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arXiv:2607.12410

Fractionalized Fermi liquids with the ghost-Gutzwiller Ansatz

Ivan Pasqua, Carlos Mejuto-Zaera, Michele Fabrizio

Published Jul 14, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Fractionalized Fermi liquids ($\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}$), elusive metallic states characterized by fractionalized quasiparticles alongside conventional ones and defying Luttinger's theorem, are prime candidates for the pseudogap regime of underdoped cuprates. We show that a $\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}$ phase emerges in the single-band $t$-$J$ model through a simple ghost-Gutzwiller Ansatz, optimized at the cost of a mean-field calculation. The resulting temperature-doping phase diagram encompasses a low-doping $\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}$, a $d$-wave superconducting dome, and an overdoped conventional Fermi liquid, thereby reproducing key qualitative features of cuprate phenomenology.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2607.12410

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Fractionalized Fermi liquids (FL ⁣∗\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}FL∗), elusive metallic states characterized by fractionalized quasiparticles alongside conventional ones and defying Luttinger's theorem, are prime candidates for the pseudogap regime of underdoped cuprates. We show that a FL ⁣∗\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}FL∗ phase emerges in the single-band ttt-JJJ model through a simple ghost-Gutzwiller Ansatz, optimized at the cost of a mean-field calculation. The resulting temperature-doping phase diagram encompasses a low-doping FL ⁣∗\mathrm{FL}^{\!*}FL∗, a ddd-wave superconducting dome, and an overdoped conventional Fermi liquid, thereby reproducing key qualitative features of cuprate phenomenology.
Doping a Mott-insulating Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid can lead to a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*). Such a phase has several favorable features that make it a candidate for the pseudogap metal for the underdoped cuprates. We focus on a particular, simple Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​-FL* state which can undergo a confinement transition to a spatially uniform superconductor which is smoothly connected to the ``plain vanilla'' BCS superconductor with ddd-wave pairing. Such a transition occurs by the condensation of bosonic particles carrying +e+e+e charge but no spin (``chargons''). We show that modifying the dispersion of the bosonic chargons can lead to confinement transitions with charge density waves and pair density waves at the same wave vector K\mathbf{K}K, coexisting with ddd-wave superconductivity. We also compute the evolution of the Hall number in the normal state during the transition from the plain vanilla FL* state to a Fermi liquid, and argue, following Coleman, Marston, and Schofield [Phys. Rev. B 72, 245111 (2005)], that it exhibits a discontinuous jump near optimal doping. We note the distinction between these results and those obtained from models of the pseudogap with fermionic chargons.
We model the underdoped cuprates using fermions moving in a background with local antiferromagnetic order. The antiferromagnetic order fluctuates in orientation, but not in magnitude, so that there is no long-range antiferromagnetism, but a ``topological'' order survives. The normal state is described as a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*), with electronlike quasiparticles coupled to the fractionalized excitations of the fluctuating antiferromagnet. The electronic quasiparticles reside near pocket Fermi surfaces enclosing total area xxx (the dopant density), centered away from the magnetic Brillouin zone boundary. The violation of the conventional Luttinger theorem is linked to a ``species doubling'' of these quasiparticles. We describe phenomenological theories of the pairing of these quasiparticles, and show that a large class of mean-field theories generically displays a nodal-antinodal ``dichotomy'': The interplay of local antiferromagnetism and pairing leads to a small gap near the nodes of the ddd-wave pairing along the Brillouin zone diagonals, and a large gap in the antinodal region.
Inspired by the recent discovery of superconductivity in the nickelate ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}\mathrm{Ni}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}$, we study a generalized $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model to investigate the correlated phases induced by doping spin-1 Ni2+{\mathrm{Ni}}^{2+}Ni2+ into a spin-1/21/21/2 Mott insulator formed by Ni1+{\mathrm{Ni}}^{1+}Ni1+. Based on a three-fermion parton mean-field analysis, we identify a robust fractional Fermi liquid (FL*) phase for almost every doping level. The FL* state is characterized by a small Fermi pocket on top of a spin liquid, which violates the Luttinger theorem of a conventional Fermi liquid and is an example of a symmetric pseudogap metal. Furthermore, we verify our theory in one dimension through density matrix renormalization group simulations on both the generalized $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model and a two-orbital Hubbard model. The fractional Fermi liquid reduces to a fractional Luttinger liquid (LL*) in one dimension, which is connected to the conventional Luttinger liquid through a continuous quantum phase transition by tuning interaction strength. Our findings offer insights into correlated electron phenomena in nickelate superconductors and other multiorbital transition-metal oxides with a spin-triplet d8{d}^{8}d8 state.
