We establish the general form of effective interacting Hamiltonian for LaOFeAs system based on the symmetry consideration. The peculiar symmetry property of the electron states yields unusual form of electron-electron interaction. Based on the general effective Hamiltonian, we determine all the ten possible pairing states. More physical considerations would further reduce the list of the candidates for the pairing state.
We study the non-local superconducting pairing of two interacting Anderson impurities, which has an instability near the quantum critical point from the competition between the Kondo effect and an antiferromagnetic inter-impurity spin exchange interaction. As revealed by the dynamics over the whole energy range, the superconducting pairing fluctuations acquire considerable strength from an energy scale much higher than the characteristic spin fluctuation scale while the low energy behaviors follow those of the staggered spin susceptibility. We argue that the glue to the superconducting pairing…
The pairing symmetry of an effective Hamiltonian for interacting fermions on a twisted bilayer graphene superlattice is studied with the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method. The model has the symmetry of a triangle lattice and a nearly-flat low energy band, features which underlie the magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene superlattice. We show that the low temperature phase is insulating at half-filling, even for relatively weak interactions. The natures of the spin and pairing correlations upon doping are determined, and exhibit an electron-hole asymmetry consistent with experiment. Among t…
The nonadiabatic electron-phonon corrections for the superconducting pairing are investigated for a specific tight-binding model corresponding to a 2d square lattice. This permits to investigate the role of various specific properties like the band filling, nesting effects and a realistic van Hove singularity on the superconducting effective pairing beyond Migdal's limit. The main results are: (i) Starting from a momentum independent electron-phonon coupling the nonadiabatic effects lead to an effective pairing which is strongly dependent on frequency and momentum. (ii) If instead the electron…
We study fermionic pairing in an ultracold two-component gas of $^6$Li atoms by observing an energy gap in the radio-frequency excitation spectra. With control of the two-body interactions via a Feshbach resonance we demonstrate the dependence of the pairing gap on coupling strength, temperature, and Fermi energy. The appearance of an energy gap with moderate evaporative cooling suggests that our full evaporation brings the strongly interacting system deep into a superfluid state.
We observe many-body pairing in a two-dimensional gas of ultracold fermionic atoms at temperatures far above the critical temperature for superfluidity. For this, we use spatially resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy to measure pairing energies spanning a wide range of temperatures and interaction strengths. In the strongly interacting regime where the scattering length between fermions is on the same order as the inter-particle spacing, the pairing energy in the normal phase significantly exceeds the intrinsic two-body binding energy of the system and shows a clear dependence on local densit…
Using the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) as a `booster-rocket', the functional renormalization group (fRG) can be upgraded from a weak-coupling method to a powerful computation tool for strongly interacting fermion systems. The strong local correlations are treated non-perturbatively by the DMFT, while the fRG flow can be formulated such that it is driven exclusively by non-local correlations, which are more amenable to approximations. We show that the full frequency dependence of the two-particle vertex needs to be taken into account in this approach, and demonstrate that this is actually…
The pairing symmetry of interacting Dirac fermions on the $π$-flux lattice is studied with the determinant quantum Monte Carlo and numerical linked cluster expansion methods. The extended $s^*$- (i.e. extended $s$-) and d-wave pairing symmetries, which are distinct in the conventional square lattice, are degenerate under the Landau gauge. We demonstrate that the dominant pairing channel at strong interactions is an exotic $ds^*$-wave phase consisting of alternating stripes of $s^*$- and d-wave phases. A complementary mean-field analysis shows that while the $s^*$- and d-wave symmetries individ…
Interacting Fermi gases with spin-orbit coupling are responsible for many intriguing phenomena such as topological superfluids and Majorana fermions. Here we characterize theoretically fermionic pairing in a strongly interacting spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas, by using momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy. We develop a strong-coupling $T$-matrix theory and present a phase diagram near the unitary resonance limit. A smooth transition from atomic to molecular responses in the momentum-resolved spectroscopy is predicted, with a clear signature of anisotropic pairing at and below resonance…
We analyse a model of a one-dimensional electron gas interacting with an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain via the spin exchange interactions. Using a solution at a special limit, we characterize the gapless modes of the spin gap fixed point at weak coupling $ J_{K}\ll J_{H},E_{F} $. we show that the only gapless pairing mode with divergent susceptibility is a composite odd-parity odd-frequency singlet pairing order parameter, while the ordinary BCS even-parity singlet pairing mode is incoherent. For 2-leg ladder systems, we note that it is possible to have a range of doping where th…
We consider the phase separation of a trapped atomic mixture of fermions with unequal spin populations near a Feshbach resonance. In particular, we determine the density profile of the two spin states and compare with the recent experiments of Partridge et al. (cond-mat/0511752). Overall we find quite good agreement. We identify the remaining discrepancies and pose them as open problems.
