From Birefringent Electrons to a Marginal or Non-Fermi Liquid of Relativistic Spin-1/2 Fermions: An Emergent Superuniversality

ORAL

Abstract

In this talk, we present the quantum critical theory of an interacting nodal Fermi liquid of quasirelativistic pseudospin-3/2 fermions that have a noninteracting birefringent spectrum with two distinct Fermi velocities [1]. As we show, when such quasiparticles interact with gapless bosonic degrees of freedom that mediate either the long-range Coulomb interaction or its short range component (responsible for spontaneous symmetry breaking), in the deep infrared or quantum critical regime in two dimensions, the system is, respectively, described by a marginal- or a non-Fermi liquid of relativistic spin-1/2 fermions (possessing a unique velocity), and is always a marginal Fermi liquid in three dimensions. We consider a possible generalization of these scenarios to fermions with an arbitrary half-odd-integer spin, and conjecture that critical spin-1/2 excitations represent a superuniversal description of the entire family of interacting quasirelativistic fermions.

[1] B. Roy, M. P. Kennett, K. Yang, and V. Juričić, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 157602 (2018).

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Presenters

  • Bitan Roy

    Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany, Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex System

Authors

  • Bitan Roy

    Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany, Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex System

  • Malcolm Kennett

    Physics, Simon Fraser University, Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Simon Fraser University

  • Kun Yang

    Florida State University, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA, Physics, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Florida State University, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Department of Physics, Florida State University

  • Vladimir Juricic

    NORDITA, Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University and KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, NORDITA, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University and KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm