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Physics Condensed Matter Strongly Correlated Electrons

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Monday 7 September

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Vertical quantum confinement in bulk MoS$_2$

We experimentally observe quantum confinement states in bulk MoS$_2$ using Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES). The band structure at the $\overline{\Gamma}$ point reveals quantum well states (QWSs) linked to vertical quantum confinement of the electrons, confirmed by the absence of dispersion in k$_z$ and a strong intensity modulation with photon energy. Notably, the binding energy dependence of the QWSs vs $n$ does not follow the quadratic dependence of a two-dimensional electron gas. Instead, a linear behaviour is observed that is consistent with a parabolic-like quantum well. This confinement arises from the mechanical exfoliation preparation method, which leads to the detachment of a multilayer stack from the underlying bulk. This is confirmed by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The quantum confinement in bulk-like MoS$_2$ not only offers the opportunity to explore intersubband transitions to exploit optical properties but also provides a means to study fundamental quantum phenomena in multilayer stacks of different thicknesses.
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All authors Jairo Obando-Guevara, Álvaro González-García, Marcin Rosmus, Natalia Olszowska, César González, Miguel Ángel González-Barrio, Antonio Tejeda, Arantzazu Mascaraque

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Hysteretic Coherence Collapse Across the First Order CDW Transition in 1T-TaS2

The first order phase transition between the nearly commensurate (NC-CDW) and commensurate (C-CDW) charge density wave phases in 1T-TaS2 underpins its exotic electronic behavior, yet the spectroscopic evolution of the low energy electronic structure across this transition remains crucial to understand. Using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we investigate the low temperature C-CDW phase, characterized by a flat band commonly associated with the lower Hubbard band and a distinct in-gap state located closer to the Fermi level. Photon energy dependent measurements distinguish these two low energy features through their different spectral weight evolution. Temperature dependent ARPES across heating and cooling cycles reveals that the in-gap state undergoes an abrupt collapse upon heating into the NC-CDW phase and re-emerges sharply upon cooling back into the C-CDW phase. This pronounced thermal hysteresis provides direct spectroscopic evidence of the first order nature of the transition. Furthermore, the disappearance and recovery of the in-gap state closely track the corresponding changes in resistivity, highlighting its intimate connection to the electronic reconstruction across the C-CDW/NC-CDW phase transition.
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All authors Turgut Yilmaz, Anil Rajapitamahuni, Asish K. Kundu, Menka Jain, Elio Vescovo

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from hep-th

Truncated Polyakov bootstrap for BCFTs: Neumann-Dirichlet flow and Ising special transition

We extend the recently proposed truncated Polyakov bootstrap to boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs). The formalism uses the analytic functional framework to find approximate solutions of BCFT crossing. We show that a generic nonperturbative solution can be identified by relating it to a family of deformations around generalized free fields (GFF) with a fixed boundary condition. We show this by tracking the flow of BCFT data from GFF with Neumann boundary condition to that with Dirichlet. The same method is then used for the 3d Ising special transition, using the perturbative Wilson-Fisher description as the deformation to identify it. The BCFT data obtained are in remarkable agreement with existing lattice results where available, and are otherwise new.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from hep-ph

Quantum-Geometric Meissner Effect in Magnetized Color Superconductors

We find a quantum-geometric Meissner response in magnetized two-flavor color-superconducting (2SC) quark matter. Landau quantization quenches the transverse quasiparticle dispersion, suppressing the conventional Fermi-surface contribution and giving rise to a Meissner response governed by the quantum geometry of the Landau levels. In the strong-field regime, the response becomes dominated by the quantum metric of the lowest Landau level (LLL), and the leading scaling of the transverse Meissner mass is consequently set by the pairing gap, in contrast to the chemical potential scaling of conventional color superconductors. This unconventional scaling has a topological origin, as the LLL quantum metric is constrained by its Chern number. The reduced transverse Meissner mass provides potential implications for kHz quasi-periodic oscillations in magnetars.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Restricted typicality in non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems

Characterizing the time evolution of generic quantum many-body systems is a fundamental challenge, as representing the exact state requires exponentially scaling computational resources. While hydrodynamics and statistical mechanics successfully simplify this task by predicting the expectation values of local observables, these macroscopic frameworks provide no information about nonlinear characteristics of the quantum state. In this work, we demonstrate that for systems exhibiting a timescale separation, with dynamics governed by the transport of conserved charges, this lost information can be systematically recovered. By constraining the maximum-entropy Scrooge ensemble solely by the system's slow modes, we accurately reconstruct complex, nonlinear quantum properties of the global time-evolved state, including the half-chain entanglement entropy and the participation entropy in the computational basis. Our results generalize the paradigm of canonical typicality, revealing that a hydrodynamically bottlenecked system behaves as a typical pure state within a dynamically restricted submanifold of the Hilbert space - a phenomenon we term global restricted typicality.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons

