Localization lengths of superconducting quasiparticles ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{s}}$ are evaluated and compared with the corresponding normal-state values ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{n}}$ in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional lattices. The effect of superconducting correlation on the localization of quasiparticles is generally stronger in an off-site pairing state than in an on-site pairing state. The modification of superconducting correlation to \ensuremath{\lambda} is strongly correlated with the density of states (DOS) of superconducting quasiparticles. ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{s}}$ drops within the energy gap but is largely enhanced around energies where DOS peaks appear. For a gapless pairing state in 1D or a d-wave pairing state in 2D, ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{s}}$/${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{n}}$ at the Fermi energy ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{F}}$ is of order 1 and determined purely by the value of gap parameter not by the random potential. For the d-wave pairing state, the localization effect is largely weakened compared with the corresponding normal state and quasiparticles with energies close to ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{F}}$ are more strongly localized than other low-energy quasiparticles.
Localization lengths of superconducting quasiparticles \ensuremathλs are evaluated and compared with the corresponding normal-state values \ensuremathλn in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional lattices. The effect of superconducting correlation on the localization of quasiparticles is generally stronger in an off-site pairing state than in an on-site pairing state. The modification of superconducting correlation to \ensuremath{\lambda} is strongly correlated with the density of states (DOS) of superconducting quasiparticles. \ensuremathλs drops within the energy gap but is largely enhanced around energies where DOS peaks appear. For a gapless pairing state in 1D or a d-wave pairing state in 2D, \ensuremathλs/\ensuremathλn at the Fermi energy EF is of order 1 and determined purely by the value of gap parameter not by the random potential. For the d-wave pairing state, the localization effect is largely weakened compared with the corresponding normal state and quasiparticles with energies close to EF are more strongly localized than other low-energy quasiparticles.
We have used exact diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo methods to study the one-dimensional t-J model including the three-site hopping term derived from the strong-coupling limit of the Hubbard model. The three-site term may be important to superconducting correlations since it allows direct hopping of local singlet electron pairs. The phase diagram is determined for several values of the strength of the three-site term and compared with that of the t-J and Hubbard models. Phase separation, which exists in the t-J model, is suppressed. In the low electron density region the formation of local singlet electron pairs is enhanced, leading to stronger superconducting correlations even for values J/t2. A large spin gap region extends from low electron densities up to high densities. In the low hole density region the superconducting correlations are suppressed at J/t>2.8 in spite of enhanced pair formation. This is because the three-site term, while enhancing the formation of electron pairs, leads to a repulsion between holes.
We provide a quasi-one-dimensional model which can support a pair-density-wave (PDW) state, in which the superconducting (SC) order parameter modulates periodically in space, with gapless Bogoliubov quasiparticle excitations. The model consists of an array of strongly interacting one-dimensional systems, where the one-dimensional systems are coupled to each other by local interactions and tunneling of the electrons and Cooper pairs between them. Within the interchain mean-field theory, we find several SC states from the model, including a conventional uniform SC state, PDW SC state, and a coexisting phase of the uniform SC and PDW states. In this quasi-1D regime we can treat the strong correlation physics essentially exactly using bosonization methods and the crossover to the 2D system by means of interchain mean-field theory. The resulting critical temperatures of the SC phases generically exhibit a power-law scaling with the coupling constants of the array, instead of the essential singularity found in weak-coupling BCS-type theories. Electronic excitations with an open Fermi surface, which emerge from the electronic Luttinger liquid systems below their crossover temperature to the Fermi liquid, are then coupled to the SC order parameters via the proximity effect. From the Fermi surface thus coupled to the SC order parameters, we calculate the quasiparticle spectrum in detail. We show that the quasiparticle spectrum can be fully gapped or nodal in the uniform SC phase and also in the coexisting phase of the uniform SC and PDW parameters. In the pure PDW state, the excitation spectrum has a reconstructed Fermi surface in the form of Fermi pockets of Bogoliubov quasiparticles.
