This thesis has two main parts. The first part is based on our publication [1], where we use perturbation theory to calculate decay rates of magnons in the Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ (KHΓ) model. This model describes the magnetic properties of the material α-RuCl 3 , which is a candidate for a Kitaev spin liquid. Our motivation is to validate a previous calculation from Ref. [2]. In this thesis, we map out the classical phase diagram of the KHΓ model. We use the Holstein-Primakoff transformation and the 1/S expansion to describe the low temperature dynamics of the Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ model in the experimentally relevant zigzag phase by spin waves. By parametrizing the spin waves in terms of hermitian fields, we find a special parameter region within the KHΓ model where the analytical expressions simplify. This enables us to construct the Bogoliubov transformation analytically. For a representative point in the special parameter region, we use these results to numerically calculate the magnon damping, which is to leading order caused by the decay of single magnons into two. We also calculate the dynamical structure factor of the magnons. The second part of this thesis is based on our publication [3], where we use the functional renormalization group to analyze a discontinuous quantum phase transition towards a non-Fermi liquid phase in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. In this thesis, we perform a disorder average over the random interactions in the SYK model. We argue that in the thermodynamic limit, the average renormalization group (RG) flow of the SYK model is identical to the RG flow of an effective disorder averaged model. Using the functional RG, we find a fixed point describing the discontinuous phase transition to the non-Fermi liquid phase at zero temperature. Surprisingly, we find a finite anomalous dimension of the fermions, which indicates critical fluctuations and is unusual for a discontinuous transition. We also determine the RG flow at zero temperature, and relate it to the phase diagram known from the literature.
This thesis has two main parts. The first part is based on our publication [1], where we use perturbation theory to calculate decay rates of magnons in the Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ (KHΓ) model. This model describes the magnetic properties of the material α-RuCl 3 , which is a candidate for a Kitaev spin liquid. Our motivation is to validate a previous calculation from Ref. [2]. In this thesis, we map out the classical phase diagram of the KHΓ model. We use the Holstein-Primakoff transformation and the 1/S expansion to describe the low temperature dynamics of the Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ model in the experimentally relevant zigzag phase by spin waves. By parametrizing the spin waves in terms of hermitian fields, we find a special parameter region within the KHΓ model where the analytical expressions simplify. This enables us to construct the Bogoliubov transformation analytically. For a representative point in the special parameter region, we use these results to numerically calculate the magnon damping, which is to leading order caused by the decay of single magnons into two. We also calculate the dynamical structure factor of the magnons. The second part of this thesis is based on our publication [3], where we use the functional renormalization group to analyze a discontinuous quantum phase transition towards a non-Fermi liquid phase in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. In this thesis, we perform a disorder average over the random interactions in the SYK model. We argue that in the thermodynamic limit, the average renormalization group (RG) flow of the SYK model is identical to the RG flow of an effective disorder averaged model. Using the functional RG, we find a fixed point describing the discontinuous phase transition to the non-Fermi liquid phase at zero temperature. Surprisingly, we find a finite anomalous dimension of the fermions, which indicates critical fluctuations and is unusual for a discontinuous transition. We also determine the RG flow at zero temperature, and relate it to the phase diagram known from the literature.
In this dissertation, which is situated in the field of theoretical condensed matter physics, we investigate many-body effects in altermagnets and electron–phonon systems. Specifically, we study a Heisenberg model for two-dimensional altermagnets, a dissipative variant of the Yukawa–Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (YSYK) model, and the Holstein model. In all of these systems, the presence or absence of quasiparticles plays a central role. Consequently, the description of these quasiparticles and their influence on the state of the system constitute the primary focus of this work. Since the Heisenberg model can be bosonized using the Holstein–Primakoff transformation, all systems considered in this dissertation can be analyzed using many-body methods, in particular within the framework of Green's function techniques. Altermagnets constitute a recently identified class of magnetic materials characterized by their distinct symmetry properties. They combine properties of both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, thereby offering promising opportunities for future applications, for example in spintronics. Consequently, they have become the subject of intense current research, and new candidate altermagnetic materials are continuously being proposed. The central question addressed in this part of the dissertation is, using nonlinear spin-wave theory, whether the collective magnetic excitations, namely magnons, are stable at zero temperature or undergo spontaneous decay driven exclusively by quantum-mechanical effects. The dissipative YSYK model belongs to the class of SYK models, which describe strongly coupled chaotic systems with Gaussian-distributed interactions. In the limit of an infinite number of particles, these models can be solved exactly at the level of the self-energy. They do not possess quasiparticles, exhibit a non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) phase associated with strange-metal behavior and high-temperature superconductivity, and display several additional remarkable properties that have also attracted considerable interest in gravitational physics. The primary objective of this part of the dissertation is to explain the self-tuning criticality of the NFL phase in the dissipative YSYK model. Although this phenomenon had previously been found by solving the exact Dyson–Schwinger equations (DSEs) in the infinite-particle limit, its origin has remained unexplained. To this end, we develop a functional renormalization group (FRG) approach for the dissipative YSYK model. Although the influence of lattice vibrations on electronic systems has been investigated for decades using well-established many-body and kinetic-theory methods, the behavior of strongly coupled electron–phonon systems remains incompletely understood. To address this problem, we study the microscopic Holstein model with dispersionless Einstein phonons at zero temperature. By combining the Dyson–Schwinger equations of the Holstein model with the exact FRG flow equations formulated within the chemical-potential cutoff scheme, we derive a Ward identity relating the electronic compressibility to the renormalized phonon frequency. This identity implies that the compressibility diverges when the renormalized phonon frequency vanishes, leading to a Pomeranchuk instability in the density channel with zero angular momentum. Using the nonperturbative FRG, we investigate the presence of this instability and propose a phase diagram of the Holstein model in arbitrary dimensions.