Exact fermionic dual of the Bose-Hubbard model

Recent developments have established exact bosonization and fermionization with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry as dualities through gauging. In this work, we apply fermionic gauging, which realizes generalized Jordan-Wigner transformations, to the Bose-Hubbard (BH) model with a global $U(1)$ symmetry and derive an exact dual description in terms of fermionic composites, built from bosons and fermions. In 1D, this duality generalizes the exact mapping between the extended hard-core BH model and the spinless Fermi-Hubbard model to include soft-core bosons. At low energies, the mapping reduces to the well-known equivalence between the sine-Gordon model and the Thirring model. The oscillation wave vector of the fermionic composite correlation function in the gapless phase is fixed by their density, providing a novel manifestation of Luttinger's theorem. We verify the exact duality using density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations and demonstrate that the gapless phase and the phase transition are governed by the compact boson conformal field theory. Our construction naturally extends to generic bosonic systems and higher dimensions, opening new avenues for studying Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices and other strongly correlated quantum systems.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Topology Obstructs Pure Foundation Neural Quantum States

Foundation models for ground states in spin-1/2 systems are a promising method for problems ranging from quantum chemistry to identifying new phase diagrams. Nearly all such models are currently pure-states that condition on the Hamiltonian's parameters, whose Monte Carlo samples give energy estimates according to the variational principle. In this contribution, we show that this representation is topologically obstructed. For any gapped Hamiltonian family whose ground-state bundle is non-trivial, every continuous normalized state-vector model has zero fidelity with the ground state at some parameter value in the Hamiltonian family. For that value, the energy is at least one spectral gap, $\Delta$, with an $O(\Delta)$ gap in an open-neighbourhood of that point. We show that this is a sufficient no-go also in the case of degenerate ground-state manifolds, time dynamics, and periodic systems with mixed space-time topology, demonstrating these obstructions on one- and two-qubit systems. We discuss how this causes a spike in the fidelity susceptibility, giving a numerical signature of a phase-transition where there is none. We then show that operator-valued models canonically avoid these obstructions and preserve topological information, implying a structural necessity in representation for foundation neural quantum states.
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All authors Timothy Heightman, Elena Orlova, Philip Mantrov, Aleksei Ustimenko

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Geometry Dependence of Error Thresholds in Two-Dimensional Toric Codes

We investigate how the lattice geometry influences the error thresholds of two-dimensional toric codes. In the presence of bit- or phase-flip errors, the toric code maps onto the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model (RBIM). We determine the critical behaviour of the RBIM using replica-exchange Monte Carlo simulations. While previous studies have explored thresholds for general lattice geometries under suboptimal decoders such as minimum-weight perfect matching, the rapid development of near-optimal decoders makes resolving the ultimate, maximum-likelihood code capacity relevant. We compute these optimal error thresholds on the Nishimori line for the square, honeycomb, triangular, dice, and kagome lattices. Owing to lattice duality, the phase-flip threshold on a given lattice is equivalent to the bit-flip threshold on its dual. We find that the optimal thresholds of dual-lattice pairs display a characteristic duality-driven splitting around the self-dual square-lattice, mirroring the qualitative behaviour observed for suboptimal decoders. While the average coordination number has the strongest impact on the error threshold, our results demonstrate that the detailed arrangement of vertices and plaquettes also plays a significant role in determining its precise value.
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All authors D. Lessing, A. Langheld, C. Krämer, J.A. Koziol, K.P. Schmidt

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Raman signatures of a non-reciprocal magnetic phase transition in Ca$_2$RuO$_4$

