Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2503.23851 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Revealing quantum phase string effect in a doped Mott insulator: A tensor network state study

Wayne Zheng, Jia-Xin Zhang, Zheng-Yuan Yue, Zheng‐Cheng Gu, Zheng-Yu Weng

Published Oct 21, 2025• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We apply the fermionic tensor network (TN) state method to understand the strongly correlated nature in a doped Mott insulator. We conduct a comparative study of the $\ensuremath{\sigma}t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model, in which the no-double-occupancy constraint remains unchanged but the quantum phase string effect associated with doped holes is precisely switched off. Thus, the ground state of the $\ensuremath{\sigma}t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model can serve as a well-controlled reference state of the standard $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model. In the absence of the phase string, the spin long-range antiferromagnetic (AFM) order is found to be essentially decoupled from the doped holes, and the latter contribute to a Fermi-liquid-like compressibility and a coherent single-particle propagation with a markedly reduced pairing tendency. In contrast, our TN calculations of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model indicate that the AFM order decreases much faster with doping and the single-particle propagation of doped holes gets substantially suppressed, concurrently with a much stronger charge compressibility at small doping and significantly amplified Cooper pairing tendencies. These findings demonstrate that quantum many-body interference from phase strings plays a pivotal role in the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model, mediating long-range entanglement between spin and charge degrees of freedom, which might hold the key mechanism for high-${T}_{c}$ cuprates.

DOI
10.1103/2f9b-h135

Related papers

Sign structure of the t − t ′ − J model and its physical consequences

Xin Lu, Jiaxin Zhang, Shou-Shu Gong +2 more

Understanding the doped Mott insulator is a central challenge in condensed matter physics. In this work, we first explicitly identify a new sign structure in the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model on the square lattice that replaces the conventional Fermi statistics for weakly interacting electrons. Then we show that the singular, i.e., the phase-string part of the sign structure in the partition function can be precisely turned off in a modified model. The density matrix renormalization group method is then employed to study these two models comparatively on finite-size systems, which is designed to unveil the consequences of the phase-string component. We find that the hole pairing is present not only in the quasi-long-range superconducting phase but also in the stripe phase of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model. However, once the phase-string is switched off, both the superconducting and stripe orders together with the underlying hole pairing disappear. The corresponding ground state reduces to a trivial Fermi-liquid-like state with small hole Fermi pockets that is decoupled from the antiferromagnetic spin background. It is in sharp contrast to the original $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model where large Fermi surfaces can be restored in the stripe phase found at ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t<0$ or the superconducting phase at ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t>0$ in the six-leg ladder calculation. Our study clearly demonstrates that the strong correlation effect in doped Mott insulator should be mainly attributed to the long-range quantum entanglement between the spin and charge, which is, nonperturbatively, beyond a simple spin-charge separation under the no double occupancy constraint.

arXiv:2303.13498•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Oct 10, 2024•15 citations

Nature of strong hole pairing in doped Mott antiferromagnets

Zheng Zhu, Hong‐Chen Jiang, D. N. Sheng +1 more

Cooper pairing instability in a Fermi liquid is well understood by the BCS theory, but pairing mechanism for doped Mott insulators still remains elusive. Previously it has been shown by density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method that a single doped hole is always self-localized due to the quantum destructive interference of the phase string signs hidden in the t-J ladders. Here we report a DMRG investigation of hole binding in the same model, where a novel pairing-glue scheme beyond the BCS realm is discovered. Specifically, we show that, in addition to spin pairing due to superexchange interaction, the strong frustration of the phase string signs on the kinetic energy gets effectively removed by pairing the charges, which results in strong binding of two holes. By contrast, if the phase string signs are "switched off" artificially, the pairing strength diminishes significantly even if the superexchange coupling remains the same. In the latter, unpaired holes behave like coherent quasiparticles with pairing drastically weakened, whose sole origin may be attributed to the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) pairing of spins. Such non-BCS pairing mechanism is therefore beyond the RVB picture and may shed important light on the high-T(c) cuprate superconductors.

