Vertex Corrections Research Articles

The electric conductivity of a pion gas

The determination of transport coefficients plays a central role in characterizing hot and dense nuclear matter. In the present work we calculate the electric conductivity of hot hadronic matter by extracting it from the ρ meson spectral function, as its zero-energy limit at vanishing momentum. Using hadronic many-body theory, we calculate the ρ meson self-energy in a pion gas. This requires the dressing of the pion propagators in the ρ self-energy with π-ρ loops, and the inclusion of vertex corrections to maintain gauge invariance. The resulting spectral function is used to calculate the electric conductivity of hot hadronic matter. In particular, we analyze the transport peak of the spectral function and extract its behavior with temperature and coupling strength. Our results suggest that, while obeying lower bounds proposed by conformal field theories in the strong-coupling limit, hot pion matter is a strongly-coupled medium.

Nonlinear Correction to Absorption Spectrum under Irradiation of Microwave Field in Conventional BCS Superconductors

We investigate the absorption spectrum of s-wave superconductors under microwave pump field irradiation. The third-order response function is calculated in the dirty limit with the electron–phonon interaction included at finite temperatures. We find that the nonlinear correction to the linear absorption shows peculiar behavior when the pump field frequency is smaller than the superconducting gap. At finite temperatures, a negative nonlinear correction exists, which is caused by thermally excited quasiparticles. The vertex correction by impurity scattering is found to contain a dissipation mechanism by inelastic scattering (interaction between electrons and acoustic phonons) or nonlocality. We need this mechanism to obtain finite absorption in a nonequilibrium stationary state under a monochromatic external field. Although this term originates from the deformation of a one-particle state, there is also a final-state interaction (the amplitude mode). The latter term represents two-photon excitation and is a...

Optical conductivity from pair density waves

We present a theory of optical conductivity in systems with finite-momentum Cooper pairs. In contrast to the BCS pairing where AC conductivity is purely imaginary in the clean limit, there is nonzero AC absorption across the superconducting gap for finite-momentum pairing if we break the Galilean symmetry explicitly in the electronic Hamiltonian. Vertex correction is crucial for maintaining the gauge invariance in the mean-field formalism and dramatically changes the optical conductivity in the direction of the pairing momentum. We carried out a self-consistent calculation and gave an explicit formula for optical conductivity in a simple case. This result applies to the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state and candidates with pair density waves proposed for High- Tc cuprates. It may help detect PDW and determine the pairing gap as well as the direction of the pairing momentum in experiments.

Three-point vertex functions in Yang-Mills Theory and QCD in Landau gauge

Solutions for the three-gluon and quark-gluon vertices from Dyson-Schwinger equations and the three-particle irreducible formalism are discussed. Dynamical quarks (``unquenching'') change the three-gluon vertex via the quark-triangle diagrams which themselves include fully dressed quark-gluon vertex functions. On the other hand, the quark-swordfish diagram is, at least with the model used for the two-quark-two-gluon vertex employed here, of minor importance. For the leading tensor structure of the three-gluon vertex the "unquenching" effect can be summarized for the nonperturbative part as a shift of the related dressing function towards the infrared.

Non-perturbative Production Rate of Photons with a Lattice Quark Propagator: Effect of Vertex Correction

We analyze the production rate of photons from the thermal medium above the deconfinement temperature with a quark propagator obtained from a lattice QCD numerical simulation. The photon-quark vertex is determined gauge-invariantly, so as to satisfy the Ward-Takahashi identity. The obtained photon production rate shows a suppression compared to perturbative results.

Nonlinear light–Higgs coupling in superconductors beyond BCS: Effects of the retarded phonon-mediated interaction

We study the contribution of the Higgs amplitude mode on the nonlinear optical response of superconductors beyond the BCS approximation by taking into account the retardation effect in the phonon-mediated attractive interaction. To evaluate the vertex correction in nonlinear optical susceptibilities that contains the effect of collective modes, we propose an efficient scheme which we call the "dotted DMFT" based on the nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory (nonequilibrium DMFT) to go around the difficulty of solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation and analytical continuation. The vertex correction is represented by the derivative of the self-energy with respect to the external driving field, which is self-consistently determined by the differentiated ("dotted") DMFT equations. We apply the method to the Holstein model, a prototypical electron-phonon-coupled system, to calculate the susceptibility for the third-harmonic generation including the vertex correction. The results show that, in sharp contrast to the BCS theory, the Higgs mode can contribute to the third-harmonic generation for general polarization of the laser field with an order of magnitude comparable to the contribution from the pair breaking or charge density fluctuations. The physical origin is traced back to the nonlinear resonant light-Higgs coupling, which has been absent in the BCS approximation.