The magnetic behavior of Ca$_2$RuO$_4$ represents a unique puzzle due to the interplay of strong electronic correlations, magneto-elastic interactions, and large spin-orbit coupling. At low temperatures, an anomalous Mott insulating state emerges, characterized by a complex antiferromagnetic order with a collective amplitude excitation of the magnetic moment which has been discussed in analogy with the Higgs mode. We report here evidence of a magnetic first-order phase transition driven by an out-of-plane magnetic field along the crystallographic $c$-axis of Ca$_2$RuO$_4$. Raman measurements in magnetic field reveal the emergence of mode of magnetic origin and a concomitant modification of the coupling between a phonon and the Higgs amplitude mode. Both the Raman features are characterized by a non-reciprocal hysteresis in magnetic field. Surprisingly, the observed phase transition does not affect the Raman scattering from the in-plane magnons, indicating that the dipolar antiferromagnetic order is preserved. This is consistent with the onset of a new quadrupolar field-controlled state, whose fluctuations structure can trigger an hybridization between the lattice and the magnetic Higgs mode resulting in the observed Raman features.
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All authors Giacomo Jarc, Giovanni Tartaglia, Francesco Gabriele, Filomena Forte, Anita Guarino, Angela Montanaro, Enrico Maria Rigoni, Nitesh Khatiwada, Costanza Lincetto, Gabriele Bartolini, Antonio Mastropasqua, Shahla Yasmin Mathengattil, Marco Malvestuto, Muhammad Waqee Ur Rehman, Rosalba Fittipaldi, Joachim Deisenhofer, Alexander A. Tsirlin, Antonio Vecchione, Mario Cuoco, Daniele Fausti

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Coupled structural and electronic evolution under pressure in CuIr2Se4, CuRh2S4, and CuRh2Se4

Spinel chalcogenides provide a platform for investigating the interplay among metallic, superconducting, and pressure-induced insulating states. Here, we combine synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and electrical-resistivity measurements to investigate the pressure evolution of CuIr2Se4, CuRh2S4, and CuRh2Se4 over pressure ranges extending beyond those previously explored. High-pressure diffraction reveals closely related monoclinic supercells in all three compounds. For CuIr2Se4 and CuRh2S4, constrained profile fits based on structural models relaxed using density functional theory are compatible with Phase-IV-type bond-disproportionated structures, whereas the data for CuRh2Se4 establish a compatible monoclinic unit cell without resolving its atomic-scale ordering pattern. Insulating-like transport develops abruptly over a narrow pressure range in CuIr2Se4 but more gradually over broader pressure ranges in the Rh-based compounds, in close correspondence with their respective structural transformations. We also establish previously unreported bulk superconductivity in CuIr2Se4 at ambient pressure: zero resistance is attained at 0.29 K, and the accompanying ac diamagnetic response is consistent with nearly complete superconducting shielding. These results establish a close relationship between the formation of the high-pressure monoclinic phases and the evolution toward insulating transport, and demonstrate that transition-metal and chalcogen substitutions tune the characteristic pressure scales and the competition with superconductivity within a closely related structural framework.
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All authors M. Emi, M. Shiomi, K. Kojima, K. Sugimoto, T. Karasawa, H. Suzuki, M. Takahashi, K. Oka, H. Kadobayashi, S. Kawaguchi-Imada, N. Hirao, T. Ohashi, D. Ito, T. Kubo, M. Matsushita, M. Nohara, K. Matsubayashi, N. Katayama

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Restoring the Surface Magnetic Gap in MnBi$_2$Te$_4$

A widespread experimental realization of quantized anomalous transport in the intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ is hindered by its elusive surface magnetic gap. Uncovering the origin of the gapless states is essential for accessing its topological properties. Here we show that surface defects lower the electrostatic potential, drive topological surface states into subsurface layers, suppress exchange interactions, thereby closing the gap. Tuning the surface electrostatic potential via external electric fields or interfacial fields in van der Waals heterostructures restores the expected gap and enables control of its topology. This is confirmed by model calculations and validated in defective MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ films interfaced with polar insulators, explaining the enhanced quantum anomalous Hall effect under AlO$_x$ capping observed in recent experiments. Our theory identifies electrostatically driven surface-state delocalization as a competitive origin of gap suppression and proposes displacement-field engineering for robust quantized transport.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons

Spin–orbit-enhanced correlation sensitivity and anomalous magnetic response in non-dimerized $4d^4$ ilmenite CdRuO$_3$

We report the synthesis and physical properties of CdRuO$_3$, a nominal Ru$^{4+}$ $4d^4$ ilmenite with edge-sharing RuO$_6$ honeycomb layers. Powder X-ray diffraction establishes a crystallographically non-dimerized $R\bar{3}$ structure with equivalent Ru-Ru bonds and a strongly distorted RuO$_6$ environment. The compacted-pellet resistivity is nonmetallic but non-Arrhenius, while the heat capacity contains a finite residual linear term. Matched nonmagnetic calculations show that PBE+$U$ without spin-orbit coupling remains metallic or semimetallic up to $U_{\mathrm{eff}} = 3$ eV, whereas PBE+SOC+$U$ exhibits a strong $U_{\mathrm{eff}}$ dependence and opens a direct gap of approximately 55 meV at $\Gamma$ for $U_{\mathrm{eff}} = 2.5$ eV. Spin-orbit coupling therefore markedly enhances the correlation sensitivity of the non-cubic Ru $t_{2g}$ manifold. After subtraction of a dilute Curie-Weiss defect contribution, the susceptibility remains weakly nonmonotonic and is inconsistent with both an ordinary Pauli response and independent spin-only $S = 1$ moments. CdRuO$_3$ thus realizes the non-dimerized structural branch predicted for ruthenium ilmenites, but not a simple robust multiorbital metal.
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Sunday 6 September

