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arXiv:cond-mat/0211519 · Physical Review B

Order-parameter symmetry and mode-coupling effects at dirty superconducting quantum phase transitions

Rastko Sknepnek, Thomas Vojta, Rajesh Narayanan

Published Sep 23, 2004• 5 citations
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Abstract

We derive an order-parameter field theory for a quantum phase transition between a disordered metal and an exotic (non-$s$-wave) superconductor. Mode coupling effects between the order parameter and other fermionic soft modes lead to an effective long-range interaction between the anomalous density fluctuations which is reflected in singularities in the free energy functional. However, this long-range interaction is not strong enough to suppress disorder fluctuations. The asymptotic critical region is characterized by run-away flow to large disorder. For weak coupling, this asymptotic region is very narrow. It is preempted by a wide crossover regime with mean-field critical behavior and, in the $p$-wave case, logarithmic corrections to scaling in all dimensions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.70.104514

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We derive an order-parameter field theory for a quantum phase transition between a disordered metal and an exotic (non-sss-wave) superconductor. Mode coupling effects between the order parameter and other fermionic soft modes lead to an effective long-range interaction between the anomalous density fluctuations which is reflected in singularities in the free energy functional. However, this long-range interaction is not strong enough to suppress disorder fluctuations. The asymptotic critical region is characterized by run-away flow to large disorder. For weak coupling, this asymptotic region is very narrow. It is preempted by a wide crossover regime with mean-field critical behavior and, in the ppp-wave case, logarithmic corrections to scaling in all dimensions.
Zero-temperature or quantum phase transitions in itinerant electronic systems both with and without quenched disordered are discussed. Phase transitions considered include, the ferromagnetic transition, the antiferromagnetic transition, the superconductor-metal transition, and various metal-insulator transitions. Emphasis is placed on how to determine the universal properties that characterize these quantum phase transitions. For the first three of the phase transitions listed above, one of the main physical ideas established is that in zero-temperature systems there are soft or slow modes that exist in addition to the soft order parameter fluctuations, and that these modes can couple to the critical modes. These extra soft modes are shown to have a profound effect on the quantum critical properties. For quantum phase transitions involving zero wavenumber order parameters, i.e., the ferromagnetic and superconductor-metal transitions, these extra modes effectively lead to long-ranged effective interactions between order parameter fluctuations, which in turn lead to exactly soluble critical behaviors. For the antiferromagnetic case, we argue that while in low enough dimensions disorder fluctuation effects tend to destroy long-range order, quantum fluctuations counteract this effect and in some parameter regions manage to re-establish antiferromagnetic long-range order. For the metal-insulator transition, some recent new ideas are reviewed. In particular, it is pointed out that for interacting disordered electrons, one expects that in high dimensions the metal-insulator transition is related to the phase transition that occurs in random-field magnets in high dimensions. If the analogy also holds in three dimensions this suggests that the metal-insulator transition might have glassy characteristics.
In this thesis a systematic, functional matrix field theory is developed to describe both clean and disordered s-wave and d-wave superconductors and the quantum phase transitions associated with them. The thesis can be divided into three parts. The first part includes chapters 1 to 3. In chapter one a general physical introduction is given. In chapters two and three the theory is developed and used to compute the equation of state as well as the number-density susceptibility, spin-density susceptibility, the sound attenuation coefficient, and the electrical conductivity in both clean and disordered s-wave superconductors. The second part includes chapter four. In this chapter we use the theory to describe the disorder-induced metal - superconductor quantum phase transition. The key physical idea here is that in addition to the superconducting order-parameter fluctuations, there are also additional soft fermionic fluctuations that are important at the transition. We develop a local field theory for the coupled fields describing superconducting and soft fermionic fluctuations. Using simple renormalization group and scaling ideas, we exactly determine the critical behavior at this quantum phase transition. Our theory justifies previous approaches. The third part includes chapter five. In this chapter we study the analogous quantum phase transition in disordered d-wave superconductors. This theory should be related to high TcT_cTc​ superconductors. Surprisingly, we show that in both the underdoped and overdoped regions, the coupling of superconducting fluctuations to the soft disordered fermionic fluctuations is much weaker than that in the s-wave case. The net result is that the disordered quantum phase transition in this case is a strong coupling, or described by an infinite disordered fixed point, transition and cannot be described by the perturbative RG description that works so well in the s-wave case. The transition appears to be related to the one that occurs in disordered quantum antiferromagnets.