Abstract We review a theoretical framework for the cuprate superconductors, rooted in a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) description of the intermediate-temperature pseudogap phase at low doping. The FL* theory predicted hole pockets each of fractional area p / 8 at hole doping p , in contrast to the area p / 4 in spin density wave theory. Magnetotransport measurements, including observation of the Yamaji angle, show clear evidence of hole pocket quasiparticles which can tunnel coherently between square lattice layers, and are consistent with the FL* description. The FL* phase of a single-band model is described using a layer construction with a pair of ancilla qubits on each site: the Ancilla layer model (ALM). Its mean field theory yields hole pockets of area p / 8 , and matches the gapped photoemission spectrum in the anti-nodal region of the Brillouin zone. Fluctuations are described by the SU(2) gauge theory of a background spin liquid with critical Dirac spinons. A Monte Carlo study of the thermal SU(2) gauge theory transforms the hole pockets into Fermi arcs in photoemission. One route to confinement of FL* upon lowering temperature yields a d -wave superconductor via a Kosterlitz–Thouless transition of h / ( 2 e ) vortices, with nodal Bogoliubov quasiparticles featuring anisotropic velocities and vortices surrounded by charge order halos. An alternative route yields a charge-ordered metallic state that has quantum oscillations consistent with observations. These confinement transitions are driven by the condensation of a SU(2) fundamental Higgs field, which also provides a fractionalized description of intertwined orders. Increasing doping from the FL* phase in the ALM drives a transition to a conventional FL at large doping, passing through an intermediate strange metal regime. We formulate a theory of the FL*-FL metal-metal transition without a symmetry-breaking order parameter, using a critical quantum ‘charge’ liquid of mobile electrons in the presence of disorder, developed via an extension of the Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev model to two spatial dimensions. At low temperatures, and across optimal and over doping, we address the regimes of extended non-FL behavior by Griffiths effects near quantum phase transitions in disordered metals. Partly based on lectures by S S at Boulder School 2025, Dynamics of Strongly Correlated Electrons , 14–18 July. Lecture videos . Joint ICTP-WE Heraeus School and Workshop on Advances in Quantum Matter: Pushing the Boundaries , ICTP, Trieste, 4, 6 August 2025. Lecture videos . School on Quantum Dynamics of Matter, Light and Information , ICTP, Trieste, 18, 19 August 2025. Lecture videos . Croucher Advanced Study Institute for Fractional Chern Insulators , University of Hong Kong, 4, 5 September 2025. Lecture slides . Advanced School and Conference on Quantum Matter , ICTP Trieste, 1–12 December 2025. Lecture Notes . Lecture videos .
Recent experiments in the underdoped regime of the hole-doped cuprates have found evidence for an incommensurate charge density-wave state. We present an analysis of the charge ordering instabilities in a metal with antiferromagnetic correlations, where the electronic excitations are coupled to the fractionalized excitations of a quantum fluctuating antiferromagnet on the square lattice. The resulting charge density-wave state emerging out of such a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) has wave vectors of the form $(\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{Q}_{0},0),(0,\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{Q}_{0})$, with a predominantly ddd-form factor, in agreement with experiments on a number of different families of the cuprates. In contrast, as previously shown, the charge density-wave instability of a nearly antiferromagnetic metal with a large Fermi surface, interacting via short-range interactions, has wave vectors of the type $(\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{Q}_{0},\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{Q}_{0})$. Our results show that the observed charge density-wave appears as a low-energy instability of a fractionalized metallic state linked to the proximity to an antiferromagnetic insulator, and the pseudogap regime can be described by such a metal at least over intermediate length and energy scales.