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Ginzburg-Landau Theory for Non-Invertible Symmetry-Breaking Transitions

Recently, a generalized Landau paradigm has been proposed, in which a broad class of "unconventional" phase transitions lying beyond the original symmetry-breaking framework of Landau are understood as the symmetry-breaking transitions of generalized symmetries. In particular, in (1+1)D, such "topological" or "deconfined" transitions can be mapped to the symmetry-breaking transitions of non-invertible symmetries. How to extract the universal dynamical properties of the transitions from this understanding? In this paper, we follow the Ginzburg-Landau philosophy and develop a field-theoretic description of such critical points in terms of the fluctuations of local order parameters, now of non-invertible symmetries. The Symmetry Topological Field Theory formalism plays a central role in our analysis, allowing us to identify the algebra of local order parameters from the Lagrangian algebra of a (2+1)D topological order. We illustrate the key ideas and the full steps of this generalized Ginzburg-Landau procedure using the transitions between gapped phases with a simple non-invertible symmetry — the Rep($S_3$) symmetry.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons

Electronic correlations and fluctuating lattice distortions in vanadium dioxide

Metal-insulator transitions in correlated materials are often accompanied by a change of crystal structure. They are commonly described within a coherent lattice approximation, which combines a correlated treatment of the electrons with a lattice represented by one or a few classical distortion coordinates fixed by minimizing an energy. The structural degrees of freedom then carry no entropy of their own, even though the partition of the transition entropy between electrons and lattice is often what decides the transition temperature. Here we develop a stochastic semiclassical extension of dynamical mean-field theory in which correlated electrons and fluctuating lattice distortions are evolved together, extending previous formulations from linear to nonlinear electron-phonon interactions and from a single to several coupled lattice modes. The resulting non-conservative Langevin equations have deterministic forces, damping, and correlated noise generated self-consistently by the interacting electronic subsystem. Applying the approach to a minimal two-orbital model containing the two symmetry-distinct distortions of the monoclinic phase of vanadium dioxide, we find that the two distortions melt at well separated temperatures, giving an insulating, an intermediate metallic, and a high-symmetry phase. The two transitions have different origins: the melting of the dimerization is driven by the coupling to the correlated electrons and is captured already within the coherent lattice approximation, whereas the restoration of the undistorted structure requires the entropy of the fluctuating lattice. Since the electronic subsystem is treated within nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory, the framework can be extended in future work to photoexcited systems with nonthermal electronic distributions.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Evidence of Haldane-Chain Physics in an Fe-Dehydroindigo Coordination Polymer

We investigate whether an Fe–dehydroindigo coordination polymer can support Haldane-chain physics in its intrinsic, substrate-free limit. Spin-orbit-coupled density-functional-theory calculations and magnetic energy mapping yield a nearly isotropic antiferromagnetic coupling, together with much weaker single-ion anisotropy. Using these parameters, exact diagonalization and density-matrix renormalization group calculations give a nondegenerate ground state separated from the lowest triplet-derived excitations by a gap of about $13$–$14$~meV, on the scale expected for the spin-1 Haldane gap. The anisotropy produces only a small splitting of the low-energy modes. The dynamical spin structure factor places the lowest spectral weight near the antiferromagnetic wave vector $q=\pi$. These results identify the isolated cis-dehydroindigo chain as a material-specific coordination-polymer platform whose microscopic interactions place it in a gapped regime consistent with Haldane-chain physics.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Emergent Chiral Metal Phase in Compressible Quantum Hall Fluids

