This review describes how topological order can reconstruct Fermi surfaces of metals, even in the absence of translational symmetry breaking. We begin with an introduction to topological order using Wegner's quantum
Z2 gauge theory on the square lattice: the topological state is characterized by the expulsion of defects, carrying
Z2 magnetic flux. The interplay between topological order and the breaking of global symmetry is described by the non-zero temperature statistical mechanics of classical XY models in dimension
D=3; such models also describe the zero temperature quantum phases of bosons with short-range interactions on the square lattice at integer filling. The topological state is again characterized by the expulsion of certain defects, in a state with fluctuating symmetry-breaking order. The phase diagrams of the
Z2 gauge theory and the XY models are obtained by embedding them in U(1) gauge theories, and by studying their Higgs and confining phases. These ideas are then applied to the single-band Hubbard model on the square lattice. A SU(2) gauge theory describes the fluctuations of spin-density-wave order, and its phase diagram is presented by analogy to the XY models. We obtain a class of zero temperature metallic states with fluctuating spin-density wave order, topological order associated with defect expulsion, reconstructed Fermi surfaces (with `chargon' or electron-like quasiparticles), but no broken symmetry. We conclude with the application of such metallic states to the pseudogap phase of the cuprates, and note the recent comparison with numerical studies of the Hubbard model. In a detour, we also discuss the influence of Berry phases, and how they can lead to deconfined quantum critical points: this applies to bosons on the square lattice at half-integer filling, and to quantum dimer models.
Since the discovery of the superconducting cuprates and their hitherto unknown electronic properties there has been a continuously growing interest in a theoretical treatment of suitable models of strongly correlated fermions which at least qualitatively reflect the essential aspects of these physical systems. The Hubbard model in two dimensions plays an important role in this context. The present thesis examines instabilities and possible symmetry broken phases of the two-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model with the help of numeric and semi analytic methods. While in the first part it is pointed out how such instabilities can be treated by a mean field theory, the second part of the work supplies the theoretical bases of the numeric procedures developed in part III. For the case of a pure nearest neighbour hopping it is shown that the second order contributions of perturbation theory generate an effective attraction between the electrons. The energy scale of the superconducting instabilities is also examined; it is shown that the vanHove singularity drastically enhances this critical scale at half filling. The investigation of a possible coexistence of two different kinds of spontaneous symmetry breaking forms the emphasis of the thesis: Lately accomplished renormalization group calculations showed (for suitably chosen parameters) the occurrence of a Pomeranchuk instability of the two-dimensional Hubbard model with nonvanishing next nearest neighbour hopping, which should give rise to a ground state that spontaneously breaks the model's lattice symmetry as well as its U(1) symmetry, i.e. the ground state could be characterized by two co-existing order parameters. For treatment of the problem of co-existing instabilities the ansatz of a renormalized perturbation theory is used, which had been suggested in order to avoid the occurrence of unphysical singularities arising within the framework of naive perturbation theory; these singularities are related to interaction-induced shifts of the Fermi surface, which cannot be captured by simply shifting the chemical potential. The attractive Hubbard model is also treated within the framework of renormalized perturbation theory; the well-known reduction of the superconducting order parameter with respect to its BCS value reported in earlier investigations can be confirmed. A spontaneously broken lattice symmetrie does not arise here, in contrast to the repulsive case.
The phases with spontaneously broken symmetries corresponding to antiferromagnetic and
d-wave superconducting order in the two-dimensional $t\ensuremath{-}{t}^{'}$-Hubbard model are investigated by means of the functional renormalization group. The introduction of composite boson fields in the magnetic, charge density, and superconducting channels allows an efficient parametrization of the four-fermion vertex and the study of regimes where either the antiferromagnetic or superconducting order parameter, or both, are nonzero. We compute the phase diagram and the temperature dependence of the order parameter below the critical temperature, where antiferromagnetic and superconducting order show a tendency of mutual exclusion.
This chapter addresses the fundamental role of order parameters and symmetry breaking in characterizing phases and understanding phase transitions and argues that the origin of non-analyticity is in fact the thermodynamic limit. It explores the Landau definition that a transition is first order if the order parameter is discontinuous at the transition point and second order if it is continuous. The chapter presents a general theory which in leading approximation embodies the physics of the Landau function of the order parameter. The mean field theory may be applied quite generally to any system for which the local order parameter has been identified. Once the order parameter for Bose condensation is recognized, the order parameter for superconducting or superfluid transitions follow naturally. For superconducting metals, pairs of electrons at the Fermi surface form bound states which behave effectively as Bosons and thus undergo Bose condensation.
The phase diagram of the Hubbard model is studied at weak coupling in two and three spatial dimensions. It is shown that the N\'eel temperature and the order parameter in
d=3 are smaller than the Hartree-Fock predictions by a factor of
q=0.2599. For
d=2 we show that the self-consistent (sc) perturbation series bears no relevance to the behavior of the exact solution of the Hubbard model in the symmetry-broken phase. We also investigate an anisotropic model and show that the coupling between planes is essential for the validity of mean-field-type order parameters.