We apply the flow equation method to the study of the fermion systems with pairing interactions which lead to the BCS instability signalled by the appearance of the off-diagonal order parameter.For this purpose we rederive the continuous Bogoliubov transformation in a fashion of renormalization group procedure where the low and high energy sectors are treated subsequently.We further generalize this procedure to the case of fermions interacting with the discrete boson mode.Andreev-type interactions are responsible for developing a gap in the excitation spectrum.However, the long-range coherence is destroyed due to strong quantum fluctuations.
We apply the flow equation method for studying the fermion systems where pairing interactions can either trigger the BCS instability with the symmetry breaking manifested by the off-diagonal order parameter or lead to the gaped single particle spectrum without any symmetry breaking. We construct the continuous Bogoliubov transformation in a scheme resembling the renormalization group procedure. We further extend this continuous transformation to a case where fermion pairs interact with the boson field. Due to temporal quantum fluctuations the single particle excitation spectrum develops a gap which is centered around the renormalized boson energy. When bosons undergo the Bose Einstein condensation this structure evolves into the BCS spectrum.
The stability or lack thereof of nonrelativistic fermionic systems to interactions is studied within the renormalization-group (RG) framework, in close analogy with the study of critical phenomena using ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ scalar field theory. A brief introduction to ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory in four dimensions and the path-integral formulation for fermions is given before turning to the problem at hand. As for the latter, the following procedure is used. First, the modes on either side of the Fermi surface within a cutoff $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ are chosen for study, in analogy with the modes near the origin in ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory, and a path integral is written to describe them. Next, an RG transformation that eliminates a part of these modes, but preserves the action of the noninteracting system, is identified. Finally the possible perturbations of this free-field fixed point are classified as relevant, irrelevant or marginal. A
d=1 warmup calculation involving a system of fermions shows how, in contrast to mean-field theory, which predicts a charge-density wave for arbitrarily weak repulsion, and superconductivity for arbitrarily weak attraction, the renormalization-group approach correctly yields a scale-invariant system (Luttinger liquid) by taking into account both instabilities. Application of the renormalization group in
d=2and3, for rotationally invariant Fermi surfaces, automatically leads to Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, which appears as a fixed point characterized by an effective mass and a Landau function
F, with the only relevant perturbations being of the superconducting (BCS) type. The functional flow equations for the BCS couplings are derived and separated into an infinite number of flows, one for each angular momentum. It is shown that similar results hold for rotationally noninvariant (but time-reversal-invariant) Fermi surfaces also, with obvious loss of rotational invariance in the parametrization of the fixed-point interactions. A study of a nested Fermi surface shows an additional relevant flow leading to charge-density-wave formation. It is pointed out that, for small $\frac{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}{{K}_{F}}$, a
N1 expansion emerges, with $N=\frac{{K}_{F}}{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$, which explains why one is able to solve the narrow-cutoff theory. The search for non-Fermi liquids in
d=2 using the RG is discussed. Bringing a variety of phenomena (Landau theory, charge-density waves, BCS instability, nesting, etc.) under the one unifying principle of the RG not only allows us to better understand and unify them, but also paves the way for generalizations and extensions. The article is pedagogical in nature and is expected to be accessible to any serious graduate student. On the other hand, its survey of the vast literature is mostly limited to the RG approach.
The physics of interacting Fermi systems is extremely sensitive to the energy scale. Of particular interest is the low energy regime where correlation induced collective behavior emerges. The theory of interacting Fermi systems is confronted with the occurrence of very different phenomena along a continuum of scales calling for methods capable of computing physical observables as a function of energy scale. In this thesis, we perform a comprehensive renormalization group analysis of two and three-dimensional Fermi systems at low and zero temperature. We examine systems with spontaneous symmetry-breaking and quantum critical behavior by deriving and solving flow equations within the functional renormalization group framework. We extend the Hertz-Millis theory of quantumphase transitions in itinerant fermion systems to phases with discrete and continuous symmetry-breaking, and to quantum critical points where the zero temperature theory is associated with a non-Gaussian fixed point. The order parameter is implemented by a bosonic Hubbard-Stratonovich field, which - for continuous symmetry-breaking - splits into two components corresponding to longitudinal and transversal Goldstone fluctuations. We compute the finite temperature phase boundary near the quantum critical point explicitly including non-Gaussian fluctuations. We then set up a coupled fermion-boson renormalization group theory that captures the mutual interplay of gapless fermions with massless order parameter fluctuations when approaching a quantum critical point. As a first application, we compute the complete set of quantum critical exponents at the semimetal-to-superfluid quantum phase transition of attractively interacting Dirac fermions in two dimensions. Both, the order parameter propagator and the fermion propagator become nonanalytic functions of momenta destroying the Fermi liquid behavior. We finally compute the effects of quantum fluctuations in the superfluid ground state of an attractively interacting Fermi system, employing the attractive Hubbard model as a prototype. The flow equations capture the influence of longitudinal and Goldstone order parameter fluctuations on non-universal quantities such as the fermionic gap and the fermion-boson vertex, as well as the exact universal infrared asymptotics present in every fermionic superfluid.
In this work fluctuation effects in two interacting fermion systems exhibiting fermionic s-wave superfluidity are analyzed with a modern renormalization group method. A description in terms of a fermion-boson theory allows an investigation of order parameter fluctuations already on the one-loop level. In the first project a quantum phase transition between a semimetal and a s-wave superfluid in a Dirac cone model is studied. The interplay between fermions and quantum critical fluctuations close to and at the quantum critical point at zero and finite temperatures are studied within a coupled fermion-boson theory. At the quantum critical point non-Fermi liquid and non-Gaussian behaviour emerge. Close to criticality several quantities as the susceptibility show a power law behaviour with critical exponents. We find an infinite correlation length in the entire semimetallic ground state also away from the quantum critical point. In the second project, the ground state of an s-wave fermionic superfluid is investigated. Here, the mutual interplay between fermions and order parameter fluctuations is studied, especially the impact of massless Goldstone fluctuations, which occur due to spontaneous breaking of the continuous U(1)-symmetry. Fermionic gap and bosonic order parameter are distinguished. Furthermore, the bosonic order parameter is decomposed in transverse and longitudinal fluctuations. The mixing between transverse and longitudinal fluctuations is included in our description. Within a simple truncation of the fermion-boson RG flow, we describe the fermion-boson theory for the first time in a consistent manner. Several singularities appear due the Goldstone fluctuations, which partially cancel due to symmetry. Our RG flow captures the correct infrared asymptotics of the system, where the collective excitations act as an interacting Bose gas. Lowest order Ward identities and the massless Goldstone mode are fulfilled in our truncation.
On the basis of a scenario where electron pairing is induced by resonant two-particle scattering (the boson-fermion model), we show how precursors of the superconducting state-in the form of overdamped Bogoliubov modes-emerge in the normal state upon approaching the transition temperature from above. This result is obtained by a renormalization technique based on continuous unitary transformations (the flow equations), projecting out the coherent contributions in the electron spectral function from an incoherent background.