We report transmitted conductance measurements between a source and reflection-less contacts connected to a compressible quantum Hall fluid with filling fraction $\nu$. We observe that total sum of transmitted conductances universally approaches Hall conductance $\nu(e^2/h)$. The universality of this sum rule is established experimentally across integer and fractional quantum Hall regimes, remaining invariant under variation in temperatures, sample geometries, material qualities and quasi-particle interactions. Chiral transport in compressible quantum Hall fluids, characterized by suppressed dissipative transport with a distinct handedness, is confirmed by floating contact measurements. Consequently, this sum rule emerges as a conduction law of the chiral metal phase. Theoretically, we argue that time-reversal-symmetry breaking under a strong magnetic field within this chiral metal gives rise unidirectional trajectories of carriers in a nearly flat potential landscape with point-like disorder potentials, a regime realized when the screening length is smaller than the magnetic length. Within this chiral framework, longitudinal resistance does not originate from bulk dissipation but primarily from the equilibration of electrochemical potentials at the contacts. Our study introduces a new paradigm of chiral transport across a broad class of gapless two-dimensional systems characterized by short-range screening and broken time-reversal symmetry.
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All authors Suparna Sahoo, Suvankar Purkait, Pooja Agarwal, Tanmay Maiti, Sourin Das, Vladimir Umansky, Biswajit Karmakar

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.quant-gas

Dynamical signatures of Hardcore-Boson Supersolid on the Triangular Lattice

We investigate the dynamical signatures of the supersolid phase in the triangular-lattice hardcore Bose-Hubbard model via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations and linear spin-wave theory. We reveal a distinct momentum-space separation in the spectral weights. The transverse spectrum shows gapless Goldstone modes at the $\Gamma$ and $K$ points, while the longitudinal spectrum features a gapless mode at $K$ and a roton-like minimum at $M$. Directly in the imaginary-time domain, the supersolid is unambiguously characterized by the coexistence of transverse spectral lines at $\Gamma$ and $K$. Furthermore, we show that strong quantum fluctuations induce a breakdown of the sharp quasiparticle picture, leading to asymmetric line shapes and broad continua. Our work establishes the definitive dynamical signatures of the hardcore-boson supersolid, providing key insights into analogous spin supersolids in triangular quantum magnets.
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All authors Xingchuan Zhu, Qingyang Guo, Junsong Sun, Yujun Fu, Xingmin Huo, Yixuan Huang, Shiping Feng, Richard T. Scalettar, Huaiming Guo

Strongly Correlated Electrons

NMR evidence of pressure-induced structural transition and enhanced spin fluctuations up to 14~GPa in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$

The Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ has attracted considerable interest as a platform for exploring quantum phases and quantum phase transitions driven by magnetic frustration. The pressure-induced structural and magnetic phase transitions in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$, however, remain controversial. To address this issue, we performed high-pressure $^{11}$B nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ up to 14~GPa. The NMR spectra reveal two pressure-induced monoclinic phases. With pressure above 4~GPa and with temperature below 10~K, the rapid broadening of the NMR spectrum and the power-law behavior in the spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ provide clear evidence for a gapless 3D antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase in the monoclinic phase. At an intermediate temperature range around 20~K, the emergence of the field-dependent NMR line splits resolves a two-dimensional, short-range ordered AFM phase; at temperature above 30~K, the sublinear power-law behavior of $1/T_1$ identifies an extended correlated paramagnetic regime.
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All authors Zhanlong Wu, Kefan Du, Shuo Li, Tong Shi, Ying Chen, Qingxin Dong, Rui Zhou, Rong Yu, Juanjuan Liu, Bosen Wang, Jinguang Cheng, Weiqiang Yu, Yi Cui

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.supr-con

$^{139}$La nuclear quadrupole resonance studies of pressurized La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$

Density-wave (DW) orders are considered as competing orders to unconventional superconductivity and are commonly seen in a variety of superconductors including but not limited to the recently discovered Ruddlesden-Popper-phase nickelates. By utilizing $^{139}$La nuclear quadrupole resonance, we systematically investigate into the nature of DW orders and their evolution under pressure in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$. Spin and charge DW orders are found to be intertwined in this material, which is in stark contrast to those in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$. Short-range DW orders are observed near 150 K, well above the development of long-range DW orders at around 139 K. Upon applying a hydrostatic pressure of 2.3 GPa, the transition temperatures of the short-range and long-range orders decrease at rates of 1 K/GPa and 10 K/GPa, respectively. Our results thus affirm that both spin density wave and charge density wave as competing orders with the superconducting state in La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$, and provide new insights into the interplay between DW orders and unconventional superconductivity.
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All authors Meng Zhang, Zhuo Wang, Yantao Cao, Yang Yuan, Kangjian Luo, Shanxiang Gao, Hanjie Guo, Yongkang Luo

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Signatures of spin-wave dynamics in quasiparticle interference

