Co-origination of pair density waves and Mott insulators

Motivated by the appearance of pair density waves (PDWs) in empirical investigations of the cuprates [1], this theoretical exploration finds that the simplest dynamics making ideally localized Mott insulators also drive PDWs if detuned from particle-hole symmetry, when solved in Bogoliubov-de Gennes form. In this effective model, the most basic PDWs are a variety of doped and delocalized valence bond solids (VBS) including the famous Larkin-Ovchinnikov state. While elements of this model like the spin-fluctuation driver are familiar from many prior works, the less commonly studied three-body articulated hopping of doublons is found to be substantially supportive of PDW order. We explore the novel potential for doublon hopping to reshape the antinodal band structure, as in ARPES observations that have become a litmus test for models of PDWs in the cuprates. We also explore the scope for supporting complex intertwined PDWs including spin order, comparing results with studies of the t-J model which disallows the existence of doublons.

[1]

W. Chen, W. Ren, N. Kennedy, M. H. Hamidian, S. Uchida, H. Eisaki, P. D. Johnson, S. M. O’Mahony, and J. C. S. Davis, Identification of a Nematic Pair Density Wave State in Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O _8+x, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119, e2206481119 (2022).

[2]

D. F. Agterberg, J. C. S. Davis, S. D. Edkins, E. Fradkin, D. J. Van Harlingen, S. A. Kivelson, P. A. Lee, L. Radzihovsky, J. M. Tranquada, and Y. Wang, The Physics of Pair-Density Waves: Cuprate Superconductors and Beyond, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 11, 231 (2020).