Abstract This chapter analyses Landau’s Fermi liquid theory. A fundamental postulate of Landau’s Fermi liquid theory is that quasiparticle energies are a function of the momentum, p, and that the momentum, pF, corresponding to the Fermi energy continues to be given by a free particle expression. Thus, the quasiparticle states are in one-to-one correspondence with those of an ideal Fermi gas and each quasiparticle has a spin quantum number, σ ± 1/2. The remainder of the chapter deals with the quasiparticle interaction function; sum rules; and collisionless collective modes, which are defined as a collective mode as a time- (or frequency) and space- (or wave vector) dependent oscillation of the fluid involving a coordinated motion of its constituent particles. Sample problems are also provided at the end of the chapter.
Abstract This chapter analyses Landau’s Fermi liquid theory. A fundamental postulate of Landau’s Fermi liquid theory is that quasiparticle energies are a function of the momentum, p, and that the momentum, pF, corresponding to the Fermi energy continues to be given by a free particle expression. Thus, the quasiparticle states are in one-to-one correspondence with those of an ideal Fermi gas and each quasiparticle has a spin quantum number, σ ± 1/2. The remainder of the chapter deals with the quasiparticle interaction function; sum rules; and collisionless collective modes, which are defined as a collective mode as a time- (or frequency) and space- (or wave vector) dependent oscillation of the fluid involving a coordinated motion of its constituent particles. Sample problems are also provided at the end of the chapter.
We will consider the normal state of interacting Fermi particles without any longrange order. The normal state at low temperatures is called the Fermi liquid and is considered to be the system of free quasi-particles that is continuously connected with free Fermi gas. The concept of the Fermi liquid was introduced and developed by L. D. Landau. Landau's Fermi liquid theory, which concentrates rich contents into a simple theory, is a good example to solve many-body problems. In this chapter, we introduce the basis and main contents of the Fermi liquid. Principle of continuity The basis of the Fermi liquid theory is the principle of adiabatic continuity, which connects free Fermi gas with the Fermi liquid by introducing gradually an interaction among particles. There is a one-to-one correspondence between two states before and after the introduction of the interaction. States belonging to the same symmetry do not cross each other, and new states with the interaction can be represented by the old quantum number. Since the distribution of free Fermi gas is given by the Fermi distribution function n( k ) , that of the Fermi liquid is also written n ( k ). The state denoted by k , σ in the Fermi liquid is called the quasi-particle. For the system to be described by quasi-particles, the following condition is necessary. Let us consider the basis of the Fermi liquid theory following the explanation of the Landau theory given by Nozières and Anderson.
In Landau's phenomenological Fermi-liquid theory (FLT), most physical quantities are derived from the knowledge of the energy variation δE[δn] corresponding to a change δn of the quasi-particle (QP) distribution function n≡{nkσ}. We show that the internal energy E[n] (or, more precisely, the thermodynamic potential Φ[n]), expressed as a function of the QP distribution n, can be interpreted as an effective potential (in the sense of field theory), which is obtained from the free energy by a Legendre transformation. This allows to obtain explicitly δΦ (or δE) starting from a microscopic Hamiltonian and to relate the Landau f function to the forward-scattering two-particle vertex without considering the collective modes as in the standard diagrammatic derivation of FLT. Out-of-equilibrium properties are obtained by extending the definition of the effective potential to space- and time-dependent configurations. Φ[n] is then a functional of the Wigner distribution function n≡{nkσ (r,t)}. It contains information about both the static and dynamic properties of the Fermi liquid. In particular, it yields the quantum Boltzmann equation satisfied by nkσ (r, t). Finally, we show how δΦ[δn] can be derived (in the static case) using a finite-temperature renormalization-group approach. In agreement with previous results based on this technique, we find that the Landau f function is defined by the fixed-point value of the Ω-limit of the forward-scattering two-particle vertex.
