Formation of an electronic nematic phase in interacting fermion systems

Abstract

We study the formation of an electronic nematic phase characterized by a broken point-group symmetry in interacting fermion systems within the weak coupling theory. As a function of interaction strength and chemical potential, the phase transition between the isotropic Fermi liquid and nematic phase is first order at zero temperature and becomes second order at a finite temperature. The transition is present for all typical, including quasi-2D, electronic dispersions on the square lattice and takes place for arbitrarily small interaction when at van Hove filling, thus suppressing the Lifshitz transition. In connection with the formation of the nematic phase, we discuss the origin of the first order transition and competition with other broken symmetry states.

Functional renormalization group approach to correlated fermion systems

“…In mean-field theory, the phase transition is usually first order near the edges of the transition line, that is, where T c is relatively low, and second order at the roof of the dome (Kee et al, 2003;Khavkine et al, 2004;Yamase et al, 2005). Introducing an order parameter field via a HubbardStratonovich transformation, integrating out the fermions, and keeping only the leading momentum and frequency dependences for small q and small q 0 /|q| leads to a Hertz-type action S[φ] of the form (132), with z = 3 and a local potential given by the mean-field potential…”

Symmetry-breaking Fermi surface deformations from central interactions in two dimensions

“…16 The phase resulting from an l = 2 type instability is a nematic, because the orientaion symmetry of the continuum or the orientation symmetry of the lattice point group is broken, modulo an inversion symmetry, while translational symmetry remains unbroken. Pomeranchuk instabilities have received significant attention recently, both in the continuum [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and lattice 15,[24][25][26][27] contexts.…”

Spontaneous breaking of the Fermi-surface symmetry in thet−Jmodel: A numerical study

“…3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 It was also argued that the tendency towards a quasi 1D state may enhance a bare anisotropy of the underlying lattice structure, as for example present in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6+y (YBCO).…”