Dirac Fermion System Research Articles

No bulk thermal currents in massive Dirac fermions

We calculate the energy current flowing in the bulk of a (2+1)-dimensional system of massive Dirac fermions and along a (1+1)-dimensional domain wall generated by flipping the sign of the particle mass. We show that, at low temperatures and in the long-wavelength limit, the system does not support a bulk thermal Hall current proportional to the temperature gradient. The only such contribution is due to states localized at the domain wall. This puts an end to a controversy existing in the literature and amends previous results obtained via first-order perturbation calculations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Holographic entanglement renormalisation for fermionic quantum matter

We demonstrate the emergence of a holographic dimension in a system of 2D non-interacting Dirac fermions placed on a torus, by studying the scaling of multipartite entanglement measures under a sequence of renormalisation group (RG) transformations applied in momentum space. Geometric measures defined in this emergent space can be related to the RG beta function of the spectral gap, hence establishing a holographic connection between the spatial geometry of the emergent spatial dimension and the entanglement properties of the boundary quantum theory. We prove, analytically, that changing the boundedness of the holographic space involves a topological transition accompanied by a critical Fermi surface in the boundary theory. We go on to show that this results in the formation of a quantum wormhole geometry that connects the UV and the IR of the emergent dimension. The additional conformal symmetry at the transition also supports a relation between the emergent metric and the stress-energy tensor. In the presence of an Aharonov–Bohm flux, the entanglement gains a geometry-independent piece which is shown to be topological, sensitive to changes in boundary conditions, and related to the Luttinger volume of the system. Upon the insertion of a strong transverse magnetic field, we show that the Luttinger volume is linked to the Chern number of the occupied single-particle Landau levels.

Circular terahertz ratchets in a two-dimensionally modulated Dirac system

We report on the observation of the circular ratchet effect excited by terahertz laser radiation in a specially designed two-dimensional metamaterial consisting of a graphene monolayer deposited on a few-layer graphene gate patterned with an array of triangular antidots. We show that a periodically driven Dirac fermion system with spatial asymmetry converts the a.c. power into a d.c. current, whose direction reverses when the radiation helicity is switched. The circular ratchet effect is demonstrated for room temperature and a radiation frequency of 2.54 THz. It is shown that the ratchet current magnitude can be controllably tuned by the patterned and uniform back gate voltages. The results are analyzed in the light of the developed microscopic theory considering electronic and plasmonic mechanisms of the ratchet current formation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Microwave Photoconductivity of Gapless Dirac Fermions in HgTe Quantum Wells

The microwave photoconductivity of a system of gapless Dirac fermions in HgTe quantum wells with a critical thickness has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. It has been found that the photoconductivity fluctuates depending on the gate voltage near the Dirac point, and the fluctuation amplitude increases with an increase in the conductor size and a decrease in temperature. A theoretical explanation of the microwave response based on the assumption of the existence of a percolation two-dimensional fractal network of helical edge current states induced by fluctuations in the well thickness near the critical value has been proposed. It has been shown that the microwave photoconductivity of this network fluctuates with a change in the Fermi energy and the behavior of the fluctuation amplitude is in qualitative agreement with the corresponding experimental data.

Non-Hermitian Strongly Interacting Dirac Fermions.

Exotic quantum phases and phase transition in the strongly interacting Dirac systems have attracted tremendous interests. On the other hand, non-Hermitian physics, usually associated with dissipation arising from the coupling to environment, emerges as a frontier of modern physics in recent years. In this Letter, we investigate the interplay between non-Hermitian physics and strong correlation in Dirac-fermion systems. We generalize the projector quantum Monte-Carlo (PQMC) algorithm to the non-Hermitian interacting fermionic systems. Employing PQMC simulation, we decipher the ground-state phase diagram of the honeycomb Hubbard model with spin resolved non-Hermitian asymmetric hopping processes. The antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering induced by Hubbard interaction is enhanced by the non-Hermitian asymmetric hopping. Combining PQMC simulation and renormalization group analysis, we reveal that the quantum phase transition between Dirac semi-metal and AFM phases belongs to Hermitian chiral XY universality class, implying that a Hermitian Gross-Neveu transition is emergent at the quantum critical point although the model is non-Hermitian.

Chiral Anomalies in Organic Dirac Semimetals

A three-dimensional massless Dirac fermion system exhibiting broken chiral symmetry was successfully realized in organic conductor α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 under high pressures. Our study detected the chiral anomaly-induced negative magnetoresistance and planar Hall effects and opened new avenues for further advancements in the field.