arXiv:1312.6893•Scientific Reports•Jun 24, 2014•42 citations

Quantum-interference-induced pairing in bosonic doped antiferromagnets

Hao-Kai Zhang, Jia-Xin Zhang, Ji-Si Xu +2 more

The pairing mechanism in doped antiferromagnets is essential for understanding high-temperature superconductivity. In this work, we investigate the pairing mechanism in bosonic doped antiferromagnets via large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculations of the bosonic $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model. We discover a pair density wave (PDW) coexists with the antiferromagnetic (AFM) order forming a ``supersolid'' at small doping. The pairing is attributed to a hidden many-body Berry phase that introduces the sole ``sign problem'' into this bosonic model and imposes quantum phase frustration to the spin-charge interference pattern. Only via tightly pairing of doped holes can such frustration be most effectively erased in an AFM background. By contrast, the pairing vanishes as the Berry phase is trivialized in the ferromagnetic condensate at larger doping or switched off into the Bose-Hubbard model at large $U$. The present pairing mechanism---distinct from the conventional mechanisms based on Fermi surface instabilities---may provide a different perspective and new insights for understanding the complex nature of doped Mott insulators and is promising to be probed on qudit-based quantum simulators such as ultracold Rydberg atom arrays.

arXiv:2409.15424•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Nov 21, 2025•3 citations

Charge modulation as fingerprints of phase-string triggered interference

Zheng Zhu, Chushun Tian, Hong‐Chen Jiang +3 more

Charge order appears to be an ubiquitous phenomenon in doped Mott insulators, which is currently under intense experimental and theoretical investigations particularly in the high ${T}_{c}$ cuprates. This phenomenon is conventionally understood in terms of Hartree-Fock-type mean-field theory. Here we demonstrate a mechanism for charge modulation which is rooted in the many-particle quantum physics arising in the strong coupling limit. Specifically, we consider the problem of a single hole in a bipartite $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ ladder. As a remnant of the fermion signs, the hopping hole picks up subtle phases pending the fluctuating spins, the so-called phase-string effect. We demonstrate the presence of charge modulations in the density matrix renormalization group solutions which disappear when the phase strings are switched off. This form of charge modulation can be understood analytically in a path-integral language with a mean-field-like approximation adopted, showing that the phase strings give rise to constructive interferences leading to self-localization. When the latter occurs, left- and right-moving propagating modes emerge inside the localization volume and their interference is responsible for the real space charge modulation.

arXiv:1412.3462•Physical Review B•Jul 7, 2015•23 citations

Minimal loop currents in doped Mott insulators

Can Cui, Jing-Yu Zhao, Zheng-Yu Weng

For the $t$-$J$ model, variational wave functions can generally be constructed based on an accurate description of antiferromagnetism (AFM) at half-filling and an exact phase-string sign structure under doping. The single-hole-doped and two-hole-doped states, as determined by variational Monte Carlo (VMC) simulations, display sharply contrasting behaviors. The single-hole state constitutes a ``cat state'' that resonates strongly between a quasiparticle component and a local loop-current component, with approximately equal weights. In the ground state, the quasiparticle spectral weight $Z_{\mathbf{k}}$ peaks at momenta $\mathbf{k}_0 \equiv (\pm\fracπ{2},\pm\fracπ{2})$. The total-energy dispersion versus $\mathbf{k}$ agrees remarkably well with the Green function Monte Carlo results. However, Landau's one-to-one correspondence hypothesis for quasiparticles breaks down here with the incoherent component exhibiting intrinsic magnetization originating from a minimal $2\times2$ loop current that forms a $4\times4$ pattern on the square lattice--a finding in excellent agreement with density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations. In the two-hole ground state, a new pairing mechanism is revealed: the two holes are automatically fused into a tightly bound object consisting of an incoherent $d_{xy}$ pairing along the diagonal direction by compensating the local loop currents. This hole pair is again a ``cat state'' that resonates strongly between the incoherent $d_{xy}$ and a coherent $d_{x^2-y^2}$ Cooper channel to gain substantial hopping energy. Its size extends over an area of about $4\times 4$ lattice spacings, much smaller than the divergent AFM correlation length, implying that it should survive as a minimal superconducting building block even in the dilute doping regime. Experimental implications and the generalization to the finite-doping case are briefly addressed.

arXiv:2602.21206•Feb 24, 2026•0 citations

Phase string effect and mutual Chern-Simons theory of Hubbard model

Zhang Long, Zheng-Yu Weng

The fermion sign plays a dominant role in Fermi liquid theory. However, in Mott insulators, the strong Coulomb interaction suppresses the charge fluctuations and eliminates the fermion signs due to electron permutation. In this article, we first review the phase string theory of the Hubbard model for a bipartite lattice, which unifies the Fermi liquid at weak coupling and the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at strong coupling. We first derive the exact sign structure of the Hubbard model for an arbitrary Coulomb interaction U. In small U limit, the conventional fermion sign is restored, while at large U limit, it leads to the phase string sign structure of the t-J model. For half filling, we construct an electron fractionalization representation, in which chargons and spinons are coupled to each other via emergent mutual Chern-Simons gauge fields. The corresponding ground state ansatz and low energy effective theory capture the ground state phase diagram of the Hubbard model qualitatively. For weak coupling regime, the Fermi liquid quasiparticle is formed by the bound state of a chargon and a spinon, and the long range phase coherence is determined by the background spin correlation. The Mott transition can be realized either by forming the chargon gap or by condensing the background spinons.

Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations
We apply the fermionic tensor network (TN) state method to understand the strongly correlated nature in a doped Mott insulator. We conduct a comparative study of the \ensuremathσt\ensuremath-J\ensuremath{\sigma}t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J\ensuremathσt\ensuremath-J model, in which the no-double-occupancy constraint remains unchanged but the quantum phase string effect associated with doped holes is precisely switched off. Thus, the ground state of the \ensuremathσt\ensuremath-J\ensuremath{\sigma}t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J\ensuremathσt\ensuremath-J model can serve as a well-controlled reference state of the standard t\ensuremath-Jt\text{\ensuremath{-}}Jt\ensuremath-J model. In the absence of the phase string, the spin long-range antiferromagnetic (AFM) order is found to be essentially decoupled from the doped holes, and the latter contribute to a Fermi-liquid-like compressibility and a coherent single-particle propagation with a markedly reduced pairing tendency. In contrast, our TN calculations of the t\ensuremath-Jt\text{\ensuremath{-}}Jt\ensuremath-J model indicate that the AFM order decreases much faster with doping and the single-particle propagation of doped holes gets substantially suppressed, concurrently with a much stronger charge compressibility at small doping and significantly amplified Cooper pairing tendencies. These findings demonstrate that quantum many-body interference from phase strings plays a pivotal role in the t\ensuremath-Jt\text{\ensuremath{-}}Jt\ensuremath-J model, mediating long-range entanglement between spin and charge degrees of freedom, which might hold the key mechanism for high-Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ cuprates.
Understanding the doped Mott insulator is a central challenge in condensed matter physics. In this work, we first explicitly identify a new sign structure in the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model on the square lattice that replaces the conventional Fermi statistics for weakly interacting electrons. Then we show that the singular, i.e., the phase-string part of the sign structure in the partition function can be precisely turned off in a modified model. The density matrix renormalization group method is then employed to study these two models comparatively on finite-size systems, which is designed to unveil the consequences of the phase-string component. We find that the hole pairing is present not only in the quasi-long-range superconducting phase but also in the stripe phase of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model. However, once the phase-string is switched off, both the superconducting and stripe orders together with the underlying hole pairing disappear. The corresponding ground state reduces to a trivial Fermi-liquid-like state with small hole Fermi pockets that is decoupled from the antiferromagnetic spin background. It is in sharp contrast to the original $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model where large Fermi surfaces can be restored in the stripe phase found at ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t<0$ or the superconducting phase at ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t>0$ in the six-leg ladder calculation. Our study clearly demonstrates that the strong correlation effect in doped Mott insulator should be mainly attributed to the long-range quantum entanglement between the spin and charge, which is, nonperturbatively, beyond a simple spin-charge separation under the no double occupancy constraint.
Cooper pairing instability in a Fermi liquid is well understood by the BCS theory, but pairing mechanism for doped Mott insulators still remains elusive. Previously it has been shown by density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method that a single doped hole is always self-localized due to the quantum destructive interference of the phase string signs hidden in the t-J ladders. Here we report a DMRG investigation of hole binding in the same model, where a novel pairing-glue scheme beyond the BCS realm is discovered. Specifically, we show that, in addition to spin pairing due to superexchange interaction, the strong frustration of the phase string signs on the kinetic energy gets effectively removed by pairing the charges, which results in strong binding of two holes. By contrast, if the phase string signs are "switched off" artificially, the pairing strength diminishes significantly even if the superexchange coupling remains the same. In the latter, unpaired holes behave like coherent quasiparticles with pairing drastically weakened, whose sole origin may be attributed to the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) pairing of spins. Such non-BCS pairing mechanism is therefore beyond the RVB picture and may shed important light on the high-T(c) cuprate superconductors.