We investigate momentum-resolved quasiparticle interference (QPI) in a localized-itinerant antiferromagnet, where ordered local moments are exchange coupled to conduction electrons. Static antiferromagnetic order reconstructs the electronic bands, while one-magnon processes further dress the quasiparticles through a momentum- and frequency-dependent self-energy. Incorporating this dynamical renormalization directly into the Born impurity scattering, we find a characteristic crossover in the QPI spectrum. Below the lower magnon-emission edge, the modification is predominantly dispersive and governed by the real part of the self-energy, whereas above this scale its imaginary part produces pronounced broadening and redistribution of the scattering intensity. The dynamical response persists beyond the upper magnon energy and is strongly asymmetric in tunneling bias for a particle–hole-asymmetric band. These results show that Fourier-transform tunneling spectroscopy can distinguish static magnetic reconstruction from dynamical spin-wave renormalization.
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Saturday 5 September

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Magnetization processes and spin dynamics across field-induced phase transitions in the quasi-two-dimensional quantum magnet Cu$_2$(OH)$_3$Br

We present magnetic-field-dependent evolution of magnetization and spin dynamics in the quasi-two-dimensional spin-$1/2$ magnet $\mathrm{Cu_2(OH)_3Br}$, consisting of alternately coupled ferromagnetic Cu1 and antiferromagnetic Cu2 spin chains. Terahertz spectroscopy reveals a pronounced field-direction dependence of the low-energy magnetic excitation spectrum. For magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the spin chains, $B\parallel a$ and $B\parallel c^*$, the spectra undergo abrupt reconstructions at the spin-flop transitions identified independently by high-field magnetization measurements. For $B\parallel b$, by contrast, no spin-flop occurs; instead, the excitation spectrum evolves continuously with field and exhibits a strong terahertz radiation polarization dependence as the ferromagnetic Cu1 subsystem becomes progressively polarized. At higher fields, the complex low-field spectrum is replaced by a reduced set of broad excitations, consistent with a weakening of the coupling between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic chain subsystems. Complementary Raman spectroscopy resolves magnon and spinon excitations alongside several phonon modes and traces the characteristic temperature- and magnetic-field-dependent evolution of the magnetic excitations. The combined spectroscopic and magnetization results map out how a magnetic field reorganizes the coupled ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic subsystems in $\mathrm{Cu_2(OH)_3Br}$ across field-induced phase transitions.
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All authors Anneke Reinold, Dirk Wulferding, Laur Peedu, Kirill Amelin, Urmas Nagel, Toomas Rõõm, Zhiying Zhao, Patrick Pilch, Changqing Zhu, Hans Engelkamp, Lucas Berger, Denis I. Gorbunov, Yurii Skourski, Kwang-Yong Choi, Thomas Lorenz, Zhe Wang

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Helicity-engineered nonlinear optical responses in photo-excited topological semimetals

Topological materials provide a transformative arena for light-driven control of electronic motion; yet, direct manipulation of electron dynamics on sub-cycle timescale remains a significant challenge. We demonstrate that the strong-field-driven high-harmonic generation of a Weyl semimetal can be controlled and manipulated through bicircular pump-probe driving fields. While a lone probe pulse generates exclusively odd-order harmonics, the addition of a pump pulse triggers a series of sidebands arising from nonlinear frequency mixing of pump and probe photons. Our results reveal that the sideband intensities are highly sensitive to the relative helicity of the pulses and the orientation of the polarization plane. This sensitivity stems from the chiral nature of the Weyl nodes, which couples efficiently to the light's helicity only when the node-separation axis is perpendicular to the polarization plane. Furthermore, the significant suppression of sideband intensity with increasing pump-probe delay identifies these features as a potential clock for electron-hole decoherence. These findings establish frequency-mixed high-harmonic generation as a sensitive probe of chiral quantum dynamics and suggest a robust framework for manipulating topological currents via structured light, with implications for lightwave electronics and ultrafast quantum information processing.
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All authors Roshan Kumar Thakur, Prachi Venkat, Amar Bharti, Gopal Dixit