The Fermi liquid theory may provide a good description of the thermodynamic properties of an interacting particle system when the interaction between the particles contributes to the total energy of the system with a quantity which may depend on the total particle number, but does not depend on the temperature. In such a situation, the ideal part of the Hamiltonian, i.e. the energy of the system without the interaction energy, also provides a good description of the system's thermodynamics. If the total interaction energy of the system, being a complicated function of the particle populations, is temperature dependent, then the Landau's quasiparticle gas cannot describe accurately the thermodynamics of the system. A general solution to this problem is presented in this paper, in which the quasiparticle energies are redefined in such a way that the total energy of the system is identical to the sum of the energies of the quasiparticles. This implies also that the thermodynamic properties of the system and those of the quasiparticle gas are identical. By choosing a perspective in which the quasiparticle energies are fixed while the density of states along the quasiparticle axis vary, we transform our quasiparticle system into an ideal gas which obey fractional exclusion statistics.
The Fermi liquid is perhaps the most familiar quantum many-body state of solid state physics; we met it briefly in Section 16.2.2. It is the generic state of fermions at nonzero density, and is found in all metals. Its basic characteristics can already be understood in a simple free fermion picture. Noninteracting fermions occupy the lowest energy single-particle states, consistent with the exclusion principle. This leads to the fundamental concept of the Fermi surface: a surface in momentum space separating the occupied and empty single fermion states. The lowest energy excitations then consist of quasiparticle excitations which are particle-like outside the Fermi surface, and hole-like inside the Fermi surface. Landau's Fermi liquid theory is a careful justification for the stability of this simple picture in the presence of interactions between fermions. Just as we found in Chapters 5 and 7 for the quantum Ising and rotor models, interaction corrections modify the wavefunction of the quasiparticle and so introduce a quasiparticle residue A ; however, they do not destabilize the integrity of the quasiparticle, as we review in Section 18.1. The purpose of this chapter is to describe two paradigms of symmetry breaking quantum transitions in Fermi liquids. In the first class, studied in Section 18.2, the broken symmetry is related to the point-group symmetry of the crystal, while translational symmetry is preserved; consequently, the order parameter resides at zero wavevector. In the second class, studied in Section 18.3, the order parameter is at a finite wavevector, and so translational symmetry is also broken.
Low-temperature properties of 3D interacting fermion systems are well described by Landau's theory of Fermi liquids; for reviews see, e.g. [183, 184]. It involves only excitations of the system around the Fermi surface on energy scales small compared to the Fermi energy. Excitations are well described by quasi-particles which are in one-to-one correspondence with the bare particles. The bare-particle interaction does not break the qualitative picture of non-interacting system, but renormalizes the dynamical characteristics (the effective mass and the pair interaction) of quasi-particles. Within the microscopic Green function formalism, the existence of quasi-particles is equivalent to assuming that the self-energy correction Σ( k , ω) is regular (has only short-range contributions in time and space) close to the Fermi surface. The lifetime of quasi-particles τ α(ε k −ε F ) −2 is long enough to consider them as well-defined eigenstates over long time-scales. The momentum occupation number of the bare particles exhibits a sharp discontinuity when crossing the Fermi momentum. The charge and spin degrees of freedom of quasi-particle always travel together. The Landau theory breaks down in 1D systems of interacting fermions which have a very specific Fermi surface consisting of two points ± k F . In such systems, the self-energy Σ( k , ω) no longer possesses the analytic properties required for introducing quasi-particles. In contrast to Fermi liquids, the momentum occupation number of the bare particles in the ground state is continuous at the Fermi momentum. Moreover, the charge and spin excitations are separated.
Abstract. I give a brief introduction to Luttinger liquids. Luttinger liquids are paramagnetic one-dimensional metals without Landau quasi-particle excitations. The elementary excitations are collective charge and spin modes, leading to charge-spin separation. Correlation functions exhibit power-law behavior. All physical properties can be calculated, e.g. by bosonization, and depend on three parameters only: the renormalized coupling constant Kρ, and the charge and spin velocities. I also discuss the stability of Luttinger liquids with respect to temperature, interchain coupling, lattice effects and phonons, and list important open problems. WHAT IS A LUTTINGER LIQUID ANYWAY? Ordinary, three-dimensional metals are described by Fermi liquid theory. Fermi liquid theory is about the importance of electron-electron interactions in metals. It states that there is a 1:1-correspondence between the low-energy excitations of a free Fermi gas, and those of an interacting electron liquid which are termed “quasiparticles” [1]. Roughly speaking, the combination of the Pauli principle with low excitation energy (e.g. T ≪ EF) and the large phase space available in 3D, produces