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arXiv:2009.05595 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Interplay of flat electronic bands with Holstein phonons

Chunhan Feng, Richard T. Scalettar

Published Dec 23, 2020• 33 citations
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Abstract

Existing quantum Monte Carlo studies have investigated the properties of fermions on a Lieb (${\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}$) lattice interacting with on-site or near-neighbor electron-electron coupling. Attention has focused on the interplay of such interactions with the macroscopic degeneracy of local zero-energy modes, from which Bloch states can be formed to produce a flat band in which energy is independent of momentum. The resulting high density of states, in combination with the Stoner criterion, suggests that there should be pronounced instabilities to ordered phases. Indeed, a theorem by Lieb rigorously establishes the existence of ferrimagnetic order. Here we study the charge density wave phases induced by electron-phonon coupling on the Lieb lattice, as opposed to previous work on electron-electron interactions. Our key result is the demonstration of charge density wave phases at one third and two thirds fillings, characterized by long-range density-density correlations between doubly occupied sites on the minority or majority sublattices, and an accompanying gap. We also compute the transition temperature to the ordered phase as a function of the electron-phonon coupling.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.102.235152

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Existing quantum Monte Carlo studies have investigated the properties of fermions on a Lieb (CuO2{\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}CuO2​) lattice interacting with on-site or near-neighbor electron-electron coupling. Attention has focused on the interplay of such interactions with the macroscopic degeneracy of local zero-energy modes, from which Bloch states can be formed to produce a flat band in which energy is independent of momentum. The resulting high density of states, in combination with the Stoner criterion, suggests that there should be pronounced instabilities to ordered phases. Indeed, a theorem by Lieb rigorously establishes the existence of ferrimagnetic order. Here we study the charge density wave phases induced by electron-phonon coupling on the Lieb lattice, as opposed to previous work on electron-electron interactions. Our key result is the demonstration of charge density wave phases at one third and two thirds fillings, characterized by long-range density-density correlations between doubly occupied sites on the minority or majority sublattices, and an accompanying gap. We also compute the transition temperature to the ordered phase as a function of the electron-phonon coupling.
The formation of charge-density-wave order in Dirac fermion systems via electron-phonon coupling represents a significant topic in condensed matter physics. In this work, we investigate this phenomenon within the Holstein model on the honeycomb lattice, with a specific focus on the effect of disorder. While the interplay between electron-electron interactions and disorder has long been a central theme in the field, recent attention has increasingly turned to the combined influence of disorder and electron-phonon coupling. Using determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we concentrate on the phase transitions of charge-density-wave order on the honeycomb lattice. Disorder is introduced through the random hopping of electrons in the system, which can localize electrons via the Anderson effect. Our primary result is that disorder suppresses the charge-density-wave phase, and the interplay between disorder and electron-phonon interactions extends the phase area. We also determine the transition temperature βcβ_cβc​ to the ordered phase as a function of the electron-phonon coupling. Additionally, we observed a suppression of electron kinetic energy and dc conductivity under disorder, highlighting the role of Anderson localization in the degradation of electronic transport. These findings offer significant theoretical insight into the stability and critical phenomena of correlated phases in disordered two-dimensional systems.
The effect of electron-phonon coupling on Dirac fermions was recently explored numerically on a honeycomb lattice, leading to precise quantitative values for the finite temperature and quantum critical points. In this paper, we use the unbiased determinant quantum Monte Carlo method to study the Holstein model on a half-filled staggered-flux square lattice and compare the results with the honeycomb lattice geometry, presenting results for a range of phonon frequencies $0.1\ensuremath{\leqslant}\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\leqslant}2.0$. We find that the interactions give rise to charge density wave order, but only above a finite coupling strength ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathrm{crit}}$. The transition temperature is evaluated and presented in a ${T}_{c}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\lambda}$ phase diagram. An accompanying mean-field theory calculation also predicts the existence of a quantum phase transition, but at a substantially smaller coupling strength.
