Charge-density-wave instability in the Holstein model with quartic anharmonic phonons

Electron Mass Enhancement due to Anharmonic Local Phonons

In order to understand how electron effective mass is enhanced by anharmonic local oscillation of an atom in a cage composed of other atoms, i.e., {\it rattling}, we analyze anharmonic Holstein model by using a Green's function method. Due to the evaluation of an electron mass enhancement factor $Z$, we find that $Z$ becomes maximum when zero-point energy is comparable with potential height at which the amplitude of oscillation is rapidly enlarged. Cooperation of such quantum and rattling effects is considered to be a key issue to explain the electron mass enhancement in electron-rattling syst…

Anharmonicity in one-dimensional electron-phonon system

We investigate the effect of anharmonicity on the one-dimensional half-filled Holstein model by using the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method. By calculating the order parameters we find that with and without anharmonicity there is always an transition from a disorder phase to a dimerized phase. Moreover, in the dimerized phase a lattice dimerization and a charge density wave coexist. The anharmonicity represented by the quartic term suppresses the dimerization as well as the charge density wave, while a double-well potential favors the dimerization. In addition, by calculating the correlat…

Electron-phonon interaction for adiabatic anharmonic phonons

A model with Holstein-like electron-phonon coupling is studied in the limit of adiabatic phonons. The phonon distribution is anharmonic with two degenerate maxima. This model can be related to fermions in a correlated binary alloy and describes microscopic phase separation. We discuss the weak and strong electron-phonon coupling limit and present a qualitative phase diagram. In terms of the phononic displacements it consists of a homogeneous, an alternating, and a disordered phase. There is a first order phase transition between the homogeneous and the alternating phase, and second order phase…

Anharmonic Ground state selection in the pyrochlore antiferromagnet

In the pyrochlore lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, for large spin length $S$, the massive classical ground state degeneracy is partly lifted by the zero-point energy of quantum fluctuations at harmonic order in spin-waves. However, there remains an infinite manifold of degenerate collinear ground states, related by a gaugelike symmetry. We have extended the spin-wave calculation to quartic order, assuming a Gaussian variational wavefunction (equivalent to Hartree-Fock approximation). Quartic calculations \emph{do} break the harmonic-order degeneracy of periodic ground states. The form of th…

Strongly anharmonic collective modes in a coupled electron-phonon-spin problem

We solve for the finite temperature collective mode dynamics in the Holstein-double exchange problem, using coupled Langevin equations for the phonon and spin variables. We present results in a strongly anharmonic regime, close to a polaronic instability. For our parameter choice the system transits from an `undistorted' ferromagnetic metal at low temperature to a structurally distorted paramagnetic insulator at high temperature, through a short range charge ordered (CO) phase near the ferromagnetic crossover at $T_{FM}$. The small amplitude harmonic phonons at low temperature cross over to la…

各向同性自旋系统中非谐振集体振荡及其光谱特征

Anharmonic Collective Oscillations in Isotropic Spin Systems and their Spectroscopic Signatures

研究揭示各向同性自旋系统中非谐振集体振荡的产生机制，通过数值模拟展示四次方振幅自旋振荡导致的温度依赖性自旋波能隙，为软自旋模式的理论框架提供新视角。

Vibrational Andreev bound states in magnetic molecules

We predict the existence of vibrational Andreev bound states in deformable magnetic molecules on superconducting surfaces. We discuss the Anderson impurity model with electron-phonon coupling to a realistic anharmonic vibrational mode that modulates the tunneling barrier and show that the vibronic features are spectroscopically most visibile near the transition point between the Kondo-screened singlet and the unscreened doublet ground state. We find competing tendencies between phonon hardening due to anharmonicity and softening due to coupling to electrons, contrary to the Anderson-Holstein m…

Inverse Isotope Effect on Kondo Temperature in Electron-Rattling System

In an electron system coupled with anharmonic phonons, i.e., {\it rattling}, inverse isotope effect on the Kondo temperature $T_{\rm K}$ is found to occur by the numerical evaluation of the Sommerfeld constant $γ$ of the Anderson-Holstein model. For the anharmonic potential of an oscillator with mass $M$ in which large $γ$ has been found to be almost independent of an applied magnetic field, $γ$ is significantly suppressed when $M$ is increased, i.e., $T_{\rm K}$ is enhanced due to the relation of $γ$$\sim$$T_{\rm K}^{-1}$ in the Kondo problem, leading to the inverse isotope effect on $T_{\rm …

Model of the electron-phonon interaction and optical conductivity of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$BiO$_3$ superconductors

We investigate the physical properties of the Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$BiO$_3$ compounds with a focus on the optical properties. Results from the simple Holstein model, describing a single band coupled to an oxygen breathing mode with parameters derived from first principles calculations, are in excellent agreement with a broad range of experimental information. It accounts for an insulating parent compound at $x=0$ %, with a direct- (optical) and an indirect-gap, and a metal insulator transition around $x = 0.38$. Strong electron-phonon coupling leads to spectral weight redistribution over a frequency …