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.supr-con

Extended strange metal regime in a pure nematic quantum critical superconductor

High-temperature superconductivity often emerges from a strange metallic state, where the electrical resistivity exhibits a linear-in-temperature dependence over an anomalously extended temperature range. The prevailing belief is that magnetic critical fluctuations gives rise to strange metallicity, enhancing the superconducting transition temperature. Here, using high pulsed magnetic fields, we have uncovered the strange metallic ground state hidden below the superconducting dome of nonmagnetic FeSe$_{1-x}$Te$_{x}$, which harbors a quantum critical point (QCP) of pure electronic nematicity, characterized by spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking. Unlike the conventional quantum criticality, this strange metallic state does not appear in a fan-shaped region above the singular QCP but spans a wide compositional range, where pairing interactions are strengthened by nonmagnetic nematic critical fluctuations. This stands in sharp contrast to the much cleaner system FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_{x}$, which displays a quantum critical fan above nematic QCP, indicating that disorder-induced spatial randomness of the nematic fluctuations likely enlarges the QCP of FeSe$_{1-x}$Te$_{x}$ into an extended region of criticality, as suggested by relevant hybrid Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. These observations highlight superconductivity promoted by a unique interplay between pure nematic critical fluctuations, strange metallicity and disorder, providing new insight into the emergence of non-Fermi-liquid transport in various correlated materials.
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All authors Kousuke Ishida, Kiyotaka Mukasa, Shusaku Imajo, Andrew Hardy, Mingwei Qiu, Mikihiko Saito, Aavishkar A. Patel, Kohei Matsuura, Yuichi Sugimura, Yu Uezono, Takumi Otsuka, Nigel E. Hussey, Takao Watanabe, Koichi Kindo, Takasada Shibauchi

Friday 4 September

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Ultrafast electron crystallography reveals the atomic pathway of a light-driven correlated insulator-to-metal transition

Ultrafast phase transitions in correlated materials are often inferred from selected diffraction peak intensities or diffraction peak displacements, leaving the underlying three-dimensional atomic trajectories elusive. Resolving these trajectories is essential for identifying which atomic motions drive changes in electronic properties and how they couple to electronic degrees of freedom. We address this challenge in vanadium dioxide (VO2), a correlated oxide with a near-room-temperature transition between the insulating monoclinic (M1) phase and metallic rutile (R) phase. For this purpose, we introduce ultrafast three-dimensional electron diffraction, which enables refinement of the transient unit cell and internal V and O coordinates, revealing the V-V dimerization and zigzag motion during the phase transition. The refined atomic coordinates follow a linear trajectory in real space during the transition, in contrast to nonlinear or sequential transformation pathways inferred from more indirect observables in earlier work. Quantum many-body calculations treating each V-V pair as a correlated unit show that dimerization creates the level splitting responsible for the electronic gap, which is further enhanced by nonlocal electronic interactions between the paired V atoms. The gap collapses when dimerization is lost. This work turns time-resolved diffraction from order-parameter tracking into transient crystallography, directly connecting atomic trajectories to electronic mechanisms in correlated materials.
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All authors Arthur Niedermayr, Hongyi Xu, Chin Shen Ong, Patrik Thunström, Michael Yannai, Jianyu Wu, Gaolong Cao, Lior Kornblum, Ido Kaminer, Oscar Grånäs, Xiaodong Zou, Jonas Weissenrieder

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Deviation from Fermi-liquid $T^2$ resistivity caused by collective transport

`Fermi-liquid behavior' is nowadays used as a shorthand for quadratic temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity. In a metal, for this to occur, electrons must be cooled well below the Fermi degeneracy temperature, $T_{\mathrm{F}}$. A departure from this behavior is observed at finite temperature. Here, we note that this departure has opposite signs in two distinct types of Fermi liquids. In weakly correlated ones, the upward departure implies a higher exponent of the inelastic resistivity, attributable to additional scattering by phonons. In contrast, there is a downward deviation in strongly correlated metals, which implies either reduced scattering or additional conduction, as in the case of normal liquid $^3$He, in which a distinct contribution to heat transport by a sound mode has been recently identified. Such a channel of conduction smoothly transforms across $T_{\mathrm{F}}$ to the one captured by the Bridgman formula for thermal conductivity of classical liquids. In three metals (UPt$_3$, Sr$_2$RuO$_4$, and heavily overdoped LSCO), according to the available experimental data, the normalized amplitude of excess conductivity at $T/T_{\mathrm{F}}\simeq0.02$ is comparable to what has been seen in $^3$He, suggesting, without establishing, a common origin.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.supr-con

Pair density wave order from non-symmorphic momentum symmetry

We develop a class of microscopic lattice models in which pair density wave order emerges in the asymptotically exact weak coupling limit. The underlying mechanism is due to non-symmorphic momentum symmetry implied by the models' projective space group representation of electrons. Our mechanism suggests moiré systems and extended s-wave altermagnets as potential hosts for pair density wave order.
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All authors Matteo Dürrnagel, C. Alexander Baum, Michael Klett, Lennart Klebl, Ronny Thomale

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Matrix Product Belief Propagation