We analyze the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 XXZ model on the kagome lattice at finite external magnetic field with the help of a non-perturbative zero-temperature renormalization group (RG) technique. The exact nature of the ground and excited state properties (e.g. gapped or gapless spectrum etc) of this system are still debated. Approximate methods have typically been adopted towards understanding the low-energy spectrum. Following the work of Kumar et al (2014 Phys. Rev. B 90 174409), we use a Jordan–Wigner transformation to map the spin problem into one of spinless fermions (spinons) in the presence of a statistical gauge field, and with nearest-neighbor interactions. While the work of Kumar et al was confined mostly to the plateau at 1/3-filling (magnetization per site) in the XY regime, we analyze the role of inter-spinon interactions in shaping the phases around this plateau in the entire XXZ model. The RG phase diagram obtained contains three spin liquid phases whose position is determined as a function of the exchange anisotropy and the energy scale for fluctuations arising from spinon scattering. Two of these spins liquids are topologically ordered states of matter with gapped, degenerate states on the torus. The gap for one of these phases corresponds to the one-spinon band gap of the Azbel–Hofstadter spectrum for the XY part of the Hamiltonian, while the other arises from two-spinon interactions. The Heisenberg point of this problem is found to lie within the interaction gapped spin liquid phase, in broad agreement with a recent experimental finding. The third phase is an algebraic spin liquid with a gapless Dirac spectrum for spinon excitations, and possess properties that show departures from the Fermi liquid paradigm. The three phase boundaries correspond to critical theories, and meet at a SU (2)-symmetric multicritical point. This special critical point agrees well with the gap-closing transition point predicted by Kumar et al . We discuss the relevance of our findings to various recent experiments, as well as results obtained from other theoretical analyses.
The frustrated magnet $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$ is one of the prime candidates for realizing a Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL). However, the existence of a field-induced intermediate QSL phase in this material remains under debate. Here, we employ sign-free numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the Kitaev-Heisenberg (KH) model on the honeycomb lattice with $K=\ensuremath{-}2J$ under an applied magnetic field along the z direction. Our findings reveal that the system undergoes a direct quantum phase transition from a zigzag magnetically ordered phase to a spin-polarized phase at zero temperature, which belongs to the 3D XY universality class. At finite temperatures, a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition line separates the spin-polarized phase from a quasi-long-range ordered state, eventually terminating at the quantum critical point. Our results convincingly show that there is no intermediate QSL phase in the KH model with a z-direction magnetic field, which we believe will shed important light on understanding experimental observations in $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$.
We present a review of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model of compressible quantum many-body systems without quasiparticle excitations, and its connections to various theoretical studies of non-Fermi liquids in condensed matter physics. The review is placed in the context of numerous experimental observations on correlated electron materials. Strong correlations in metals are often associated with their proximity to a Mott transition to an insulator created by the local Coulomb repulsion between the electrons. We explore the phase diagrams of a number of models of such local electronic correlation, employing a dynamical mean field theory in the presence of random spin exchange interactions. Numerical analyses and analytical solutions, using renormalization group methods and expansions in large spin degeneracy, lead to critical regions which display SYK physics. The models studied include the single-band Hubbard model, the t-J model and the two-band Kondo-Heisenberg model in the presence of random spin exchange interactions. We also examine non-Fermi liquids obtained by considering each SYK model with random four-fermion interactions to be a multi-orbital atom, with the SYK-atoms arranged in an infinite lattice. We connect to theories of sharp Fermi surfaces without any low-energy quasiparticles in the absence of spatial disorder, obtained by coupling a Fermi liquid to a gapless boson; a systematic large N theory of such a critical Fermi surface, with SYK characteristics, is obtained by averaging over an ensemble of theories with random boson-fermion couplings. Finally, we present an overview of the links between the SYK model and quantum gravity and end with an outlook on open questions.
Schwinger boson perturbation theory for spin-S Kitaev-Heisenberg magnets: phase diagram and dynamical response near Kitaev spin liquids
We develop a Schwinger boson perturbative framework for the spin-S Kitaev-Heisenberg model. The spin-liquid saddle point of the pure Kitaev model is used as the unperturbed state, and magnetic instabilities and dynamical spin correlations are evaluated around this saddle point. We decompose the Hamiltonian exactly into two parts by exploiting the Klein duality intrinsic to the Kitaev-Heisenberg model. We perform the random-phase approximation by taking the part invariant under the duality transformation as the unperturbed term and treating the remaining term, which changes sign under it, as the perturbation. We determine the phase boundaries separating the quantum spin-liquid regimes from the adjacent magnetically ordered phases for S=1/2, 1, 3/2, and 2. The spin-liquid regions shrink rapidly with increasing S and become very narrow at S=2. We also compute the spin dynamics of the spin-S Kitaev-Heisenberg model, focusing on S=1, and find that the dressed dynamical spin structure factor retains a broad two-spinon continuum at finite energies, while the low-energy spectral weight softens at the ordering wave vectors of the adjacent magnetic phases. Our framework thus enables thermodynamic-limit calculations of spin dynamics near magnetic instabilities.
We determine the global renormalization group (RG) flow of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. From a controlled truncation of the infinite hierarchy of the exact functional RG flow equations, we identify several fixed points. Apart from a stable fixed point, associated with the celebrated non-Fermi liquid state of the model, we find another stable fixed point related to an integer-valence state. These stable fixed points are separated by a discontinuity fixed point with one relevant direction, describing a quantum first-order transition. Most notably, the fermionic spectrum continues to be quantum critical even at the discontinuity fixed point. This rules out a description of the transition in terms of a local effective Ising variable as is established for classical transitions. We propose an entangled quantum state at phase coexistence as a possible physical origin of this critical behavior.