Emergence of charge loop current in the geometrically frustrated Hubbard model: A functional renormalization group study

Abstract

Spontaneous current orders due to odd-parity order parameters attract increasing attention in various strongly correlated metals. Here, we discover a novel spin-fluctuation-driven charge loop current (cLC) mechanism based on the functional renormalization group (fRG) theory. The present mechanism leads to the ferro-cLC order in a simple frustrated chain Hubbard model. The cLC appears between the antiferromagnetic and $d$-wave superconducting ($d$SC) phases. While the microscopic origin of the cLC has a close similarity to that of the $d$SC, the cLC transition temperature $T_{\rm cLC}$ can be higher than the $d$SC one for wide parameter range. Furthermore, we reveal that the ferro cLC order is driven by the strong enhancement of the forward scatterings $g_2$ and $g_4$ owing to the two dimensionality based on the $g$-ology language. The present study indicates that the cLC can emerge in metals near the magnetic criticality with geometrical frustration