English

Strong competition between $\Theta_{II}$-loop-current order and $d$-wave charge order along the diagonal direction in a two-dimensional hot spot model

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2015-08-19 v2 Superconductivity

Abstract

We study the fate of the so-called ΘII\Theta_{II}-loop-current order that breaks both time-reversal and parity symmetries in a two-dimensional hot spot model with antiferromagnetically mediated interactions, using Fermi surfaces relevant to the phenomenology of the cuprate superconductors. We start from a three-band Emery model describing the hopping of holes in the CuO2_{2} plane that includes two hopping parameters tppt_{pp} and tpdt_{pd}, local on-site Coulomb interactions UdU_{d} and UpU_{p} and nearest-neighbor VpdV_{pd} couplings between the fermions in the copper [Cu(3dx2y2)(3d_{x^{2}-y^{2}})] and oxygen [O(2px)(2p_{x}) and O(2py)(2p_{y})] orbitals. By focusing on the lowest-energy band, we proceed to decouple the local interaction UdU_{d} of the Cu orbital in the spin channel using a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation to arrive at the interacting part of the so-called spin-fermion model. We also decouple the nearest-neighbor interaction VpdV_{pd} to introduce the order parameter of the ΘII\Theta_{II}-loop-current order. In this way, we are able to construct a consistent mean-field theory that describes the strong competition between the composite order parameter made of a quadrupole-density-wave and dd-wave pairing fluctuations proposed in Efetov \emph{et al.} [Nat. Phys. \textbf{9}, 442 (2013)] with the ΘII\Theta_{II}-loop-current order parameter that is argued to be relevant for explaining important aspects of the physics of the pseudogap phase displayed in the underdoped cuprates.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1506.07172,
  title  = {Strong competition between $\Theta_{II}$-loop-current order and $d$-wave charge order along the diagonal direction in a two-dimensional hot spot model},
  author = {Vanuildo S. de Carvalho and Thomas Kloss and Xavier Montiel and Hermann Freire and Catherine Pépin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.07172},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

16 pages, 5 figures. v2: minor revisions, references added. The magnetic moment per unit-cell associated with the $\Theta_{II}$-loop-current-phase is calculated and compared with experimental results. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B