Semi-local quantum liquids
Author(s)
Iqbal, Nabil; Liu, Hong; Mezei, Mark Koppany
DownloadLiu_Semi-local quantum.pdf (3.036Mb)
OPEN_ACCESS_POLICY
Open Access Policy
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Terms of use
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Gauge/gravity duality applied to strongly interacting systems at finite density predicts a universal intermediate energy phase to which we refer as a semi-local quantum liquid. Such a phase is characterized by a finite spatial correlation length, but an infinite correlation time and associated nontrivial scaling behavior in the time direction, as well as a nonzero entropy density. For a holographic system at a nonzero chemical potential, this unstable phase sets in at an energy scale of order of the chemical potential, and orders at lower energies into other phases; examples include superconductors, and antiferromagnetic-type states. In this paper we give examples in which it also orders into Fermi liquids of “heavy” fermions. While the precise nature of the lower energy state depends on the specific dynamics of the individual system, we argue that the semi-local quantum liquid emerges universally at intermediate energies through deconfinement (or equivalently fractionalization). We also discuss the possible relevance of such a semi-local quantum liquid to heavy electron systems and the strange metal phase of high temperature cuprate superconductors.
Date issued
2012-04Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear ScienceJournal
Journal of High Energy Physics
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Citation
Iqbal, Nabil, Hong Liu, and Mark Mezei. “Semi-Local Quantum Liquids.” J. High Energ. Phys. 2012, no. 4 (April 2012).
Version: Original manuscript
ISSN
1029-8479
1126-6708