Isotope shift of the ferromagnetic transition temperature in itinerant ferromagnets

We present a theory of the isotope effect of the Curie temperature Tc in itinerant ferromagnets. The isotope effect in ferromagnets occurs via the electron–phonon vertex correction and the effective attractive interaction mediated by the electron–phonon interaction. The decrease of the Debye frequency increases the relative strength of the Coulomb interaction, which results in a positive isotope shift of Tc when the mass M of an atom increases. Following this picture, we evaluate the isotope effect of Tc by using the Stoner theory and a spin-fluctuation theory. When Tc is large enough as large as or more than 100 K, the isotope effect on Tc can be measurable. Recently, precise measurements on the oxygen isotope effect on Tc have been performed for itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO3 with Tc∼160 K. A clear isotope effect has been observed with the positive shift of Tc∼1 K by isotope substitution (O16→O18). This experimental result is consistent with our theory.

Role of vertex corrections in the matrix formulation of the random phase approximation for the multiorbital Hubbard model

In the framework of a multiorbital Hubbard model description of superconductivity, a matrix formulation of the superconducting pairing interaction that has been widely used is designed to treat spin, charge and orbital fluctuations within a random phase approximation (RPA). In terms of Feynman diagrams, this takes into account particle-hole ladder and bubble contributions as expected. It turns out, however, that this matrix formulation also generates additional terms which have the diagrammatic structure of vertex corrections. Here we examine these terms and discuss the relationship between the matrix-RPA superconducting pairing interaction and the Feynman diagrams that it sums.

Revisiting the equivalence of light-front and covariant QED in the light-cone gauge

We discuss the equivalence between light-front time-ordered-perturbation theory and covariant quantum field theory in light-front quantization, in the case of quantum electrodynamics at one-loop level. In particular, we review the one-loop calculation of the vertex correction, fermion self-energy and vacuum polarization. We apply the procedure of integration by residue over the light-front energy in the loop to show how the perturbative expansion in covariant terms can be reduced to a sum of propagating and instantaneous diagrams of light-front time-ordered perturbation theory. The detailed proof of equivalence between the two formulations of the theory resolves the controversial question on which form should be used for the gauge-field propagator in the light-cone gauge in the covariant approach.

Nonperturbative landscape of the Mott-Hubbard transition: Multiple divergence lines around the critical endpoint

We analyze the highly nonperturbative regime surrounding the Mott-Hubbard metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) by means of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) calculations at the two-particle level. By extending the results of Sch\"afer et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 246405 (2013)] we show the existence of infinitely many lines in the phase diagram of the Hubbard model where the local Bethe-Salpeter equations, and the related irreducible vertex functions, become singular in the charge as well as the particle-particle channel. By comparing our numerical data for the Hubbard model with analytical calculations for exactly solvable systems of increasing complexity [disordered binary mixture (BM), Falicov-Kimball (FK), and atomic limit (AL)], we have (i) identified two different kinds of divergence lines; (ii) classified them in terms of the frequency structure of the associated singular eigenvectors; and (iii) investigated their relation to the emergence of multiple branches in the Luttinger-Ward functional. In this way, we could distinguish the situations where the multiple divergences simply reflect the emergence of an underlying, single energy scale ${\ensuremath{\nu}}^{*}$ below which perturbation theory is no longer applicable, from those where the breakdown of perturbation theory affects, not trivially, different energy regimes. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results on the theoretical understanding of the nonperturbative physics around the MIT and for future developments of many-body algorithms applicable in this regime.

