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Renormalization Group Approach to the Normal State of Copper-Oxide Superconductors

J. González, F. Guinea, María A. H. Vozmediano

Published Jan 1, 1996• 17 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We study by means of renormalization group techniques the effect that on the two-dimensional electron liquid may have the van Hove singularities observed experimentally in the copper-oxide superconductors. We find significant deviations from Fermi liquid behavior, that lead to the appearance of an unstable fixed point in the renormalization group flow of the effective coupling constant. Besides the attenuation of electron quasiparticles already known on phenomenological grounds, our approach is able to explain the reduction in the dispersion of the band as well as the pinning of the Fermi level near the singularity, as observed in the photoemission experiments.

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The pinning of the Fermi level to the Van Hove singularity and the formation of flat bands in the two-dimensional $t\ensuremath{-}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model is investigated by the renormalization group technique. The ``Van Hove'' scenario of non-Fermi-liquid behavior for high-${T}_{c}$ compounds can take place in a broad enough range of the hole concentrations. The results are in qualitative agreement with the recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data on $\mathrm{L}{\mathrm{a}}_{2}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$.

arXiv:cond-mat/0110516•Physical Review Letters•Jul 24, 2002•111 citations

Wilsonian effective field theory of two-dimensional Van Hove singularities

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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.

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Fermi-liquid properties of a two-dimensional electron system with the Fermi level near a van Hove singularity

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Tristan McKinney

The use of effective field theories to attack new and seemingly disparate problems has proliferated in the past several decades. In this thesis, we develop effective field theories for systems of fermionic quasiparticles possessing Fermi surfaces, with a particular focus on Fermi surfaces proximal to Van Hove singularities. Such systems are a fruitful source of complex and novel behavior in condensed matter physics. We begin with an overview of the renormalization group procedure at the heart of effective field theory by analyzing a simple example. We emphasize the concept that the RG relates the observables of one theory to those of another theory with precisely the same form but different numerical parameters. We also note the generality and extensibility of these concepts. We then apply this perspective to the study of quasiparticles with a round Fermi surface, employing the technique of binning the quasiparticle fields in momentum space to translate previous treatments into a more modern form. We next develop an effective field theory describing the excitations of modes around a Fermi surface with a Van Hove singularity. We resolve lingering questions about the presence of nonlocal interactions in similar models. We find a rich and complicated theory capable of describing deviations from typical Fermi liquid behavior that nonetheless displays some universal dependence on the interactions involving modes in the vicinity of the Van Hove point. We close with an analysis of the instabilities of this Van Hove effective field theory.

•Jun 12, 2018•0 citations

The non-Fermi-liquid nature of the metallic states of the Hubbard Hamiltonian

Behnam Farid

It has long since been argued that the metallic states of the single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian Ĥ in two spatial dimensions (i.e. for d = 2) should be non-Fermi liquid, a possibility that would lead to the understanding of the observed anomalous behaviour of the doped copper-oxide-based superconducting compounds in their normal metallic states. Here we present a formalism which enables us to express, for arbitrary d, the behaviour of the momentum-distribution function nσ(k) pertaining to uniform metallic ground states of Ĥ close to S F; σ (the Fermi surface of the fermions with spin index σ, σ = ↑, ↓) in terms of a small number of constant parameters which are bound to satisfy certain inequalities implied by the requirement of the stability of the ground state of the system. These inequalities restrict the range of variation in nσ(k) for k infinitesimally inside and outside the Fermi sea pertaining to fermions with spin index σ and consequently the range of variation in the zero-temperature limit of nσ(k) for k on S F; σ On the basis of some available accurate numerical results for nσ(k) pertaining to the Hubbard and the t-J Hamiltonian, we conclude that, at least in the strong-coupling regime, the metallic ground states of Ĥ for d = 2 cannot be Fermi-liquid nor can they in general be purely Luttinger or marginal Fermi liquids. We further rigorously identify the pseudogap phenomenon, or 'truncation' of the Fermi surface, clearly observed in the normal states of underdoped copper-oxide-based superconductors, as corresponding to a line of resonance energies (i.e. these energies strictly do not relate to quasiparticles) located below the Fermi energy, with a concomitant suppression to zero of the jump in nσ(k) over the 'truncated' parts of the Fermi surface. Our analyses make explicit the singular significance of the non-interacting energy dispersion ε k underlying Ĥ in determining the low-energy spectral and transport properties of the metallic ground states of Ĥ.

arXiv:cond-mat/0211244•The Philosophical Magazine A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Applied Physics•Aug 1, 2003•2 citations

