Gauge invariance and spinon-dopon confinement in the t-J model: implications for Fermi surface reconstruction in the cuprates

We discuss the application of the two-band spin-dopon representation of the t-J model to address the issue of the Fermi surface reconstruction observed in the cuprates. We show that the electron no double occupancy (NDO) constraint plays a key role in this formulation. In particular, the auxiliary lattice spin and itinerant dopon degrees of freedom of the spin-dopon formulation of the t-J model are shown to be confined in the emergent U(1) gauge theory generated by the NDO constraint. This constraint is enforced by the requirement of an infinitely large spin-dopon coupling. As a result, the t-J model is equivalent to a Kondo-Heisenberg lattice model of itinerant dopons and localized lattice spins at infinite Kondo coupling at all dopings. We show that mean-field treatment of the large vs. small Fermi surface crossing in the cuprates which leaves out the NDO constraint, leads to inconsistencies and it is automatically excluded form the t-J model framework.     

Superconducting pairing symmetry in frustrating t-J model: Electronic Raman absorption

Motivated by the controversy on the pairing symmetry of layered organic superconductors,we study electronic Raman scattering spectra on a frustrating lattice. A two-dimensionalt-t′-J-J′model and the Gutzwiller projectional variational method is used. The pairing symmetry isobtained self-consistently. Basing on this, we perform a systematic investigation of thedensity of states and electronic Raman spectra as a function oft′/t: ranging fromt′ = 0, the square lattice model, tot′ = t, the isotropic triangular latticemodel. We discuss the polarization dependence of the Raman spectra, which could be used toidentify the relevant superconducting pairing symmetry of frustrating systems such aslayered organic superconductors.     

Conditions for implementation of the superconducting phase of copper oxides with consideration of three-site interactions and spin fluctuations

The concentration dependence of the transition temperature to the superconducting phase is calculated within the t – t' – t" – J* model, which takes into account tree-site interactions. It is shown that the processes of scattering by spin fluctuations qualitatively change the character of the concentration dependences T _c (n). These scattering processes in the normal phase significantly modify the distribution function of Hubbard fermions, determining the pronounced non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the system.     

Nonlinear theory of multiphonon relaxation of excited rare-earth ions in laser crystals

A general formula for the probability of multiphonon nonradiative transitions between J multiplets of 4f ^N states of trivalent rare-earth ions in a crystal derived for a nonlinear mechanism is discussed. A technique is developed for calculating the quantities involved in this formula. Particular attention is given to calculating the spectral density J ^(p)(Ω), which is the Fourier transform (at the transition frequency) of the pth power of the correlation function K(t) of host ion displacements. Based on the central limit theorem from probability theory, an approximation is proposed for the spectral density J ^(p)(Ω). The theoretical values of nonradiative multiphonon transition rates are compared with experimental ones.     

Phasenumwandlung zweiter Art als kritische Erscheinung eines inneren Phasengleichgewichtes

It is demonstrated that the transition in a state with two internal phases is a second order phase transition. The term internal phases means phase-like regions inside the system which are not separated by boundaries in the sense of ordinary phase boundaries, and the dimensions and shape of which as well as their properties as such are object of an equilibrium. In a generalization (quasi phases) a long ranged correlation of alternating or periodical character is considered as a typical element of the low temperature state. Such states can be described thermodynamically with the help of a new pair of variablesQ-η. The transition intoQ-η-T is generally analogous to the critical point of ordinary phase transitions inP-V-T, andη ～(?t)^1/3 andC _p～(?t)^?2/3 with a small constant of proportionality are obtained (t=T-T _u). Using the Pippard-relations in the formV-V _γ=(dT _γ/dP) (S-S _γ) the low temperature behaviour of the entropy and density surface as a function ofP andT near the transition line can be completely described. E.g. the saturation magnetization of a ferromagnetic model is derived proportional to (?t)^1/3. Under the action of a magnetic field the transition will be of first order when the saturation magnetization is achieved, without the outer field being analogous toP orQ. Should only one internal phase differ from the high temperature state we obtain an edge point (x=0 analogous to theμ ₁?x-diagram of solutions) with finite jump inC _p andη～({t). A possible relationship to the BCS- model of the supraconductors is indicated.     