Honeycomb antidot artificial lattice as a prototypical correlated Dirac fermion system

Honeycomb antidot artificial lattice as a prototypical correlated Dirac fermion system

Observations of ν = 1 Quantum Hall Effect and Inter-Band Effects of Magnetic Fields on Hall Conductivity in Organic Massless Dirac Fermion System α-(BETS)2I3 under Pressure

We investigated the magnetoresistance and the Hall effect in an organic massless Dirac fermion system α-(BETS)2I3 under pressure. The Fermi energy of this system is slightly far away from the Dirac points, and thus the ν = 1 quantum Hall state is realized in a low magnetic field at low temperatures. Moreover, the experimental formula for chemical potential as a function of temperature is clarified. We succeeded in detecting the inter-band effects of the magnetic field on the Hall conductivity when the chemical potential passes the Dirac points.

U(1)-symmetric Gaussian fermionic projected entangled paired states and their Gutzwiller projection

We develop a formalism for constructing particle-number-conserving Gaussian fermionic projected entangled pair states [U(1)-GfPEPS] and show that these states can describe ground states of band insulators and gapless fermions with band touching points. When using them as variational Ans\"{a}tze for two Dirac fermion systems ($\pi$-flux model on the square lattice and $[0,\pi]$-flux model on the kagome lattice), we find that the U(1)-GfPEPS, even with a relatively small bond dimension, can accurately approximate the Dirac Fermi sea ground states. By applying Gutzwiller projectors on top of these U(1)-GfPEPS, we obtain PEPS representation of U(1)-Dirac spin liquid states for spin-1/2 systems. With state-of-the-art tensor network numerics, the critical exponent in the spin-spin correlation function of the Gutzwiller-projected $\pi$-flux state is estimated to be $\eta \approx 1.7$.

Giant Density of States Enhancement Driven by a Zero-Mode Landau Level in Semimetallic Black Phosphorus under Pressure.

Dirac fermion systems form a unique Landau level at the Fermi level-the so-called zero mode-whose observation itself will provide strong evidence of the presence of Dirac dispersions. Here, we report the study of semimetallic black phosphorus under pressure by ^{31}P-nuclear magnetic resonance measurements in a wide range of magnetic field up to 24.0T. We have found a field-induced giant enhancement of 1/T_{1}T, where 1/T_{1} is the nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate: 1/T_{1}T at 24.0T reaches more than 20 times larger than that at 2.0T. The increase in 1/T_{1}T above 6.5T is approximately proportional to the squared field, implying a linear relationship between the density of states and the field. We also found that, while 1/T_{1}T at a constant field is independent of temperature in the low-temperature region, it steeply increases with temperature above 100K. All these phenomena are well explained by considering the effect of Landau quantization on three-dimensional Dirac fermions. The present study demonstrates that 1/T_{1} is an excellent quantity to probe the zero-mode Landau level and to identify the dimensionality of the Dirac fermion system.

Broken-Symmetry Quantum Hall State in an Organic Dirac Fermion System

The researchers observed an ν = 1 quantum Hall plateau in the layered organic Dirac fermion system, α-(BETS)2I3, with finite natural doping. This provides evidence that the SU(4) symmetry of the N = 0 Landau level is spontaneously broken because of electron–electron interactions and the Zeeman effect.

Transport anisotropy and metal-insulator transition in striped Dirac fermion systems

Using the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method, we investigate the metal-insulator transitions induced by the stripe of charge density in an interacting two-dimensional Dirac fermion system. The stripe will introduce the transport anisotropy and insulating intermediate phase into the system, accompanied by the change of band structure and a peak of density of states around Fermi energy. In the case of strong correlation, stripe exhibits competition with Coulomb repulsion through closing the energy gap and disrupting the magnetic order and finally drives the system in the Mott insulating phase back to the metallic state. Our results may provide a feasible way to modify transport properties by setting charge stripes in experiments.

Emergent antiferromagnetism in Y-shaped Kekulé graphene

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) transitions of birefringent Dirac fermions created by a Y-shaped Kekul\'e distortion in graphene are investigated by mean-field theory and determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the quantum critical point can be continuously tuned by the bond-modulation strength, and the universality of the quantum criticality remains in the Gross-Neveu-Heisenberg class. The critical interaction scales with the geometric average of the two velocities of the birefringent Dirac cones, and decreases monotonically between the uniform and completely depleted limits. Since the AFM critical interaction can be tuned to very small values, antiferromagnetism may emerge automatically, realizing the long-sought magnetism in graphene. These results enrich our understanding of the semimetal-AFM transitions in Dirac-fermion systems, and open a route to achieve magnetism in graphene.

Robust orbital diamagnetism in correlated Dirac fermions

We study orbital diamagnetism at zero temperature in (2 + 1)-dimensional Dirac fermions with a short-range interaction which exhibits a quantum phase transition to a charge density wave (CDW) phase. We introduce orbital magnetic fields into spinless Dirac fermions on the π-flux square lattice, and analyze them by using infinite density matrix renormalization group. It is found that the diamagnetism remains intact in the Dirac semimetal regime, while it is monotonically suppressed in the CDW regime. Around the quantum critical point of the CDW phase transition, we find a scaling behavior of the diamagnetism characteristic of the chiral Ising universality class. Besides, the scaling analysis implies that the robust orbital diamagnetism at weak magnetic fields in a Dirac semimetal regime would hold not only in our model but also in other interacting Dirac fermion systems as long as scaling regions are wide enough. The scaling behavior may also be regarded as a quantum, magnetic analogue of the critical Casimir effect which has been widely studied for classical phase transitions.

