We utilize both analytical and numerical methods to study the superconducting transition temperature T c near a fermionic quantum critical point (QCP) using a model constructed by Xu et al. [Phys. Rev. X 7, 031059 (2017)] as an example. In this model, the bosonic critical fluctuation plays the role of pairing glue for the Cooper pairs, and we use a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer-type mean-field theory to estimate T c. We further argue that the T c computed from the BCS theory approximates a pseudogap temperature T PG, instead of the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition temperature T KT, which is confirmed by our determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, due to the fact that electron density of state starts to deplete at T PG, the critical scaling of the underlying QCP is also affected below T PG. Thus, when studying the critical behavior of fermionic QCPs, we need to monitor that the temperature is above T PG instead of T KT. This was often ignored in previous studies.
We present a simple phenomenological scaling theory for the pairing instability of a quantum critical metal. It can be viewed as a minimal generalization of the classical Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity (SC) for normal Fermi-liquid metals. We assume that attractive interactions are induced in the fermion system by an external ``bosonic glue'' that is strongly retarded. Resting on the small Migdal parameter, all the required information from the fermion system needed to address the superconductivity enters through the pairing susceptibility. Asserting that the normal state is a strongly interacting quantum critical state of fermions, the form of this susceptibility is governed by conformal invariance and one only has the scaling dimension of the pair operator as free parameter. Within this scaling framework, conventional BCS theory appears as the ``marginal'' case but it is now easily generalized to the (ir)relevant scaling regimes. In the relevant regime an algebraic singularity takes over from the BCS logarithm with the obvious effect that the pairing instability becomes stronger. However, it is more surprising that this effect is strongest for small couplings and small Migdal parameters, highlighting an unanticipated important role of retardation. Using exact forms for the finite-temperature pair susceptibility from
1+1D conformal field theory as models, we study the transition temperatures, finding that the gap to transition temperature ratios is generically large compared to the BCS case, showing, however, an opposite trend as a function of the coupling strength compared to the conventional Migdal-Eliashberg theory. We show that our scaling theory naturally produces the superconducting ``domes'' surrounding the quantum critical points (QCPs), even when the coupling to the glue itself is not changing at all. We argue that hidden relations will exist between the location of the crossover lines to the Fermi liquids away from the quantum critical points and the detailed form of the dome when the glue strength is independent of the zero-temperature control parameter. Finally, we discuss the behavior of the orbital-limited upper critical magnetic field as a function of the zero-temperature coupling constant. Compared to the variation in the transition temperature, the critical field might show a much stronger variation pending the value of the dynamical critical exponent.
This paper addresses the transition from the normal to the superfluid state in strongly correlated two dimensional fermionic superconductors and Fermi gases. We arrive at the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) temperature
TBKT as a function of \emph{attractive} pairing strength by associating it with the onset of quasi-condensation in the normal phase. Our approach builds on a criterion for determining the BKT transition temperature for atomic gases which is based on a well established Quantum Monte Carlo analysis of the phase space density. This latter quantity, when derived from BCS-BEC crossover theory for fermions, leads to non-monotonic behavior for
TBKT as a function of the attractive interaction or inverse scattering length. In Fermi gases, this implies a robust superconducting dome followed by a long tail from the flat BEC asymptote, rather similar to what is observed experimentally. For lattice systems we find that
TBKT has an absolute maximum of the order of
0.1EF. We discuss how our results compare with those derived from the Nelson Kosterlitz criterion based on the mean field superfluid density and the approach to the transition from below. While there is agreement in the strict mean-field BCS regime at weak coupling, we find that at moderate pairing strength bosonic excitations cause a substantial increase in
TBKT followed by an often dramatic decrease before the system enters the BEC regime.
We study the interplay between superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid behavior of a Fermi surface coupled to a massless
SU(N) matrix boson near the quantum critical point. The presence of thermal infrared singularities in both the fermionic self-energy and the gap equation invalidates the Eliashberg approximation, and makes the quantum-critical pairing problem qualitatively different from that at zero temperature. Taking the large
N limit, we solve the gap equation beyond the Eliashberg approximation, and obtain the superconducting temperature
Tc as a function of
N. Our results show an anomalous scaling between the zero-temperature gap and
Tc. For
N greater than a critical value, we find that
Tc vanishes with a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless scaling behavior, and the system retains non-Fermi liquid behavior down to zero temperature. This confirms and extends previous renormalization-group analyses done at
T=0, and provides a controlled example of a naked quantum critical point. We discuss the crucial role of thermal fluctuations in relating our results with earlier work where superconductivity always develops due to the special role of the first Matsubara frequency.
The origin of the pseudogap behavior, found in many high-
Tc superconductors, remains one of the greatest puzzles in condensed matter physics. One possible mechanism is fermionic incoherence, which near a quantum critical point allows pair formation but suppresses superconductivity. Employing quantum Monte Carlo simulations of a model of itinerant fermions coupled to ferromagnetic spin fluctuations, represented by a quantum rotor, we report numerical evidence of pseudogap behavior, emerging from pairing fluctuations in a quantum-critical non-Fermi liquid. Specifically, we observe enhanced pairing fluctuations and a partial gap opening in the fermionic spectrum. However, the system remains non-superconducting until reaching a much lower temperature. In the pseudogap regime the system displays a gap-filling rather than gap-closing behavior, consistent with experimental observations. Our results provide the first unambiguous lattice model realization of a pseudogap state in a strongly correlated system, driven by superconducting fluctuations.
We discuss standard and tighter upper bounds on the critical temperature
Tc of two-dimensional (2D) superconductors and superfluids versus particle density
n or filling factor
ν for continuum and lattice systems from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose regime. We discuss only one-band Hamiltonians, where the transition from the normal to superconducting (superfluid) phase is governed by Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) mechanism of vortex-antivortex binding, such that a direct relation between the superfluid density tensor and
Tc exists. We demonstrate that it is imperative to consider at least the full effect of phase fluctuations of order parameter for superconductivity (superfluidity) to establish tighter bounds. Using the renormalization group, we obtain phase-fluctuation critical temperature
Tcθ, a much tighter upper bound to critical temperature supremum
Tcsup than standard critical temperature upper bound
Tcup1 from Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham sum rule. We go beyond textbook phase-fluctuation theories and show that chemical potential renormalization, order parameter equation, and Nelson-Kosterlitz relation need to be solved self-consistently and simultaneously with renormalization group flow equation to produce
Tcθ over the entire BCS-Bose crossover. We note that an analytic theory including modulus fluctuations of the order parameter valid throughout the BCS-Bose evolution is still lacking, but the inclusion of modulus fluctuations can only produce a critical temperature lower than
Tcθ and thus produce an even tighter bound to
Tcsup. We conclude by indicating that if the measured critical temperature exceeds
Tcθ in experiments involving 2D single-band systems, then a non-BKT mechanism must be invoked to describe the superconducting (superfluid) transition.
We determine the size of the critical region of the superfluid transition in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer--Bose-Einstein condensation (BCS-BEC) crossover of a three-dimensional fermion gas, using a renormalization-group approach to a bosonic theory of pairing fluctuations. For the unitary Fermi gas, we find a sizable critical region $[{T}_{G}^{\ensuremath{-}},{T}_{G}^{+}]$, of order
Tc, around the transition temperature
Tc with a pronounced asymmetry: $|{T}_{G}^{+}\ensuremath{-}{T}_{c}|/|{T}_{G}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{-}{T}_{c}|\ensuremath{\sim}8$. The critical region is strongly suppressed on the BCS side of the crossover but remains important on the BEC side.