The Hubbard-Holstein model describes fermions on a discrete lattice, with on-site repulsion between fermions and a coupling to phonons that are localized on sites. Generally, at half-filling, increasing the coupling ggg to the phonons drives the system towards a Peierls charge density wave state, whereas increasing the electron-electron interaction UUU drives the fermions into a Mott antiferromagnet. At low ggg and UUU, or when doped, the system is metallic. In one dimension, using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we study the case where fermions have a long-range coupling to phonons, with characteristic range $\ensuremath{\xi}$, interpolating between the Holstein and Fr\"ohlich limits. Without electron-electron interaction, the fermions adopt a Peierls state when the coupling to the phonons is strong enough. This state is destabilized by a small coupling range $\ensuremath{\xi}$ and leads to a collapse of the fermions, and, consequently, phase separation. Increasing interaction UUU will drive any of these three phases (metallic, Peierls, phase separation) into a Mott insulator phase. The phase separation region is once again present in the $U\ensuremath{\ne}0$ case, even for small values of the coupling range.
The Holstein Hamiltonian describes fermions hopping on a lattice and interacting locally with dispersionless phonon degrees of freedom. In the low-density limit, dressed quasiparticles, polarons and bipolarons, propagate with an effective mass. At higher densities, pairs can condense into a low-temperature superconducting phase and, at or near commensurate filling on a bipartite lattice, to charge density wave (CDW) order. CDW formation breaks a discrete symmetry and hence occurs via a second-order (Ising) transition and therefore at a finite Tcdw{T}_{\mathrm{cdw}}Tcdw​ in two dimensions. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations have determined Tcdw{T}_{\mathrm{cdw}}Tcdw​ for a variety of geometries, including square, honeycomb, and Lieb lattices. The superconducting transition, on the other hand, in d=2d=2d=2 is in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class and is much less well characterized. In this paper we determine Tsc{T}_{\mathrm{sc}}Tsc​ for the square lattice for several values of the density $\ensuremath{\rho}$ and phonon frequency ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$. We find that quasilong-range order sets in at ${T}_{\mathrm{sc}}\ensuremath{\lesssim}t/20$, where ttt is the near-neighbor hopping amplitude, consistent with previous rough estimates from simulations which extrapolated to only the temperatures we reach from considerably higher TTT. We also show evidence of a discontinuous evolution of the density as the CDW transition is approached at half filling.
The physics of strongly correlated quantum particles within a flat band was originally explored as a route to itinerant ferromagnetism and, indeed, a celebrated theorem by Lieb rigorously establishes that the ground state of the repulsive Hubbard model on a bipartite lattice with an unequal number of sites in each sublattice must have nonzero spin SSS at half filling. Recently, there has been interest in Lieb geometries due to the possibility of topological insulator, nematic, and Bose-Einstein condensed (BEC) phases. In this paper, we extend the understanding of the attractive Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice by using determinant quantum Monte Carlo to study real space charge and pair correlation functions not addressed by the Lieb theorems. Specifically, our results show unusual charge and charge transfer signatures within the flat band, and a reduction in pairing order at $\ensuremath{\rho}=2/3$ and $\ensuremath{\rho}=4/3$, the points at which the flat band is first occupied and then completely filled. We compare our results to the case of flat bands in the Kagome lattice and demonstrate that the behavior observed in the two cases is rather different.
The Holstein model of spinless fermions interacting with dispersionless phonons in one dimension is studied by a Green's function Monte Carlo technique. The ground-state energy, first fermionic excited state, density wave correlations, and mean lattice displacements are calculated for lattices of up to 16 sites, for one fermion per two sites, i.e., a half-filled band. Results are obtained for values of the fermion hopping parameter of t=0.1\ensuremath{\omega}, \ensuremath{\omega}, and 10\ensuremath{\omega}, where \ensuremath{\omega} is the phonon frequency. At a finite fermion-phonon coupling g there is a transition from a metallic phase to an insulating phase in which there is charge-density-wave order. Finite-size scaling is found to hold in the metallic phase and is used to extract the coupling dependence of the Luttinger liquid parameters, ${\mathit{u}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}$ and ${\mathit{K}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}$, the velocity of charge excitations, and the correlation exponent, respectively. For free fermions (g=0) and for strong coupling (g2{\mathit{g}}^{2}g2\ensuremath{\gg}t\ensuremath{\omega}) our results agree well with known analytic results. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.