Critical structure and emergent symmetry of Dirac fermion systems

Emergent symmetry in Dirac system means that the system acquires an enlargement of two basic symmetries at some special critical point. The continuous quantum criticality between the two symmetry broken phases can be described within the framework of Gross–Neveu–Yukawa (GNY) model. Using the first-order ε expansion in dimensions, we study the critical structure and emergent symmetry of the O(N)-GNY model with N f flavors of four-component Dirac fermions coupled strongly to an O(N) scalar field under a small O(N)-symmetry breaking perturbation. After determining the stable fixed point, we calculate the inverse correlation length exponent and the anomalous dimensions (bosonic and fermionic) for general N and N f . Further, we discuss the emergent-symmetry and the emergent supersymmetric critical point for on the basis of O(N)-GNY model. It turns out that the O(N)-GNY universality class is physically meaningful if and only if . On this premise, the small O(N)-symmetry breaking perturbation is always irrelevant in the O(N)-GNY universality class. Our studies show that the emergent symmetry in Dirac systems has an upper limit , depending on the flavor numbers N f . As a result, the emergent-O(4) and O(5) symmetries are possible to be found in Dirac systems with fermion flavor , and the emergent-O(4), O(5), O(6) and O(7) symmetries are expected to be found in the systems with fermion flavor . Our result suggests some richer transitions with emergent- symmetry, and so on. Interestingly, in the O(4)-GNY universality class, we find that there is a new supersymmetric critical point which is expected to be found in Dirac systems with fermion flavor .

Magnetic phase transition in disordered interacting Dirac fermion systems via the Zeeman field

Using the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method, we investigate the antiferromagnetic phase transition that is induced by the Zeeman field in a disordered interacting two-dimensional Dirac fermion system. At a fixed interaction strength $U$, the antiferromagnetic correlation is enhanced as the magnetic field increases and, when the magnetic field is larger than a ${B}_{c}(U)$, the antiferromagnetic correlation shall be suppressed by the increased magnetic field. The impact of Zeeman field $B$, Coulomb repulsion $U$, and disorder $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ is not isolated. The intensity of magnetic field effect on the antiferromagnetic correlation shall be strongly suppressed by disorder. Differently, it will be promoted by weak interaction, but, when $U$ becomes larger than ${U}_{c}=4.5$, the increased interaction will suppress the intensity of this effect and here ${U}_{c}=4.5$ coincides with the critical strength inducing the metal-Mott insulator transition in a clean system. Moreover, at a fixed magnetic field $B$, strong interaction shall suppress the antiferromagnetic phase rather than promote it.

Coupled system of Dirac fermions with different Fermi velocities via composites of SUSY operators

We use the framework of supersymmetric transformations in the construction of coupled systems of Dirac fermions. Its energy operator is a composite of the generators of the associated superalgebra, and the two coupled Dirac fermions acquire different Fermi velocities. We discuss in detail the peculiar spectral properties of the new system. The emergent phenomena like level crossing or generation of bound states in the continuum (BICs) are illustrated in two explicit examples.

Quantum Anomaly in a Dirac Fermion System with Spacetime Dependent Mass

Scientists investigate quantum anomalies in a system of Dirac fermions with spacetime dependent mass and show that the anomaly formulas can be expressed in terms of superconnections.

Observation of possible nonlinear anomalous Hall effect in organic two-dimensional Dirac fermion system

We report the observation of nonlinear anomalous Hall effect (NLAHE) in the multilayered organic conductor α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 in the charge order (CO) insulating phase just under the critical pressure for transition into two-dimensional (2D) massless Dirac fermion (DF) phase. We successfully extracted the finite nonlinear Hall voltage proportional to square current at zero magnetic field. The observed NLAHE features, current direction dependence and correlation with CO, are consistent with the previous estimation assuming 2D massive DF with a pair of tilted Dirac cones. This is the first observation of topological transport in organic conductors, and also the first example of NLAHE in the electronic phase with spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Quantum Hydrodynamics of Spinning Particles in Electromagnetic and Torsion Fields

We develop a many-particle quantum-hydrodynamical model of fermion matter interacting with the external classical electromagnetic and gravitational/inertial and torsion fields. The consistent hydrodynamical formulation is constructed for the many-particle quantum system of Dirac fermions on the basis of the nonrelativistic Pauli-like equation obtained via the Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation. With the help of the Madelung decomposition approach, the explicit relations between the microscopic and macroscopic fluid variables are derived. The closed system of equations of quantum hydrodynamics encompasses the continuity equation, and the dynamical equations of the momentum balance and the spin density evolution. The possible experimental manifestations of the torsion in the dynamics of spin waves is discussed.