Equilibrium magnetic and orbital states of the manganites with four manganese atoms in the unit cell

The carrier energy spectrum and the total energy of various magnetic and orbital crystal-structure configurations of the manganites R _1?x A _xMnO₃ (R=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, etc.; A=Ca, Sr, Ba) with four manganese atoms in the unit cell have been calculated for the electron doping region x>0.5. The equilibrium magnetic and orbital configurations of the model are determined by minimizing the total energy of the system with respect to the angles θ _i ^s , φ_i, and θ _i ^o , which define the directions of the local manganese magnetic moments and the type of orbital mixing of the e _g electrons in the manganites. Assuming the parameters of the Heisenberg exchange interaction to be 0.018t<J _AFM<0.022t, the Hund exchange interaction to be J _H=2.5t, and the Jahn-Teller splitting to be Δ=1.5ty, the model with four manganese atoms in the unit cell predicts the experimentally observed magnetic phase alternation sequence G-C-A with increasing doping level y=1?x. For the values J _AFM<0.018t and y<0.28, this model allows the existence of a collinear phase H not observed earlier.     

Spin excitations and thermodynamics of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis> model on the honeycomb lattice

We present a spin-rotation-invariant Green-function theory for the dynamic spin susceptibility in the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic t-J Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. Employing a generalized mean-field approximation for arbitrary temperatures and hole dopings, the electronic spectrum of excitations, the spin-excitation spectrum and thermodynamic quantities (two-spin correlation functions, staggered magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, correlation length) are calculated by solving a coupled system of self-consistency equations for the correlation functions. The temperature and doping dependence of the magnetic (uniform static) susceptibility is ascribed to antiferromagnetic short-range order. Our results on the doping dependencies of the magnetization and susceptibility are analyzed in comparison with previous results for the t-J model on the square lattice.     

Effective Hamiltonian for HTSC cuprates taking into account electron-phonon interaction in the strong-correlation regime

Electron-phonon interaction is sequentially derived from a realistic p-d multiband model for the cuprates under conditions of strong electron correlations. The electronic structure is described using the representation of the Hubbard X operators in a generalized tight-binding method. Dependences of the diagonal and off-diagonal (on lattice sites) matrix elements of electron-phonon interaction on the wavevectors are found for three phonon modes, namely, breathing, apical breathing, and bending modes. The interactions of the breathing and bending modes with electrons are shown to contribute to the formation of kinks in the (0; 0)-(π; π) and (0; 0)-(π; 0) directions, respectively. A low-energy t-J* model with phonons is developed; apart from electron-phonon interaction, it also includes spin-phonon interaction. The elimination of phonons gives an effective electron-electron interaction that depends on the occupation number of a multielectron term and on the carrier concentration due to strong electron correlations.     

Reconstruction of the Fermi surface of HTSC cuprates in a high magnetic field

The effect of a high magnetic field on the electronic structure of HTSC cuprates is considered. The study is performed in the t-t′-t″-J* model, and the high magnetic field effect is taken into account not only as the Zeeman splitting of the one-electron levels, but also in the occupation numbers of the states with different spin projections and in the formation of the spin correlation functions. The field is assumed to be high enough to align all of the spins along the field. As a result, the Fermi surface reconstruction is obtained from four hole pockets about the nodal point (π/2, π/2) in the paramagnetic phase to a large hole pocket about the point (π, π) in the ferromagnetic phase. As the magnetic field strength decreases, a number of quantum phase transitions are revealed; they are manifested in the changed Fermi surface topology. The Fermi surface reconstruction with a decreasing field is qualitatively the same as that with an increasing doping degree in the absence of a magnetic field.     

Quantum interference effects induced by multiple magnetic impurities on a triangular lattice f-wave superconductor

The effects of multi-impurity quantum interference on triangular lattice f-wave superconductors are studied by self-consistently solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations within the t?t′?J?V model. An overall phase diagram is presented, which shows that f-wave superconductivity dominates near 0.3 doping. Rich phenomena are induced by quantum interference effects, such as periodic modulations in charge orders, pyramid frustum structures, and a magnetic moment reverse transition, which are qualitatively different from the single-impurity case. We also examine the local density of states to show how localized quasiparticle states are created at or near the impurity sites, which can be directly measured by scanning tunneling microscopy experiments.     

Electronic structures of ternary iron arsenides <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>Fe<Subscript>2</Subscript>As<Subscript>2</Subscript> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> = Ba,Ca, or Sr)

We have studied the electronic and magnetic structures of the ternary iron arsenides AFe₂As₂ (A = Ba, Ca, or Sr) using the first-principles density functional theory. The ground states of these compounds are in a collinear antiferromagnetic order, resulting from the interplay between the nearest and the next-nearest neighbor superexchange antiferromagnetic interactions bridged by As 4p orbitals. The correction from the spin-orbit interaction to the electronic band structure is given. The pressure can reduce dramatically the magnetic moment and diminish the collinear antiferromagnetic order. Based on the calculations, we propose that the low energy dynamics of these materials can be described effectively by a t-J _H -J ₁-J ₂-type model [2008, arXiv: 0806.3526v2].     

