop order, the effective field theory lacks stable fixed points, instead exhibiting a runaway flow toward infinite disorder strength. However, at the two-loop order, the effective field theory converges to a stable fixed point characterized by finite disorder strength, termed the “disordered non-Fermi liquid (DNFL) fixed point”. Our investigation reveals that two-loop vertex corrections induced by Yukawa couplings are pivotal in the emergence of the DNFL fixed point, primarily through screening disorder scattering. Additionally, the DNFL fixed point is distinguished by a substantial anomalous scaling dimension of fermion fields, resulting in pseudogap-like behavior in the electron’s density of states. These findings shed light on the quantum critical behavior of disordered non-Fermi liquid metals, emphasizing the indispensable role of higher-order loop corrections in such comprehension.
We present the expression for the quasiparticle vertex function ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ (proportional to the Landau interaction function) in a 2D Fermi liquid (FL) near an instability towards antiferromagnetism. This function is relevant in many ways in the context of metallic quantum criticality. Previous studies have found that near a quantum critical point, the system enters into a regime in which the fermionic self-energy is large near hot spots on the Fermi surface [points on the Fermi surface connected by the antiferromagnetic ordering vector ${q}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}=(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$] and has much stronger dependence on frequency than on momentum. We show that in this regime, which we termed a critical FL, the conventional random-phase-approximation- (RPA) type approach breaks down, and to properly calculate the vertex function one has to sum up an infinite series of terms which were explicitly excluded in the conventional treatment. Besides, we show that, to properly describe the spin component of ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ even in an ordinary FL, one has to add Aslamazov-Larkin (AL) terms to the RPA vertex. We show that the total ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ is larger in a critical FL than in an ordinary FL, roughly by an extra power of magnetic correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}$, which diverges at the quantum critical point. However, the enhancement of ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ is highly nonuniform: It holds only when, for one of the two momentum variables, the distance from a hot spot along the Fermi surface is much larger than for the other one. This fact renders our case different from quantum criticality at small momentum, where the enhancement of ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ was found to be homogeneous. We show that the charge and spin components of the total vertex function satisfy the universal relations following from the Ward identities related to the conservation of the particle number and the total spin. We show that in a critical FL, the Ward identity involves ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ taken between particles on the FS. We find that the charge and spin components of ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ are identical to leading order in the magnetic correlation length. We use our results for ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\omega}}({K}_{F},{P}_{F})$ and for the quasiparticle residue to derive the Landau parameters Fcl=0=Fsl=0, the density of states, and the uniform (q=0) charge and spin susceptibilities ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c}^{l=0}={\ensuremath{\chi}}_{s}^{l=0}$. We show that the density of states NF diverges as $log\ensuremath{\xi}$; however, Fc,sl=0 also diverge as $log\ensuremath{\xi}$, such that the total ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c,s}^{(l=0)}\ensuremath{\propto}{N}_{F}/(1+{F}_{c}^{l=0})$ remain finite at $\ensuremath{\xi}=\ensuremath{\infty}$. We show that at weak coupling these susceptibilities are parametrically smaller than for free fermions.
We study the fermion-boson coupled system in d=3−ϵ space dimensions near the quantum phase transition; infinite many boson modes locating on a sphere become critical simultaneously, which is dubbed “critical boson surface” (CBS). The fermions on the Fermi surface can be scattered to nearby points locating on a boson ring in the low-energy limit. The large number of the boson scattering channels N renders the well-known Landau damping effect largely suppressed. We propose an effective theory for a single point on the Fermi surface and the associated critical boson ring induced by the boson scattering channels. Based on the effective model, one-loop renormalization group analysis is performed with asymptotic ϵ-expansion. The fermion self-energy and Yukawa interaction vertex are dressed with ϵ poles and are largely enhanced due to the presence of critical boson ring. The imaginary part of the self-energy exhibits a linear-in frequency dependence and the real part gives a vanishing quasiparticle weight in the low-energy limit, which signatures the celebrated “marginal Fermi liquid” behavior. We find a novel non-Fermi liquid fixed point, at which the critical properties show features associated with the CBS.