Quantum critical behaviors induced by a putative quantum phase transition are vigilantly investigated, which separates a d-wave superconducting state and d-wave superconducting+X state below the superconducting dome of the d−wave superconductors with tuning the non-thermal doping variable. Within the framework of renormalization group approach, we start with a phenomenological effective theory originated from the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theory and practice one-loop calculations to construct a set of coupled flows of all interaction parameters. After extracting related physical information from these coupled evolutions, we address that both fermion velocities and critical temperatures exhibit critical behaviors, which are robust enough against the initial conditions due to strong quantum fluctuations. At first, the evolution of Yukawa coupling between X-state order parameter and nodal fermions in tandem with quantum fluctuations heavily renormalize fermion velocities and generally drive them into certain finite anisotropic fixed point at the lowest-energy limit, whose concrete value relies upon the very quantum phase transition. In addition, these unique properties of fermion velocities largely reshape the fate of superfluid density, giving rise to either an enhancement or a dip of critical temperature. Moreover, we find that fermion-fermion interactions bring non-ignorable quantitative corrections to quantum critical behaviors despite they are subordinate to quantum fluctuations of order parameters.
This review discusses a paradigm that has become of increasing importance in the theory of quantum phase transitions, namely, the coupling of the order-parameter fluctuations to other soft modes and the resulting impossibility of constructing a simple Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theory in terms of the order parameter only. The soft modes in question are manifestations of generic scale invariance, i.e., the appearance of long-range order in whole regions in the phase diagram. The concept of generic scale invariance and its influence on critical behavior is explained using various examples, both classical and quantum mechanical. The peculiarities of quantum phase transitions are discussed, with emphasis on the fact that they are more susceptible to the effects of generic scale invariance than their classical counterparts. Explicit examples include the quantum ferromagnetic transition in metals, with or without quenched disorder; the metal-superconductor transition at zero temperature; and the quantum antiferromagnetic transition. Analogies with classical phase transitions in liquid crystals and classical fluids are pointed out, and a unifying conceptual framework is developed for all transitions that are influenced by generic scale invariance.
We study the superconducting instability of a two-dimensional disordered Fermi liquid weakly coupled to the soft fluctuations associated with proximity to an Ising-ferromagnetic quantum critical point. We derive interaction-induced corrections to the Usadel equation governing the superconducting gap function, and show that diffusion and localization effects drastically modify the interplay between fermionic incoherence and strong pairing interactions. In particular, we obtain the phase diagram, and demonstrate that (i) there is an intermediate range of disorder strength where superconductivity is enhanced, eventually followed by a tendency towards the superconductor-insulator transition at stronger disorder; and (ii) diffusive particle-particle modes (so-called ``Cooperons'') acquire anomalous dynamical scaling z=4z=4z=4, indicating strong non-Fermi liquid behavior.
We analyze the quantum phase transition between a semimetal and a superfluid in a model of attractively interacting fermions with a linear dispersion. The quantum critical properties of this model cannot be treated by the Hertz-Millis approach since integrating out the fermions leads to a singular Landau-Ginzburg order parameter functional. We therefore derive and solve coupled renormalization-group equations for the fermionic degrees of freedom and the bosonic order parameter fluctuations. In two spatial dimensions, fermions and bosons acquire anomalous scaling dimensions at the quantum critical point, associated with non-Fermi-liquid behavior and non-Gaussian order parameter fluctuations.