To explore whether a flat-band system can accommodate superconductivity, we consider repulsively interacting fermions on the diamond chain, a simplest quasi-one-dimensional system that contains a flat band. Exact diagonalization and the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) are used to show that we have a significant binding energy of a Cooper pair with a long-tailed pair-pair correlation in real space when the total band filling is slightly below $1/3$, where the dispersive band interacts with the flat band that is empty but close to $E_F$. Pairs selectively formed across the outer site…
Majorana fermions are rising as a promising key component in quantum computation. While the prevalent approach is to use a quadratic (i.e. non-interacting) Majorana Hamiltonian, when expressed in terms of Dirac fermions, generically the Hamiltonian involves interaction terms. Here we focus on the possible pair correlations in a simple model system. We study a model of Majorana fermions coupled to a boson mode and show that the anomalous correlator between different Majorana fermions, located at opposite ends of a topological wire, exhibits odd frequency behavior. It is stabilized when the coup…
The Hubbard model provides a simple framework in which one can study how certain aspects of the electronic structure of strongly interacting systems can be tuned to optimize the superconducting pairing correlations and how these changes affect the mechanisms giving rise to them. Here we use a weak-coupling random phase approximation to study a two-dimensional Hubbard model with a unidirectional modulation of the hopping amplitudes as the system evolves from the uniform square lattice to an array of weakly coupled two-leg ladders. We find that the pairing correlations retain their dominant $d_{…
We show that including pairing and repulsion into the description of 1D spinless fermions, as in the domain wall theory of commensurate melting or the interacting Kitaev chain, leads, for strong enough repulsion, to a line of critical points in the eight vertex universality class terminating floating phases with emergent U(1) symmetry. For nearest-neighbor repulsion and pairing, the variation of the critical exponents along the line that can be extracted from Baxter's exact solution of the XYZ chain at $J_x=-J_z$ is fully confirmed by extensive DMRG simulations of the entire phase diagram, and…
We study the structure of pairing order parameter for spin-1/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a square lattice under a uniform magnetic field. Because the magnetic translation symmetry gives a unique degeneracy in the single-particle spectrum, the wave function has both zero and finite momentum components co-existing, and their relative phases are determined by a self-consistent mean-field theory. We present a microscopic calculation that can determine the vortex lattice structure in the superfluid phase for different flux densities. Phase transition from a Hofstadter insulator to a …
We consider a generalisation of the p+ip pairing Hamiltonian with external interaction terms. These terms allow for the exchange of particles between the system and its environment. As a result the u(1) symmetry associated with conservation of particle number, present in the p+ip Hamiltonian, is broken. Nonetheless the generalised model is integrable. We establish integrability using the Boundary Quantum Inverse Scattering Method, with one of the reflection matrices chosen to be non-diagonal. We also derive the corresponding Bethe Ansatz Equations, the roots of which parametrise the exact solu…
The t-t'-t''-J model of electrons interacting with three phonon modes (breathing, apical breathing, and buckling) is considered. The wave-vector dependence of the matrix elements of the electron-phonon interaction leads to opposite contributions to the pairing potential with the d-symmetry: the buckling mode facilitates electron pairing, while the breathing mode suppresses it. As a result, the critical temperature of La{2 - x}Sr{x}CuO{4} that is associated with the magnetic mechanism is lowered when phonons are taken into account.
The pairing of interacting fermions leading to superfluidity has two limiting regimes: the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) scheme for weakly interacting degenerate fermions and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of bosonic pairs of strongly interacting fermions. While the superconductivity that emerges in most metallic systems is the BCS-like electron pairing, strongly correlated electrons with poor Fermi liquidity can condense into the unconventional BEC-like pairs. Quantum spin liquids harbor extraordinary spin correlation free from order and the superconductivity that possibly emerges by …
Communal pairing in superconductors introduces variational freedom for Cooper pairs to share fermions. Temporal oscillations of the superconducting gap entropically drive communal pairing through the order by disorder phenomenology, stabilising a finite momentum space width of the superconducting gap that increases with interaction strength, creating a smooth evolution from the weakly interacting BCS state to the strongly interacting BEC state.