Bilayer honeycomb lattice with ultracold atoms: Multiple Fermi surfaces and incommensurate spin density wave instability

We propose an experimental setup using ultracold atoms to implement a bilayer honeycomb lattice with Bernal stacking. In presence of a potential bias between the layers and at low densities, Fermions placed in this lattice form an annular Fermi sea. The presence of two Fermi surfaces leads to interesting patterns in Friedel oscillations and RKKY interactions in presence of impurities. Furthermore, a repulsive fermion-fermion interaction leads to a Stoner instability towards an incommensurate spin-density-wave order with a wave vector equal to the thickness of the Fermi sea. The instability occurs at a critical interaction strength which goes down with the density of the fermions. We find that the instability survives interaction renormalization due to vertex corrections and discuss how this can be seen in experiments. We also track the renormalization group flows of the different couplings between the fermionic degrees of freedom, and find that there are no perturbative instabilities, and that Stoner instability is the strongest instability which occurs at a critical threshold value of the interaction. The critical interaction goes to zero as the chemical potential is tuned towards the band bottom.

Quantitative analysis of nonadiabatic effects in dense H3S and PH3 superconductors.

The comparison study of high pressure superconducting state of recently synthesized H3S and PH3 compounds are conducted within the framework of the strong-coupling theory. By generalization of the standard Eliashberg equations to include the lowest-order vertex correction, we have investigated the influence of the nonadiabatic effects on the Coulomb pseudopotential, electron effective mass, energy gap function and on the 2Δ(0)/TC ratio. We found that, for a fixed value of critical temperature (178 K for H3S and 81 K for PH3), the nonadiabatic corrections reduce the Coulomb pseudopotential for H3S from 0.204 to 0.185 and for PH3 from 0.088 to 0.083, however, the electron effective mass and ratio 2Δ(0)/TC remain unaffected. Independently of the assumed method of analysis, the thermodynamic parameters of superconducting H3S and PH3 strongly deviate from the prediction of BCS theory due to the strong-coupling and retardation effects.

Anisotropic non-Fermi liquids

We study non-Fermi liquid states that arise at the quantum critical points associated with the spin density wave (SDW) and charge density wave (CDW) transitions in metals with twofold rotational symmetry. We use the dimensional regularization scheme, where a one-dimensional Fermi surface is embedded in $3-\epsilon$ dimensional momentum space. In three dimensions, quasilocal marginal Fermi liquids arise both at the SDW and CDW critical points : the speed of the collective mode along the ordering wavevector is logarithmically renormalized to zero compared to that of Fermi velocity. Below three dimensions, however, the SDW and CDW critical points exhibit drastically different behaviors. At the SDW critical point, a stable anisotropic non-Fermi liquid state is realized for small $\epsilon$, where not only time but also different spatial coordinates develop distinct anomalous dimensions. The non-Fermi liquid exhibits an emergent algebraic nesting as the patches of Fermi surface are deformed into a universal power-law shape near the hot spots. Due to the anisotropic scaling, the energy of incoherent spin fluctuations disperse with different power laws in different momentum directions. At the CDW critical point, on the other hand, the perturbative expansion breaks down immediately below three dimensions as the interaction renormalizes the speed of charge fluctuations to zero within a finite renormalization group scale through a two-loop effect. The difference originates from the fact that the vertex correction anti-screens the coupling at the SDW critical point whereas it screens at the CDW critical point.

Hole-s± State Induced by Coexisting Ferro- and Antiferromagnetic and Antiferro-orbital Fluctuations in Iron Pnictides

The multi-orbital Hubbard model is investigated in order to clarify the electron correlation effects and the superconductivity in the iron-based superconductor. The renormalization effects on the self-energy and the two-particle irreducible vertex function are calculated on the basis of the dynamical mean field theory. We find that the vertex function exhibits a strong renormalization with the significant orbital dependence as compared with the renormalization factor, when the antiferromagnetic and the antiferro-orbital fluctuations are comparably enhanced due to the electron and the hole Fermi surfaces nesting effects. The orbital-dependent vertex function together with the $q\sim0$ nesting between the two-hole Fermi surfaces results in the inter-orbital ferromagnetic fluctuation gradually enhanced which is expected to be observed in LiFeAs. We show that the hole-$s_{\pm}$-wave superconductivity with the sign change of the two-hole Fermi surfaces is realized by the enhanced ferromagnetic fluctuation accompanied by the antiferromagnetic fluctuation and the antiferro-orbital fluctuation.

Vertex Corrections for Positive-Definite Spectral Functions of Simple Metals.

