Algebraic charge liquids

Abstract

High temperature superconductivity emerges in the cuprate compounds upon changing the electron density of an insulator in which the electron spins are antiferromagnetically ordered. A key characteristic of the superconductor is that electrons can be extracted from them at zero energy only if their momenta take one of four specific values (the `nodal points'). A central enigma has been the evolution of the zero energy electrons in the metallic state between the antiferromagnet and the superconductor, and recent experiments yield apparently contradictory results. The oscillation of the resistance in this metal as a function of magnetic field indicate that the zero energy electrons carry momenta which lie on elliptical `Fermi pockets', while ejection of electrons by high intensity light indicates that the zero energy electrons have momenta only along arc-like regions. We present a theory of new states of matter, which we call `algebraic charge liquids', which arise naturally between the antiferromagnet and the superconductor, and reconcile these observations. Our theory also explains a puzzling dependence of the density of superconducting electrons on the total electron density, and makes a number of unique predictions for future experiments.

6+8 pages, 2 figures; (v2) Rewritten for broader accessibility; (v3) corrected numerical error in Eq. (5)

References in corpus (6)

• "Deconfined" quantum critical points
• An Intrinsic Bond-Centered Electronic Glass with Unidirectional Domains in Underdoped Cuprates
• On the stability of U(1) spin liquids in two dimensions
• Quantum Oscillations in the Underdoped Cuprate YBa2Cu4O8
• Algebraic spin liquid as the mother of many competing orders
• Quantum critical behaviour in the superfluid density of strongly underdoped ultrathin cuprate films

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Quantum magnetism and criticality
• Quantum criticality of U(1) gauge theories with fermionic and bosonic matter in two spatial dimensions
• Fermi pockets and quantum oscillations of the Hall coefficient in high temperature superconductors
• Destruction of Neel order in the cuprates by electron-doping
• Insulator-metal transition on the triangular lattice
• Properties of holons in the Quantum Dimer Model
• Deconfined quantum criticality driven by Dirac fermions in SU(2) antiferromagnets