Emergent Anisotropic Non-Fermi Liquid

Understanding correlation effects in topological phases and their transitions is a cutting-edge area of research in recent condensed matter physics. We study topological quantum phase transitions (TQPTs) between double-Weyl semimetals (DWSMs) and insulators, and argue that a novel class of quantum criticality appears at the TQPT characterized by emergent anisotropic non-Fermi liquid behaviors, in which the interplay between the Coulomb interaction and electronic critical modes induces not only anisotropic renormalization of the Coulomb interaction but also strongly correlated electronic excitation. Using the standard renormalization group methods, large N_f theory and the ε=4−d method with fermion flavor number N_f and spatial dimension d, we obtain the anomalous dimensions of electrons (η_f=0.366/N_f) in large N_f theory and the associated anisotropic scaling relations of various physical observables. Our results may be observed in candidate materials for DWSMs such as HgCr₂Se4 or SrSi₂ when the system undergoes a TQPT.