Effect of van Hove singularities on a spin liquid

L. B. Ioffe, Andrew J. Millis

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-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ 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.

arXiv:cond-mat/9511054•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Aug 1, 1996•18 citations
We study by means of renormalization group techniques the effect that on the two-dimensional electron liquid may have the van Hove singularities observed experimentally in the copper-oxide superconductors. We find significant deviations from Fermi liquid behavior, that lead to the appearance of an unstable fixed point in the renormalization group flow of the effective coupling constant. Besides the attenuation of electron quasiparticles already known on phenomenological grounds, our approach is able to explain the reduction in the dispersion of the band as well as the pinning of the Fermi level near the singularity, as observed in the photoemission experiments.
The pinning of the Fermi level to the Van Hove singularity and the formation of flat bands in the two-dimensional $t\ensuremath{-}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model is investigated by the renormalization group technique. The ``Van Hove'' scenario of non-Fermi-liquid behavior for high-Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ compounds can take place in a broad enough range of the hole concentrations. The results are in qualitative agreement with the recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data on La2CuO4\mathrm{L}{\mathrm{a}}_{2}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}La2​CuO4​.
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.
We use a diagrammatic approach to study low-energy physics of a two-dimensional electron system where the Fermi level is near van Hove singularities in the energy spectrum. We find that in most regions of the ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{F}\ensuremath{-}T$ phase diagram the system behaves as a normal Fermi liquid rather than a marginal Fermi liquid. Particularly, the imaginary part of the self-energy is much smaller than the excitation energy, which implies well-defined quasiparticle excitations, and single-particle properties are only weakly affected by the presence of the van Hove singularities. The relevance to high-temperature superconductivity is also discussed.
The use of effective field theories to attack new and seemingly disparate problems has proliferated in the past several decades. In this thesis, we develop effective field theories for systems of fermionic quasiparticles possessing Fermi surfaces, with a particular focus on Fermi surfaces proximal to Van Hove singularities. Such systems are a fruitful source of complex and novel behavior in condensed matter physics. We begin with an overview of the renormalization group procedure at the heart of effective field theory by analyzing a simple example. We emphasize the concept that the RG relates the observables of one theory to those of another theory with precisely the same form but different numerical parameters. We also note the generality and extensibility of these concepts. We then apply this perspective to the study of quasiparticles with a round Fermi surface, employing the technique of binning the quasiparticle fields in momentum space to translate previous treatments into a more modern form. We next develop an effective field theory describing the excitations of modes around a Fermi surface with a Van Hove singularity. We resolve lingering questions about the presence of nonlocal interactions in similar models. We find a rich and complicated theory capable of describing deviations from typical Fermi liquid behavior that nonetheless displays some universal dependence on the interactions involving modes in the vicinity of the Van Hove point. We close with an analysis of the instabilities of this Van Hove effective field theory.
It has long since been argued that the metallic states of the single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian Ĥ in two spatial dimensions (i.e. for d = 2) should be non-Fermi liquid, a possibility that would lead to the understanding of the observed anomalous behaviour of the doped copper-oxide-based superconducting compounds in their normal metallic states. Here we present a formalism which enables us to express, for arbitrary d, the behaviour of the momentum-distribution function nσ(k) pertaining to uniform metallic ground states of Ĥ close to S F; σ (the Fermi surface of the fermions with spin index σ, σ = ↑, ↓) in terms of a small number of constant parameters which are bound to satisfy certain inequalities implied by the requirement of the stability of the ground state of the system. These inequalities restrict the range of variation in nσ(k) for k infinitesimally inside and outside the Fermi sea pertaining to fermions with spin index σ and consequently the range of variation in the zero-temperature limit of nσ(k) for k on S F; σ On the basis of some available accurate numerical results for nσ(k) pertaining to the Hubbard and the t-J Hamiltonian, we conclude that, at least in the strong-coupling regime, the metallic ground states of Ĥ for d = 2 cannot be Fermi-liquid nor can they in general be purely Luttinger or marginal Fermi liquids. We further rigorously identify the pseudogap phenomenon, or 'truncation' of the Fermi surface, clearly observed in the normal states of underdoped copper-oxide-based superconductors, as corresponding to a line of resonance energies (i.e. these energies strictly do not relate to quasiparticles) located below the Fermi energy, with a concomitant suppression to zero of the jump in nσ(k) over the 'truncated' parts of the Fermi surface. Our analyses make explicit the singular significance of the non-interacting energy dispersion ε k underlying Ĥ in determining the low-energy spectral and transport properties of the metallic ground states of Ĥ.
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{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}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.