Fermions in Two Dimensions and Exactly Solvable Models
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Doctoral Thesis Fermions in two dimensions and exactly solvable models Jonas de Woul Mathematical Physics, Department of Theoretical Physics School of Engineering Sciences Royal Institute of Technology, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden 2011 Typeset in LATEX Akademisk avhandling f¨or avl¨aggande av Teknologie Doktorsexamen (TeknD) inom ¨amnesomr˚adet Teoretisk Fysik. Scientific thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the subject area of Theoretical Physics. ISBN 978-91-7501-174-5 TRITA-FYS-2011:56 ISSN 0280-316X ISRN KTH/FYS/--11:56--SE c Jonas de Woul, November 2011 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US AB, Stockholm November 2011 Abstract This Ph.D. thesis in mathematical physics concerns systems of interacting fermions with strong correlations. For these systems the physical properties can only be described in terms of the collective behavior of the fermions. Moreover, they are often characterized by a close competition between fermion localization versus de- localization, which can result in complex and exotic physical phenomena. Strongly correlated fermion systems are usually modelled by many-body Hamil- tonians for which the kinetic- and interaction energy have the same order of mag- nitude. This makes them challenging to study as the application of conventional computational methods, like mean field- or perturbation theory, often gives un- reliable results. Of particular interest are Hubbard-type models, which provide minimal descriptions of strongly correlated fermions. The research of this thesis focuses on such models defined on two-dimensional square lattices. One motivation for this is the so-called high-Tc problem of the cuprate superconductors. A main hypothesis is that there exists an underlying Fermi surface with nearly flat parts, i.e. regions where the surface is straight. It is shown that a particular continuum limit of the lattice system leads to an effective model amenable to com- putations. This limit is partial in that it only involves fermion degrees of freedom near the flat parts. The result is an effective quantum field theory that is analyzed using constructive bosonization methods. Various exactly solvable models of inter- acting fermions in two spatial dimensions are also derived and studied. Key words: Bosonization, Exactly solvable models, Hubbard model, Mean field theory, Quantum field theory, Strongly correlated systems. iii iv Preface This thesis is the result of my research in the group of Mathematical Physics at the Department of Theoretical Physics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) during the period 2007-2011. The thesis is divided into two parts: the first provides an introduction and some complementary material to the scientific papers; the second part consists of the papers in the order listed below. Appended papers I J. de Woul and E. Langmann Partially gapped fermions in 2D Journal of Statistical Physics 139, 1033 (2010): II J. de Woul and E. Langmann Exact solution of a 2D interacting fermion model arXiv:1011.1401 [math-ph] (submitted) III J. de Woul and E. Langmann Gauge invariance, commutator anomalies, and Meissner effect in 2+1 dimensions arXiv:1107.0891 [cond-mat.str-el] (submitted) IV J. de Woul and E. Langmann Partial continuum limit of the 2D Hubbard model (To be submitted) Published papers not included in the thesis V J. de Woul, J. Hoppe and D. Lundholm Partial Hamiltonian reduction of relativistic extended objects in light-cone gauge Journal of High Energy Physics 1101:031 (2011) VI J. de Woul, J. Hoppe, D. Lundholm and M. Sundin A dynamical symmetry for supermembranes Journal of High Energy Physics 1103:134 (2011) v vi Preface My contribution to the appended papers I All analytical computations were done independently by both authors. I did all numerical computations, with a few checked independently by my co-author. The paper was written in close collaboration. II All calculations were done independently by both authors except those in Section 2.3, which were done by my co-author. All parts of the paper were written in close collaboration except Sections 2.3 and 4.4, which were written by my co-author. III All calculations were done independently by both authors. The paper was written in close collaboration. IV The project plan was developed in collaboration. I did all calculations and wrote the appended paper. Revisions will be done in collaboration. Acknowledgments First of all, I want to acknowledge The G¨oran Gustafsson Foundation for providing the scholarship that has funded my doctoral studies in theoretical physics. Doing research for a living is a privilege, and it gets even better with such great co-workers as I’ve had during my time at the department. Above all, I want to thank my supervisor Professor Edwin Langmann. The patience, support and thoughtfulness of Edwin’s mentoring has truly shaped the kind of professional I am today. Beyond that, he has been an