We consider the pairing induced in a strictly 2D electron gas (2DEG) by a proximate insulating film with polarizable localized excitations. Within a model of interacting 2D electrons and localized two-level systems, we calculate the critical temperature $T_c$ as a function of applied voltage and for different materials properties. Assuming that a sufficient carrier density can be induced in a field-gated device, we argue that superconductivity may be observable in such systems. $T_c$ is found to be a nonmonotonic function of both electric field and the excitation energy of the two-level system…
In a flat band superconductor, bosonic excitations can disperse while unpaired electrons are immobile. To study this strongly interacting system, we construct a family of multi-band Hubbard models with exact eta-pairing ground states in all space groups. We analytically compute their many-body excitations and find that the Cooper pair bound states and density excitations obey an effective single-particle Hamiltonian written in terms of the non-interacting wavefunctions. These bound states possess a unique zero-energy excitation whose quadratic dispersion is determined by the minimal quantum me…
I present a simple analytical model describing the normal state of a superconductor with a pseudogap in the density of states, such as in underdoped cuprates. In nearly two-dimensional systems, where the superconducting transition temperature is reduced from the mean-field BCS value, Cooper pairs may be present as slow fluctuations of the BCS pairing field. Using the self-consistent T-matrix (fluctuation exchange) approach I find that the fermion spectral weight exhibits two BCS-like peaks, broadened by fluctuations of the pairing field amplitude. The density of states becomes suppressed near …
We find an integrable generalization of the BCS model with non-uniform Coulomb and pairing interaction. The Hamiltonian is integrable by construction since it is a functional of commuting operators; these operators, which therefore are constants of motion of the model, contain the anisotropic Gaudin Hamiltonians. The exact solution is obtained diagonalizing them by means of Bethe Ansatz. Uniform pairing and Coulomb interaction are obtained as the ``isotropic limit'' of the Gaudin Hamiltonians. We discuss possible applications of this model to a single grain and to a system of few interacting g…
The proximity effect (PE) between superconductor and confined electrons can induce the effective pairing phenomena of electrons in nanowire or quantum dot (QD). Through interpreting the PE as an exchange of virtually quasi-excitation in a largely gapped superconductor, we found that there exists another induced dynamic process. Unlike the effective pairing that mixes the QD electron states coherently, this extra process leads to dephasing of the QD. In a case study, the dephasing time is inversely proportional to the Coulomb interaction strength between two electrons in the QD. Further theoret…
We study attractively interacting spin-1/2 fermions on the square lattice subject to a spin population imbalance. Using unbiased diagrammatic Monte Carlo simulations we find an extended region in the parameter space where the Fermi liquid is unstable towards formation of Cooper pairs with non-zero center-of-mass momentum, known as the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state. In contrast to earlier mean-field and quasi-classical studies we provide quantitative and well-controlled predictions on the existence and location of the relevant Fermi-liquid instabilities. The highest temperature …
We generalize the $η$-pairing theory in Hubbard models to the ones with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and obtain the conditions under which the $η$-pairing operator is an eigenoperator of the Hamiltonian. The $η$ pairing thus reveals an exact $SU(2)$ pseudospin symmetry in our spin-orbit coupled Hubbard model, even though the $SU(2)$ spin symmetry is explicitly broken by the SOC. In particular, these exact results can be applied to a variety of Hubbard models with SOC on either bipartite or non-bipartite lattices, whose noninteracting limit can be a Dirac semimetal, a Weyl semimetal, a nodal-line …
A system of a few attractively interacting fermionic $^6$Li atoms in one-dimensional harmonic confinement is investigated. Non-trivial inter-particle correlations induced by interactions in a particle-imbalanced system are studied in the framework of the noise correlation. In this way, it is shown that evident signatures of strongly correlated fermionic pairs in the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state are present in the system and they can be detected by measurements directly accessible within state-of-the-art techniques. The results convincingly show that the exotic pairing mechanism is a …