We study two-dimensional fermions with a short-range interaction in the presence of a Van Hove singularity. It is shown that this system can be consistently described by an effective field theory whose Fermi surface is subdivided into regions as defined by a factorization scale, and that the theory is renormalizable in the sense that all of the counterterms are well defined in the IR limit. The theory has the unusual feature that the renormalization-group equation for the coupling has an explicit dependence on the renormalization scale, much as in theories of Wilson lines. In contrast to the case of a round Fermi surface, there are multiple marginal interactions with nontrivial RG flow. The Cooper instability remains strongest in the BCS channel. We also show that the marginal Fermi-liquid scenario for the quasiparticle width is a robust consequence of the Van Hove singularity. Our results are universal in the sense that they do not depend on the detailed properties of the Fermi surface away from the singularity.
The stability or lack thereof of nonrelativistic fermionic systems to interactions is studied within the renormalization-group (RG) framework, in close analogy with the study of critical phenomena using ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ scalar field theory. A brief introduction to ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory in four dimensions and the path-integral formulation for fermions is given before turning to the problem at hand. As for the latter, the following procedure is used. First, the modes on either side of the Fermi surface within a cutoff $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ are chosen for study, in analogy with the modes near the origin in ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory, and a path integral is written to describe them. Next, an RG transformation that eliminates a part of these modes, but preserves the action of the noninteracting system, is identified. Finally the possible perturbations of this free-field fixed point are classified as relevant, irrelevant or marginal. A
d=1 warmup calculation involving a system of fermions shows how, in contrast to mean-field theory, which predicts a charge-density wave for arbitrarily weak repulsion, and superconductivity for arbitrarily weak attraction, the renormalization-group approach correctly yields a scale-invariant system (Luttinger liquid) by taking into account both instabilities. Application of the renormalization group in
d=2and3, for rotationally invariant Fermi surfaces, automatically leads to Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, which appears as a fixed point characterized by an effective mass and a Landau function
F, with the only relevant perturbations being of the superconducting (BCS) type. The functional flow equations for the BCS couplings are derived and separated into an infinite number of flows, one for each angular momentum. It is shown that similar results hold for rotationally noninvariant (but time-reversal-invariant) Fermi surfaces also, with obvious loss of rotational invariance in the parametrization of the fixed-point interactions. A study of a nested Fermi surface shows an additional relevant flow leading to charge-density-wave formation. It is pointed out that, for small $\frac{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}{{K}_{F}}$, a
N1 expansion emerges, with $N=\frac{{K}_{F}}{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$, which explains why one is able to solve the narrow-cutoff theory. The search for non-Fermi liquids in
d=2 using the RG is discussed. Bringing a variety of phenomena (Landau theory, charge-density waves, BCS instability, nesting, etc.) under the one unifying principle of the RG not only allows us to better understand and unify them, but also paves the way for generalizations and extensions. The article is pedagogical in nature and is expected to be accessible to any serious graduate student. On the other hand, its survey of the vast literature is mostly limited to the RG approach.
We prove regularity properties of the self-energy, to all orders in perturbation theory, for systems with singular Fermi surfaces which contain Van Hove points where the gradient of the dispersion relation vanishes. In this paper, we show for spatial dimensions d ≥ 3 that despite the Van Hove singularity, the overlapping loop bounds we proved together with E. Trubowitz for regular non-nested Fermi surfaces [J. Stat. Phys.84 (1996) 1209–1336] still hold, provided that the Fermi surface satisfies a no-nesting condition. This implies that for a fixed interacting Fermi surface, the self-energy is a continuously differentiable function of frequency and momentum, so that the quasiparticle weight and the Fermi velocity remain close to their values in the noninteracting system to all orders in perturbation theory. In a companion paper, we treat the more singular two-dimensional case.
A two-dimensional electronic system, where the Fermi surface is close to a Van Hove singularity, shows a variety of weak coupling instabilities. It is a convenient model to study the interplay between antiferromagnetism and anisotropic superconductivity. We present a detailed analysis of the kinematics of electron scattering in this model. The similarities and differences between a standard renormalization group approach and previous work based on parquet summations of log (2) divergences are analyzed, with emphasis on the underlying physical processes. General properties of the phase diagram are discussed.
We determine the properties and leading instabilities of a spin liquid with a Fermi surface passing near a van Hove singularity. Our study is motivated by recent photoemission experiments on high-
Tc cuprates in which it is found that for the optimally doped material the experimental Fermi surface passes near a van Hove singularity, while for underdoped materials, a pseudogap in the electron spectral function is formed in the vicinity of the van Hove point. We show theoretically that proximity to the van Hove singularity suppresses the inelastic scattering due to the gauge field and permits the formation of a d-wave RVB state in which the gap exists only near the van Hove points while finite regions of the Fermi surface remain gapless. This d-wave pairing provides a natural explanation of the pseudogap observed in photoemission. We also discuss the relation of the pseudogap observed in the spectral function to the pseudogaps observed in the magnetic susceptibility. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Modern condensed matter physics owes much of its success to Fermi liquid theory. In recent times, however, the study of strongly correlated particle systems is opening up all-new territory in many-body physics. A peculiar class of such systems, that of nodal fermions, is characterized by the quasiparticle density of states vanishing at the point-like Fermi surface and long-range inter-particle interactions surviving unscreened. In the first part, I discuss fermion pairing in one such system, 2D graphene. By solving the gap equation for the excitonic order parameter, I obtain values of critical interaction strength for a variety of power-law interactions and densities of states. Furthermore, these results are then used to compute the respective free energies and analyze possible phase transitions. In the second part, I discuss the effects of lattice disorder and impurities on the density of states in nodal fermion systems. These results and predictions will be of interest to a broad range of physical problems involving nodal fermions, and can be tested in a variety of experimental directions.