Quantum phase transitions

A microscopic analysis of the superconducting quantum critical point realized via a pair-breaking quantum phase transition is presented. Finite temperature crossovers are derived for the electrical conductivity, which is a key probe of superconducting fluctuations. By using the diagrammatic formalism for disordered systems, we are able to incorporate the interplay between fluctuating Cooper pairs and electrons, that is outside the scope of a time-dependent Ginzburg Landau or ...

In this overview we provide a general introduction to metal-insulator transitions, with focus on specific mechanisms that can localize the electrons in absence of magnetic or charge ordering, and produce well defined quantum critical behavior. We contrast the physical picture of Mott, who emphasized the role of electron-electron interactions, and that of Anderson, who stressed the possibility of impurity-induced bound state formation, as alternative routes to arrest the elect...

We determine the behavior of the critical temperature of magnetically mediated p-wave superconductivity near a ferromagnetic quantum critical point in three dimensions, distinguishing universal and non-universal aspects of the result. We find that the transition temperature is non-zero at the critical point, raising the possibility of superconductivity in the ferromagnetic phase.

We dedicate this article to our father, Prof. Dr. Guenter Vojta, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. While colleagues appreciate him as an excellent scientist with widespread interests and an amazingly broad knowledge, we see in him the father, teacher, friend, and much more. Thanks to him, we grew up immersed in the fascinating world of physics from an early age. His example and encouragement have crucially influenced our own lives.

We study the timely issue of charge order checkerboard patterns observed in a variety of cuprate superconductors. We suggest a minimal model in which strong quantum fluctuations in the vicinity of a single antiferromagnetic quantum critical point generate the complexity seen in the phase diagram of cuprates superconductors and, in particular, the evidenced charge order. The Fermi surface is found to fractionalize into hotspots and antinodal regions, where physically different...

Nonequilibrium states of closed quantum many-body systems defy a thermodynamic description. As a consequence, constraints such as the principle of equal a priori probabilities in the microcanonical ensemble can be relaxed, which can lead to quantum states with novel properties of genuine nonequilibrium nature. In turn, for the theoretical description it is in general not sufficient to understand nonequilibrium dynamics on the basis of the properties of the involved Hamiltonia...

Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) arise as a result of competing interactions in a quantum many-body system. Kondo lattice models, containing a lattice of localized magnetic moments and a band of conduction electrons, naturally feature such competing interactions. A Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) exchange interaction among the local moments promotes magnetic ordering. However, a Kondo exchange interaction between the local moments and conduction electrons favors the Kond...

Divergent carrier-density fluctuations equivalent to the critical opalescence of gas-liquid transitions emerge around a metal-insulator critical point at a finite temperature. In contrast to the gas-liquid transitions, however, the critical temperature can be lowered to zero, which offers a challenging quantum phase transition. We present a microscopic description of such quantum critical phenomena in two dimensions. The conventional scheme of phase transitions by Ginzburg, L...

Quasiparticles and collective effects may have seemed exotic when first proposed in the 1930s, but their status has blossomed with their confirmation by todays sophisticated experiment techniques. Evidence has accumulated about the interactions of, say, magnons and rotons and with each other and also other quasiparticles. We briefly review the conjectures of their existence necessary to provide quantitative agreement with experiment which in the early period was their only re...

In the high temperature cuprate superconductors, the pervasiveness of anomalous electronic transport properties suggests that violation of conventional Fermi liquid behavior is closely tied to superconductivity. In other classes of unconventional superconductors, atypical transport is well correlated with proximity to a quantum critical point, but the relative importance of quantum criticality in the cuprates remains uncertain. Here we identify quantum critical scaling in the...