SUPERFLUID TO BOSE METAL TRANSITION IN SYSTEMS WITH RESONANT PAIRING

J. Ranninger

Experiments in thin films whose thickness can be modified and by this way induce a superconductor to insulator transition, seem to suggest that in the quantum critical regime of this phase transition there might be a Bose metal, i.e., uncondensed bosonic carriers with a finite dissipation. This poses a fundamental problem as to our understanding of how such a state could be justified. On the basis of a simple Boson-Fermion model, where bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom are strongly inter-related via a Boson-Fermion pair exchange coupling g, we illustrate how such a bosonic metal phase could possibly come about. We show that, as we approach the quantum critical point at some critical gc from the superfluid side, the superfluid phase locking is sustained only for longer and longer spatial scales. On a finite spatial scale, the boson have a quasi-free itinerant behavior with metallic features. At the quantum critical point the systems exhibits a phase separation which shows a ressemblance to that of a He 3– He 4 mixture. This could be the clue to the apparent dilemma of a Bose metal at zero temperature.

Leo Radzihovsky, Peter B. Weichman, Jae I. Park

J. Ranninger

W. A. B. EVANS, Y. Imry

J. Ranninger

We consider systems where the amplitude and the phase of a superfluid order parameter are controlled independently by local, respectively non-local phase correlations of the internal degrees of freedom of quasi-particles which characterize the different phases of such fermionic systems. A possible realization of such a situation is when pairing into the bosonic entities occurs via resonant scattering of itinerant fermionic particles. Examples for that are the ultracold fermionic gases in optical traps and lattices, the correlated electronic systems and strongly coupled electron-phonon systems, such as seen in the high Tc cuprates. We demonstrate the occurrence of a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a phase uncorrelated boson liquid state in such systems, which is controlled by the competing effects of long and short range phase correlations of the constituents of composite quasi-particles.

Myung-Hoon Chung