The pairing mechanism in doped antiferromagnets is essential for understanding high-temperature superconductivity. In this work, we investigate the pairing mechanism in bosonic doped antiferromagnets via large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculations of the bosonic $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model. We discover a pair density wave (PDW) coexists with the antiferromagnetic (AFM) order forming a ``supersolid'' at small doping. The pairing is attributed to a hidden many-body Berry phase that introduces the sole ``sign problem'' into this bosonic model and imposes quantum phase frustration to the spin-charge interference pattern. Only via tightly pairing of doped holes can such frustration be most effectively erased in an AFM background. By contrast, the pairing vanishes as the Berry phase is trivialized in the ferromagnetic condensate at larger doping or switched off into the Bose-Hubbard model at large UUU. The present pairing mechanism---distinct from the conventional mechanisms based on Fermi surface instabilities---may provide a different perspective and new insights for understanding the complex nature of doped Mott insulators and is promising to be probed on qudit-based quantum simulators such as ultracold Rydberg atom arrays.
Charge order appears to be an ubiquitous phenomenon in doped Mott insulators, which is currently under intense experimental and theoretical investigations particularly in the high Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ cuprates. This phenomenon is conventionally understood in terms of Hartree-Fock-type mean-field theory. Here we demonstrate a mechanism for charge modulation which is rooted in the many-particle quantum physics arising in the strong coupling limit. Specifically, we consider the problem of a single hole in a bipartite $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ ladder. As a remnant of the fermion signs, the hopping hole picks up subtle phases pending the fluctuating spins, the so-called phase-string effect. We demonstrate the presence of charge modulations in the density matrix renormalization group solutions which disappear when the phase strings are switched off. This form of charge modulation can be understood analytically in a path-integral language with a mean-field-like approximation adopted, showing that the phase strings give rise to constructive interferences leading to self-localization. When the latter occurs, left- and right-moving propagating modes emerge inside the localization volume and their interference is responsible for the real space charge modulation.
For the ttt-JJJ model, variational wave functions can generally be constructed based on an accurate description of antiferromagnetism (AFM) at half-filling and an exact phase-string sign structure under doping. The single-hole-doped and two-hole-doped states, as determined by variational Monte Carlo (VMC) simulations, display sharply contrasting behaviors. The single-hole state constitutes a ``cat state'' that resonates strongly between a quasiparticle component and a local loop-current component, with approximately equal weights. In the ground state, the quasiparticle spectral weight ZkZ_{\mathbf{k}}Zk​ peaks at momenta k0≡(±π2,±π2)\mathbf{k}_0 \equiv (\pm\fracπ{2},\pm\fracπ{2})k0​≡(±2π​,±2π​). The total-energy dispersion versus k\mathbf{k}k agrees remarkably well with the Green function Monte Carlo results. However, Landau's one-to-one correspondence hypothesis for quasiparticles breaks down here with the incoherent component exhibiting intrinsic magnetization originating from a minimal 2×22\times22×2 loop current that forms a 4×44\times44×4 pattern on the square lattice--a finding in excellent agreement with density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations. In the two-hole ground state, a new pairing mechanism is revealed: the two holes are automatically fused into a tightly bound object consisting of an incoherent dxyd_{xy}dxy​ pairing along the diagonal direction by compensating the local loop currents. This hole pair is again a ``cat state'' that resonates strongly between the incoherent dxyd_{xy}dxy​ and a coherent dx2−y2d_{x^2-y^2}dx2−y2​ Cooper channel to gain substantial hopping energy. Its size extends over an area of about 4×44\times 44×4 lattice spacings, much smaller than the divergent AFM correlation length, implying that it should survive as a minimal superconducting building block even in the dilute doping regime. Experimental implications and the generalization to the finite-doping case are briefly addressed.
The fermion sign plays a dominant role in Fermi liquid theory. However, in Mott insulators, the strong Coulomb interaction suppresses the charge fluctuations and eliminates the fermion signs due to electron permutation. In this article, we first review the phase string theory of the Hubbard model for a bipartite lattice, which unifies the Fermi liquid at weak coupling and the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at strong coupling. We first derive the exact sign structure of the Hubbard model for an arbitrary Coulomb interaction U. In small U limit, the conventional fermion sign is restored, while at large U limit, it leads to the phase string sign structure of the t-J model. For half filling, we construct an electron fractionalization representation, in which chargons and spinons are coupled to each other via emergent mutual Chern-Simons gauge fields. The corresponding ground state ansatz and low energy effective theory capture the ground state phase diagram of the Hubbard model qualitatively. For weak coupling regime, the Fermi liquid quasiparticle is formed by the bound state of a chargon and a spinon, and the long range phase coherence is determined by the background spin correlation. The Mott transition can be realized either by forming the chargon gap or by condensing the background spinons.