Quasiparticle properties are explored in an effective theory of the $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model which includes two important components: spin-charge separation and unrenormalizable phase shift. We show that the phase shift effect indeed causes the system to be a non-Fermi liquid as conjectured by Anderson on general grounds. But this phase shift also drastically changes a conventional perception of quasiparticles in a spin-charge separation state: an injected hole will remain stable due to the confinement of spinon and holon by the phase shift field despite the background is a spinon-holon sea. True deconfinement only happens in the zero-doping limit where a bare hole will lose its integrity and decay into holon and spinon elementary excitations. The Fermi-surface structure is completely different in these two cases, from a large band-structure-like one to four Fermi points in one-hole case, and we argue that the so-called underdoped regime actually corresponds to a situation in between, where the ``gaplike'' effect is amplified further by a microscopic phase separation at low temperature. Unique properties of the single-electron propagator in both normal and superconducting states are studied by using the equation of motion method. We also comment on some influential ideas proposed in the literature related to the Mott-Hubbard insulator and offer a unified view based on the present consistent theory.
Quasiparticle properties are explored in an effective theory of the t\ensuremath−J model which includes two important components: spin-charge separation and unrenormalizable phase shift. We show that the phase shift effect indeed causes the system to be a non-Fermi liquid as conjectured by Anderson on general grounds. But this phase shift also drastically changes a conventional perception of quasiparticles in a spin-charge separation state: an injected hole will remain stable due to the confinement of spinon and holon by the phase shift field despite the background is a spinon-holon sea. True deconfinement only happens in the zero-doping limit where a bare hole will lose its integrity and decay into holon and spinon elementary excitations. The Fermi-surface structure is completely different in these two cases, from a large band-structure-like one to four Fermi points in one-hole case, and we argue that the so-called underdoped regime actually corresponds to a situation in between, where the ``gaplike'' effect is amplified further by a microscopic phase separation at low temperature. Unique properties of the single-electron propagator in both normal and superconducting states are studied by using the equation of motion method. We also comment on some influential ideas proposed in the literature related to the Mott-Hubbard insulator and offer a unified view based on the present consistent theory.
The complex interplay between charge and spin dynamics lies at the heart of strongly correlated quantum materials, and it is a fundamental topic in basic research with far-reaching technological perspectives. We explore in this paper the dynamics of holes in a single-band, extended t - J model where the background spins form a Z 2 quantum spin liquid. Using a field theory approach based on a parton construction, we show that while the electrons for most momenta fractionalize into uncorrelated charge-carrying holons and spin-carrying spinons as generally expected for a quantum spin liquid, the spinon-holon scattering cross section diverges for certain momenta, signaling strong correlations. By deriving an effective low-energy Hamiltonian describing this dynamics, we demonstrate that these divergences are due to the formation of long-lived spinon-holon bound states. Since the wave function of these bound states is localized over a few lattice sites, they correspond to well-defined fermions with the same charge and spin as the underlying electrons. We then show that quantum gas microscopy with atoms in optical lattices provides an excellent platform for verifying and probing the internal spatial structure of these emerging fermions. The fermions will furthermore show up as clear quasiparticle peaks in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with an intensity determined by their internal structure. For a nonzero hole concentration, the fermions form hole pockets with qualitatively the same location, shape, and intensity variation in the Brillouin zone as the so-called Fermi arcs observed in the pseudogap phase. Such agreement is remarkable since the Fermi arcs arise from the delicate interplay between the symmetry of the quantum spin liquid and the internal structure of the emerging fermions in a minimal single-band model with no extra degrees of freedom added. Our results, therefore, provide a microscopic mechanism for the conjectured fractionalized Fermi liquid and open up new pathways for exploring the pseudogap phase and high-temperature superconductivity as arising from a quantum spin liquid.
A real spin-charge separation scheme is found based on a saddle-point state of the t-J model. In the one-dimensional (1D) case, such a saddle-point reproduces the correct asymptotic correlations at the strong-coupling fixed point of the model. In the two-dimensional (2D) case, the transverse gauge field confining spinon and holon is shown to be gapped at finite doping so that a spin-charge deconfinement is obtained for its first time in 2D. The gap in the gauge fluctuation disappears at half-filling limit, where a long-range antiferromagnetic order is recovered at zero temperature and spinons become confined. The most interesting features of spin dynamics and transport are exhibited at finite doping where exotic residual couplings between spin and charge degrees of freedom lead to systematic anomalies with regard to a Fermi-liquid system. In spin dynamics, a commensurate antiferromagnetic fluctuation with a small, doping-dependent energy scale is found, which is characterized in momentum space by a Gaussian peak at (\ensuremath{\pi}/a,\ensuremath{\pi}/a) with a doping-dependent width (\ensuremath{\propto} \ensuremath{\surd}\ensuremath{\delta} , \ensuremath{\delta} is the doping concentration). This commensurate magnetic fluctuation contributes a non-Korringa behavior for the NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate. There also exists a characteristic temperature scale below thich a pseudogap behavior appears in the spin dynamics. Furthermore, an incommensurate magnetic fluctuation is also obtained at a finite energy regime. In the transport, a strong-range phase intereference leads to an effective holon Lagrangian which can give rise to a series of interesting phenomena including linear-T resistivity and a T2 Hall angle. We discuss the striking similarities of these theoretical features with those found in the high-Tc cuprates and give a consistent picture for the latter. Electronic properties like Fermi surface and superconducting pairing in this framework are also discussed.