invaluable resource for support and advice on matters far beyond science; I proudly call him friend. I also want to thank my other collaborators: to Professor Jens Hoppe for broadening my research interests well beyond lattice fermions, and Martin S. and Douglas whose skills in mathematics I can only dream of. Thanks to all my current and former colleagues in the mathematical physics group: former graduate students Martin H. and Pedram who I shared an office with for many years and who helped me out a lot when I first started, and new student Farrokh who will hopefully find this thesis of some use in his future doctoral studies; to fellow group members Jouko, Teresia, Michael, and all the diploma students and guests who I’ve shared an office with over the years (I don’t dare start naming you all in fear of forgetting someone). Thanks also to the people in the particle physics group for always including me “as one of their own”: to Professor Tommy Ohlsson who has always been very considerate to me; to former members Mattias, Tomas, Thomas, Michal and He; to fellow students Henrik, Johannes and Sofia for always making work a fun place to be. I would not have been able to finish this thesis without the love, support and encouragement from family and friends. My deepest thanks in particular to my sister Sara and brother Mattias, Margaretha, Minna, and Ronny. Contents Abstract.................................... iii Preface v Contents vii I Backgroundandcomplementarymaterial 3 1 Introduction 5 2 Cuprate superconductors 9 2.1 The high Tc problem.......................... 9 2.2 The cuprate x-T phasediagram.................... 12 2.3 Three-band description of the Cu-O layers . 15 3 The Hubbard model 19 3.1 TruncationofamultibandHamiltonian . 20 3.2 Definitionofthemodel......................... 22 3.3 Someexactresults ........................... 24 3.4 Hartree-Focktheory .......................... 27 3.5 Continuumlimitof1Dlatticeelectrons . 31 4 Boson-fermion correspondence 41 4.1 Freerelativisticfermions. 41 4.2 Representations of some -dimensionalLiealgebras . 48 ∞ 4.3 BosonizationandFermionization . 51 4.4 Applications to exactly solvable QFT models . 54 4.5 Bosonizationinhigherdimensions . 60 vii viii Contents 5 Introduction to the papers 63 5.1 Acontinuumlimitof2Dlatticefermions. 63 5.2 Theexactlysolvablenodalmodel . 72 5.3 Couplingnodalfermionstogaugefields . 72 5.4 Generalizingtospinfullfermions . 73 6 Conclusions 75 Bibliography 77 II Scientific papers 95 To my parents Part I Background and complementary material 3 4 Chapter 1 Introduction The number of mobile electrons in a 1 cm3 crystal of copper is about 1023, i.e. a number that can be written as a one followed by twenty-three zeros. To put this abstract number in some perspective, this is roughly the same as the number of sand grains in the Sahara desert if we dig ten meters into the ground!1 Now imagine all these electrons roaming around inside the crystal, bouncing off the atoms and colliding with each other. How could we ever make sense of such an overwhelmingly complex system? One might think the solution to this problem is not that difficult, given that the present theory of everyday matter was written down more than 80 years ago (in the early days of quantum mechanics). Simply take the mathematical equations that describe the electrons and solve them, possibly on a computer. Well, the problem is that, even with the most state-of-the-art supercomputers available to us, we cannot solve these equations for more than a few sand grains on a finger tip. This is where the art of mathematical modelling comes in. If we forego the ambition of trying to solve “everything at once”, we can write down simplified models that describe the properties of some very particular type of system: metals, insulators, magnets, semiconductors, superconductors, etc. What constitutes a good model is of course delicate; it must be simple enough so that we can actually solve the corresponding mathematical equations, while at the same time not too simple as to lose the essential physics. Finding the best compromise to this lies at the very core of theoretical physics. Adopting this philosophy has been highly fruitful in the study of many-electron systems. A nice example is Landau’s Fermi liquid theory of weakly interacting quasiparticles [1–3], applicable for example to conduction electrons in ordinary metals at sufficiently low temperatures. We know that electrons interact strongly 1This analogy is based on the following: The number of conduction electrons in Cu equals the number of ions, the mass density of Cu is 8.96 g cm−3, Cu weighs 63.5 g/mol, each grain is approximately 1 mm3, and the area of the Sahara desert is about 107 km2. 5 6 Chapter 1. Introduction through mutual Coulomb repulsions. Yet, surprisingly, the experimental proper- ties of many metals are largely consistent with those of non-interacting particles. The essential point in Fermi liquid theory is that these particles are not the bare electrons, but so-called quasiparticles that are “dressed up” by interactions.