We present a systematic study of vertex corrections in a homogeneous electron gas at metallic densities. The vertex diagrams are built using a recently proposed positive-definite diagrammatic expansion for the spectral function. The vertex function not only provides corrections to the well known plasmon and particle-hole scatterings, but also gives rise to new physical processes such as the generation of two plasmon excitations or the decay of the one-particle state into a two-particle-one-hole state. By an efficient Monte Carlo momentum integration we are able to show that the additional scattering channels are responsible for a reduction of the bandwidth, the appearance of a secondary plasmon satellite below the Fermi level, and a substantial redistribution of spectral weights. The feasibility of the approach for first-principles band-structure calculations is also discussed.

Covariant Spectator Theory of heavy–light and heavy mesons and the predictive power of covariant interaction kernels

The Covariant Spectator Theory (CST) is used to calculate the mass spectrum and vertex functions of heavy-light and heavy mesons in Minkowski space. The covariant kernel contains Lorentz scalar, pseudoscalar, and vector contributions. The numerical calculations are performed in momentum space, where special care is taken to treat the strong singularities present in the confining kernel. The observed meson spectrum is very well reproduced after fitting a small number of model parameters. Remarkably, a fit to a few pseudoscalar meson states only, which are insensitive to spin-orbit and tensor forces and do not allow to separate the spin-spin from the central interaction, leads to essentially the same model parameters as a more general fit. This demonstrates that the covariance of the chosen interaction kernel is responsible for the very accurate prediction of the spin-dependent quark-antiquark interactions.

Dual origin of pairing in nuclei

The pairing correlations of the nucleus 120Sn are calculated by solving the Nambu–Gor’kov equations, including medium polarization effects resulting from the interweaving of quasiparticles, spin and density vibrations, taking into account, within the framework of nuclear field theory (NFT), processes leading to self-energy and vertex corrections and to the induced pairing interaction. From these results one can not only demonstrate the inevitability of the dual origin of pairing in nuclei, but also extract information which can be used at profit to quantitatively disentangle the contributions to the pairing gap Δ arising from the bare and from the induced pairing interaction. The first is the strong 1 S 0 short-range NN potential resulting from meson exchange between nucleons moving in time reversal states within an energy range of hundreds of MeV from the Fermi energy. The second results from the exchange of vibrational modes between nucleons moving within few MeV from the Fermi energy. Short- (v p bare) and long-range (v p ind) pairing interactions contribute essentially equally to nuclear Cooper pair stability. That is to the breaking of gauge invariance in open-shell superfluid nuclei and thus to the order parameter, namely to the ground state expectation value of the pair creation operator. In other words, to the emergent property of generalized rigidity in gauge space, and associated rotational bands and Cooper pair tunneling between members of these bands.

BCS theory of driven superconductivity

We study the impact of a time-dependent external driving of the lattice phonons in a minimal model of a BCS superconductor. Upon evaluating the driving-induced vertex corrections of the phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction, we show that parametric phonon driving can be used to elevate the critical temperature $T_c$, while a dipolar phonon drive has no effect. We provide simple analytic expressions for the enhancement factor of $T_c$. Furthermore, a mean-field analysis of a nonlinear phonon-phonon interaction also shows that phonon anharmonicities further amplify $T_c$. Our results hold universally for the large class of normal BCS superconductors.

Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions in metals

An accurate and consistent theory of phonons in metals requires that all long-range Coulomb interactions between charged particles (electrons and ions) be treated on equal footing. So far, all attempts to deal with this non-perturbative system were relying on uncontrolled approximations in the absence of small parameters. In this work, we develop the Diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach for a two-component Coulomb system that obtains the solution to this fundamental problem in an approximation free way by computing vertex corrections from higher-order skeleton graphs. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated by calculating the spectrum of longitudinal acoustic phonons in a simple cubic lattice, determining their sound velocity, and obtaining the phonon spectral densities by analytic continuation of the Matsubara Green's functions. Final results are checked against the lowest-order fully self-consistent GW-approximation in both adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes.

Abinitio Electronic Structure of Liquid Water.

Self-consistent GW calculations with efficient vertex corrections are employed to determine the electronic structure of liquid water. Nuclear quantum effects are taken into account through abinitio path-integral molecular dynamics simulations. We reveal a sizable band-gap renormalization of up to 0.7eV due to hydrogen-bond quantum fluctuations. Our calculations lead to a band gap of 8.9eV, in accord with the experimental estimate. We further resolve the ambiguities in the band-edge positions of liquid water. The valence-band maximum and the conduction-band minimum are found at -9.4 and -0.5 eV with respect to the vacuum level, respectively.