The principal purpose of this topical review is to single out some of the universal features of high-temperature (high-Tc) and related strongly-correlated systems, which can be compared with experiment in a quantitative manner. The description starts with the concept of exchange-interaction-mediated (real-space) pairing, combined with strong correlations among narrow band electrons, for which the reference state is that of the Mott–Hubbard insulator. The physical discussion of concrete properties relies on variational approach, starting from generalized renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) in the form of statistically-consistent Gutzwiller approximation (SGA), and its subsequent generalization, i.e., a systematic Diagrammatic Expansion of the Variational (Gutzwiller-type) Wave Function (DE-GWF). The solution leads to the two energy scales, one involving unconventional quasiparticles close to the Fermi energy, and the other reflecting the fully correlated state, involving electrons deeper below the Fermi surface. Those two regimes are separated by a kink in the dispersion relation, which is observed in photoemission. As a result, one obtains both the doping dependent properties in the correlated state, and effective renormalized quasiparticles. The reviewed ground-state characteristics for high-Tc systems encompass high-Tc superconductivity, nematicity, charge- (and pair-) density-wave effects, as well as non-BCS kinetic energy gain in the paired state. The calculated dynamic properties are: the universal Fermi velocity, the Fermi wave-vector, the effective mass enhancement, the pseudogap; and the d-wave gap magnitude. We discuss that, within the variational approach, the minimal realistic model is represented by the so-called t-J-U Hamiltonian. Inadequacy of the t-J and Hubbard models, particularly of their RMFT versions, is discussed explicitly. For heavy fermion systems, modeled by the Anderson lattice model and with the DE-GWF approach, we discuss the phase diagram, encompassing superconducting, Kondo insulating, ferro- and anti-ferromagnetic states. The superconducting state is then a two-d-wave gap system. If the orbital degeneracy of f-electrons is included, the coexistent ferromagnetic- (spin–triplet) superconducting phases appear and match those observed for UGe2 in a semiquantitative manner. Finally, in the second part, we generalize our approach to the collective spin and charge fluctuations in high-Tc systems, starting from variational approach, defining the saddle-point state, and combining it with 1/N expansion. The present scheme differs essentially from that starting from the saddle-point Hartree–Fock approximation, and incorporating the fluctuations in the random phase approximation (RPA). The spectrum of collective spin and charge excitations is determined for the Hubbard and t-J-U models, and subsequently compared quantitatively with recent experiments. The Appendices provide formal details to make this review self-contained.
Our previous mean-field study concerning superconducting pairings in the extended Hubbard model with on-site repulsive and intersite attractive interaction and arbitrary electron density is extended to include the effects of nearest-neighbor exchange (J) and correlated hopping (K) interaction. Detailed numerical analysis of s-, p-, and d-wave pairing solutions is performed for the two-dimensional square lattice with nearest- (t) and next-nearest- (t2) neighbor hopping, and the resulting mutual stability phase diagrams are given as a function of band filling and the interaction parameters. Antiferromagnetic exchange can enhance both the d-wave and the extended s-wave pairing. If it prevails over the repulsive intersite density-density interaction, such a term can be a leading mechanism for superconductivity. However, its effects strongly depend on the band filling and the tt2 ratio, giving in particular for t2=0s-wave (d-wave) pairing as most favorable in the low (high) density limit, but increasing t2 can even reverse this tendency. The correlated hopping term which breaks the electron-hole symmetry affects s-wave pairing mostly. A condensation transition (phase separation), possible in the presence of the attractive density-density interaction, is also analyzed within the random-phase approximation, and stability conditions of such an electron droplet phase with respect to other types of ordering are determined as a function of the band filling for the two-dimensional square lattice.
The low-temperature properties of the two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model are strongly influenced by the fermion density. Away from half-filling, there is a finite-temperature transition to a phase with s-wave pairing order. However, Tc is suppressed to zero at half-filling, where long-range charge-density-wave order also appears, degenerate with superconductivity. This paper presents determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the attractive Hubbard model in the presence of a confining potential Vtrap which makes the fermion density $\ensuremath{\rho}$ inhomogeneous across the lattice. Pair correlations are shown to be large at low temperatures in regions of the trapped system with incommensurate filling, and to exhibit a minimum as the local density $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbit{i})$ passes through one fermion per site. In this ring of $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbit{i})=1$, charge order is enhanced. A comparison is made between treating Vtrap within the local-density approximation (LDA) and in an ab initio manner. It is argued that certain sharp features of the LDA result at integer filling do not survive the proximity of doped sites. The critical temperature of confined systems of fixed characteristic density is estimated.
I study the effect of Coulomb interaction on superconducting order in a d-wave lattice superconductor at T=0 by considering the superconducting saddle point in the two-dimensional $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J\text{\ensuremath{-}}U$ model with a repulsion U. The theory of low-energy superconducting phase fluctuations around this saddle point is derived in terms of the effective hard-core bosons (representing the density of spin-up electrons and the phase of the order parameter), interacting with the fluctuating density of spin-down electrons. Whereas the saddle-point value of the superconducting gap is found to continuously increase towards half filling, the phase stiffness at T=0 has a maximum, and then decreases with further underdoping. Right at half filling the phase stiffness vanishes for large U. This argues that the pseudogap phenomenon of the type observed in cuprates is in principle possible without a development of any competing order, purely as a result of growing correlations in the superconducting state. Implications for the finite temperature superconducting transition and the effects of static disorder are discussed qualitatively.