Thermodynamics of the frustrated J<Subscript>1</Subscript>-J<Subscript>2</Subscript> Heisenberg ferromagnet on the body-centered cubic lattice with arbitrary spin

We use the spin-rotation-invariant Green’s function method as well as thehigh-temperature expansion to discuss the thermodynamic properties of the frustratedspin-S J ₁-J ₂ Heisenbergmagnet on the body-centered cubic lattice. We consider ferromagnetic nearest-neighborbonds J ₁<0 and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor bonds J ₂ ≥ 0 andarbitrary spin S. We find that the transition point\hbox{$J_2^c$}J2cbetween the ferromagnetic ground state and theantiferromagnetic one is nearly independent of the spin S, i.e., it is very closeto the classical transition point\hbox{$J_2^{c,{\rm clas}}= \frac{2}{3}|J_1|$}J2c,clas=23|J1|. At finite temperatures we focus on the parameterregime\hbox{$J_2<J_2^c$}J2<J2cwith a ferromagnetic ground-state. We calculate theCurie temperature T _C (S, J ₂)and derive an empirical formula describing the influence of the frustration parameterJ ₂ and spin S on T _C . We find that theCurie temperature monotonically decreases with increasing frustration J ₂, where veryclose to\hbox{$J_2^{c,{\rm clas}}$}J2c,clasthe T _C (J ₂)-curveexhibits a fast decay which is well described by a logarithmic term\hbox{$1/\textrm{log}(\frac{2}{3}|J_1|-J_{2})$}1/log(23|J1|?J2). To characterize the magnetic ordering below and aboveT _C , we calculate thespin-spin correlation functions ?S ₀ S _R ?, the spontaneous magnetization, the uniform static susceptibilityχ ₀ as well as the correlation lengthξ.Moreover, we discuss the specific heat C _V and the temperaturedependence of the excitation spectrum. As approaching the transition point\hbox{$J_2^c$}J2csome unusual features were found, such as negativespin-spin correlations at temperatures above T _C even though theground state is ferromagnetic or an increase of the spin stiffness with growingtemperature.     

Correlation of the molecular structure of discotic nematic liquid crystals with their orientational order and specific features of the nematic-isotropic phase transition

The orientational order parameter S of molecules in high-temperature discotic nematic liquid-crystal phases of triphenylene derivatives is investigated as a function of the length of side flexible molecular chains at different temperatures. It is established that the orientational order parameters S in the range of the transition from the nematic phase to the isotropic liquid phase (the N _D -I transition) are smaller than those predicted from the molecular-statistical theory and computer simulation. It is shown that the N _D -I transition is close to both the isolated Landau point and the tricritical point (regardless of the chemical structure of the molecules and the anisotropy of dispersion intermolecular interactions). Consistent explanations are offered for a number of experimental findings, such as the anomalously small changes in the enthalpy and entropy upon the N _D -I transition (as compared to those revealed upon the N-I transition in calamitic nematic liquid crystals), the anomalously strong response of the isotropic phase of discotic nematic liquid crystals to external fields (thermodynamically conjugate to the order parameter S) and the long relaxation times of this response, and the formation of cybotactic discotic molecular clusters in the isotropic phase in the vicinity of the N _D -I transition.     

Exact solution of the 1D Hubbard model in the atomic limit with inter-site magnetic coupling

In this paper, we present for the first time the exact solution in the narrow-band limit of the 1D extended Hubbard model with nearest-neighbour spin-spin interactions described by an exchange constant J. An external magnetic field h is also taken into account. This result has been obtained in the framework of the Green’s functions formalism, using the composite operator method. By means of this theoretical background, we have studied some relevant features such as double occupancy, magnetization, spin-spin and charge-charge correlation functions and derived a phase diagram for both ferro (J > 0) and anti-ferro (J < 0) coupling in the limit of zero temperature. We also report a study on density of states, specific heat, charge and spin susceptibilities. In the limit of zero temperature, we show that the model exhibits a very rich phase diagram characterized by different magnetic orders and by the coexistence of charge and spin orderings at commensurate filling. Moreover, our analysis at finite temperature of density of states and response functions shows the presence of low-temperature charge and spin excitations near the phase boundaries.     