The motion of a single hole in a Mott antiferromagnet is investigated based on the $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model. An exact expression of the energy spectrum is obtained, in which the irreparable phase string effect [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 5102 (1996)] is explicitly present. By identifying the phase string effect with spin backflow, we point out that spin-charge separation must exist in such a system: the doped hole has to decay into a neutral spinon and a spinless holon, together with the phase string. We show that while the spinon remains coherent, the holon motion is deterred by the phase string, resulting in its localization in space. We calculate the electron spectral function which explains the line shape of the spectral function as well as the ``quasiparticle'' spectrum observed in angle-resolved photoemission experiments. Other analytic and numerical approaches are discussed based on the present framework.
Using continuity, we derive a renormalized Hamiltonian from the parent $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model to describe the properties of underdoped cuprates. The theory is constrained to agree with the behavior at half filling, which is well described by the Arovas-Auerbach valence bond state in which bosonic spinons are paired into singlets. Spinon states evolve continuously into the doped region preserving their symmetry. We assume that moving holes rapidly destroy magnetic order, which leads to a gap in the spinon spectrum and strongly renormalizes the theory. The spin gap leads to two different types hopping terms for renormalized holes. In one, a fermionic holon hops within the same sublattice accompanied by a singlet backflow, giving rise to a non-Fermi-liquid normal state with novel properties. Spinon singlets condense below a pseudogap temperature ${T}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}$ (< spin gap temperature T0), which allows holons to propagate coherently, forming a spinless Fermi liquid, but without an observable holon Fermi surface. Above ${T}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}$, holons are localized. This is the so-called strange metal phase, which is actually a new type of insulator since its resistivity would be infinite at T=0. In the second term a pair of holons belonging to opposite sublattices hop, accompanied by a singlet backflow. In the presence of the singlet condensate holon pairs condense, leading to d-wave superconductivity; the symmetry is primarily determined by the symmetry of the valence bond state at half filling. The metal and the superconductor preserve the two-sublattice character of the valence bond state. A careful examination of the nuclear magnetic resonance, tunneling, and transport data shows that the predictions of the theory is consistent with experimental results. Remarkably, the existence of the spin gap provides a natural explanation for the phenomenon of two dimensionality of the normal state in the presence of interplane hopping. The marked asymmetry between hole-doped and electron-doped cuprates is also easily explained.
The physical nature of doped Mott-insulator has been intensively studied for more than three decades. It is well known that the single band Hubbard model or t-J model on the bipartite lattice is the simplest model to describe a doped Mott insulator. Unfortunately, the key mechanism of superconductivity in these toy models is still under debate. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism for the d+id-wave superconductivity (SC) that occurs in the small-doping region of the honeycomb lattice t-J model based on the Grassmann tensor product state numerical simulation and spin-charge separation formulation. Moreover, in the presence of anti-ferromagnetic order, a continuum effective field theory for holons is developed near half-filling. It reveals the competition between repulsive and attractive holon interactions induced by spinon fluctuations and gauge fluctuations, respectively. At a large value of t/J, the repulsive interaction dominates, leading to the non-Fermi liquid like behavior; while in a moderate range of t/J, the attractive interaction dominates, leading to the SC order. Possible experimental detection of spin-charge separation phenomena is also discussed.
Many strongly correlated electron systems fall outside the conventional quasiparticle paradigm. Their low-energy fermionic excitations need not be adiabatically connected to the bare electrons or appear as poles of the physical electron single-particle Green's function. This thesis investigates to what extent an effective quasiparticle description can nevertheless survive, and which emergent degrees of freedom provide the appropriate low-energy structure. First, the interaction-driven evolution from a quantum spin Hall insulator to a Mott insulator is studied using the dynamical cluster approximation. Dispersive zeros of the single-particle Green's function emerge near the Mott transition and retain a nontrivial topological character. When symmetry breaking is allowed, a nontopological excitonic insulator is found to intrude between quantum spin Hall and Mott insulators. Encoding both poles and zeros within a low-energy quasiparticle Hamiltonian provides a continuous one-body description of the three phases. On the Mott side, its gap evolution supports interpreting the soft excitonic mode as a bound state of quasiparticle and quasihole excitations tied to the Green's function zeros, rather than to the widely separated Hubbard bands. Second, the intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity of a topological metal is analyzed within a multiband extension of Landau Fermi-liquid theory. Residual interactions among quasiparticles at the Fermi surface dress the dynamic current vertex and generate corrections to the Berry-curvature contribution obtained from the quasiparticle bands alone. Our result supports recent claims that the correct expressions for topological observables include vertex corrections besides the topological invariants built just upon the Green's function. It also demonstrates that such corrections are naturally accounted for by Landau Fermi-liquid theory. Extracting the relevant ingredients for an effective description of material-relevant correlated systems requires computational tools that remain reliable at low temperatures. To this end, a deterministic strong-coupling impurity solver for dynamical mean-field theory is discussed. By providing static, dynamical, and thermodynamic observables without stochastic sampling, it offers a promising route toward multiorbital and spin-orbit coupled problems where conventional Monte Carlo methods currently struggle. Finally, the auxiliary quasiparticle framework underlying the ghost-Gutzwiller Ansatz is investigated. On a model for correlated quantum spin Hall insulators, we show that the topology of the interacting state is encoded in the auxiliary one-body Hamiltonian. The resulting band-structure reveals topological Hubbard bands whose topological character can be tuned through a finite magnetization. When applied to the single-band t-J model, the same framework yields a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*). In this phase, dispersive neutral spinons, with vanishing physical-electron spectral weight, coexist with conventional quasiparticles forming a small hole-like Fermi surface, thus violating Luttinger's theorem. The corresponding temperature--doping phase diagram contains a low-doping FL*, a d-wave superconducting dome, and an overdoped conventional Fermi liquid, thereby reproducing key qualitative features of cuprate phenomenology.