Emergent nesting of the Fermi surface from local-moment description of iron-pnictide high-T<Subscript>c</Subscript> superconductors

We uncover the low-energy spectrum of a t-J model for electrons on a square lattice of spin-1 iron atoms with 3d _xz and 3d _yz orbital character by applying Schwinger-boson-slave-fermion mean-field theory and by exact diagonalization of one hole roaming over a 4 × 4 × 2 lattice. Hopping matrix elements are set to produce hole bands centered at zero two-dimensional (2D) momentum in the free-electron limit. Holes can propagate coherently in the t-J model below a threshold Hund coupling when long-range antiferromagnetic order across the d + = 3d _{(x + iy)z} and d ? = 3d _{(x ? iy)z} orbitals is established by magnetic frustration that is off-diagonal in the orbital indices. This leads to two hole-pocket Fermi surfaces centered at zero 2D momentum. Proximity to a commensurate spin-density wave (cSDW) that exists above the threshold Hund coupling results in emergent Fermi surface pockets about cSDW momenta at a quantum critical point (QCP). This motivates the introduction of a new Gutzwiller wavefunction for a cSDW metal state. Study of the spin-fluctuation spectrum at cSDW momenta indicates that the dispersion of the nested band of one-particle states that emerges is electron-type. Increasing Hund coupling past the QCP can push the hole-pocket Fermi surfaces centered at zero 2D momentum below the Fermi energy level, in agreement with recent determinations of the electronic structure of mono-layer iron-selenide superconductors.     

Phase diagram and exotic spin-spin correlations of anisotropic Ising model on the Sierpiński gasket

The anisotropic antiferromagnetic Ising model on the fractal Sierpiński gasket is intensively studied, and a number of exotic properties are disclosed. The ground state phase diagram in the plane of magnetic field-interaction of the system is obtained. The thermodynamic properties of the three plateau phases are probed by exploring the temperature-dependence of magnetization, specific heat, susceptibility and spin-spin correlations. No phase transitions are observed in this model. In the absence of a magnetic field, the unusual temperature dependence of the spin correlation length is obtained with 0 ≤ J_b/J_a< 1, and an interesting crossover behavior between different phases at J_b/J_a = 1 is unveiled, whose dynamics can be described by the J_b/J_a-dependence of the specific heat, susceptibility and spin correlation functions. The exotic spin-spin correlation patterns that share the same special rotational symmetry as that of the Sierpiński gasket are obtained in both the 1 / 3 plateau disordered phase and the 5/9 plateau partially ordered ferrimagnetic phase. Moreover, a quantum scheme is formulated to study the thermodynamics of the fractal Sierpiński gasket with Heisenberg interactions. We find that the unusual temperature dependence of the correlation length remains intact in a small quantum fluctuation.     

Effect of interstitial Coulomb interaction on the occurrence of a gapless superconducting phase of Hubbard fermions on a triangular lattice

The concentration dependence of the position of nodal points of a superconducting order parameter is investigated using the t–J–V model for a triangular lattice with regard to the exchange and Coulomb interactions in two coordination spheres. The conditions for a topological quantum transition are established.     

Low-energy singlet sector in the spin-1/2 <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> Heisenberg model on a square lattice

Based on a special variant of the plaquette expansion, an operator is constructed whose eigenvalues give the low-energy singlet spectrum of a spin-\(\frac{1}{2}\) Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice with nearest-heighbor and frustrating next-nearest-neighbor exchange couplings J ₁ and J ₂. It is well known that a nonmagnetic phase arises in this model for 0.4 ? J ₂/J ₁ ? 0.6, sandwiched by two Néel ordered phases. In agreement with previous results, we observe a first-order quantum phase transition (QPT) at J ₂ ≈ 0.64 J ₁ from the non-magnetic phase to the Néel one. A large gap (? 0.4J ₁) is found in the singlet spectrum for J ₂ < 0.64J ₁, which excludes a gapless spin-liquid state for 0.4 ? J ₂/J ₁ ? 0.6 and the deconfined quantum criticality scenario for the QPT to another Néel phase. We observe a first-order QPT at J ₂ ≈ 0.55J ₁, presumably between two nonmagnetic phases.     

Strong short-range magnetic order in a frustrated FCC lattice and its possible role in the iron structural transformation

The magnetic properties of a frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet with the fcc lattice and exchange interaction between the nearest (J ₁) and next-to-nearest (J ₂) neighbors are studied in this work. For the collinear phase with the wave vector Q= (π,π,π), the equations of the self-consistent spin-wave theory are obtained and solved numerically for the sublattice magnetization and the averaged short-range order parameter. The dependence of the Néel temperatureT _N on the ratio J ₂/J ₁ is found. It is shown that, in the case of a sufficiently strong frustration, strong short-range magnetic order persists over a wide temperature range above T _N. The possible application of this result to the mechanism of structural phase transition from α-Fe to γ-Fe is considered.