We introduce "matrix product belief propagation" (MP-BP) as a controlled method for the approximate contraction of two-dimensional tensor networks and graphical models, which generically leads to a quadratic reduction of errors relative to existing methods: at similar computational effort, the number of accurate digits is asymptotically doubled. For infinite systems, MP-BP can be understood as a practical implementation of Baxter's corner-transfer-matrix method; for reflection-symmetric networks, it further coincides with the boundary matrix-product-state and corner-transfer-matrix renormalization group algorithms as conventionally implemented. In the limit of unit matrix-product rank, MP-BP is equivalent to belief propagation, and more generally, can be understood as a generalization of BP in which the "messages" live on surfaces and are assumed to have a matrix-product factorization. We further extend the quadratic improvement to the computation of expectation values, and numerically demonstrate the qualitatively improved convergence for a variety of classical and quantum 2D tensor network problems.
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All authors Gabriel Woolls, Shahin Jahanbani, Adarsh Pashikanti, Matthew T. Fishman, Joseph Tindall, Michael P. Zaletel

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from hep-th

The Junction That Remembers: Infrared Response of Two Coupled SYK Majorana Systems

Two strongly interacting Majorana systems of the Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev type, each with its own independent disorder, are joined by a link that is switched on in time. We ask how the infrared structure of the link is imprinted on the response and whether the system remembers how it was opened. At large $N$ the leading cross-correlation between the two systems is an exact product of two equilibrium propagators and the switching profile; because the disorder is independent, no ladder dresses it. The link operator has scaling dimension one half, which gives its susceptibility a universal logarithm whose coefficient and phase we fix and verify numerically, while the gap of the coupled equilibrium problem grows more slowly than the naive crossover estimate. Exact dynamics for up to twelve Majoranas per side show strong parity transfer and entanglement several times the free-fermion ceiling. The work done by the switch has a first-order part that does not depend on the switching time and a second-order part that grows in magnitude with it. Once the work is held fixed, the protocol dependence of the entanglement, the link expectation value and a scrambling diagnostic nearly vanishes, and the small residuals do not depend on whether the protocols differ at low or at high frequency. These small systems have no infrared window, so they neither confirm nor exclude memory at large $N$.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons

Breakdown of Anomalous Hall Scaling in Dilute Kondo System

The confluence of strong electronic correlations and Berry curvature-driven transport constitutes a largely underexplored frontier in quantum materials research, particularly in systems where electronic correlations arise from flat-band physics rather than conventional $f$-electron states. Here, we report an intrinsic Berry curvature driven anomalous Hall transport in the dilute Kondo system Ru$_2$Mn$_{0.5}$Ti$_{0.5}$Ge, a non-$f$-electron Heusler alloy hosting flat bands with van Hove singularity proximate to the Fermi level. The anomalous Hall response is strikingly non-monotonic, violating the Fermi-liquid scaling relation near the magnetic transition and is restored only at low temperature, coincident with the onset of Kondo coherence. Ab initio calculations strongly establish that the Berry curvature originates from the Kondo hybridization induced interplay of flat bands and spin-orbit coupling mediated anticrossings at the Fermi level. Our findings demonstrate that Kondo coherence of flat bands bears a profound impact on Berry curvature associated ferroic responses, mandating a rigorous theoretical understanding of anomalous transport in the regime where reciprocal space topology and strong correlations are intrinsically intertwined.
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All authors Arnab Bhattacharya, Prashant Singh, Ajay Kumar, Afsar Ahmed, Yaroslav Mudryk, I. Das, Anis Biswas

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Robustness of RKKY interactions across a Weyl node-annihilation transition

Weyl semimetals (WSMs), with their unique topological properties and distinct electronic structure, exhibit intriguing properties when either time-reversal or inversion symmetries are broken. In this work, we consider the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between magnetic impurities in time-reversal symmetry-breaking WSMs. We derive analytical expressions for the full RKKY exchange tensor in arbitrary two-band spinful lattice systems. Our approach reveals both Heisenberg, anisotropic Ising and Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya terms, which can be calculated by energy-integrating real-space Green's functions across the entire Brillouin zone, with the band edge acting as a natural energy cutoff. We apply this framework to study a two-band tight-binding model for a time-reversal symmetry-breaking WSM that interpolates between a Weyl phase with well-separated chiral nodes and a quadratic band-touching semimetal phase. Remarkably, the spatial profile, magnitude, and anisotropic tensor structure of the exchange couplings remain persistent across the node-annihilation transition. This topological robustness reveals that short- and intermediate-range RKKY interactions are mediated by the global, Brillouin-zone-integrated quantum metric of the full valence band rather than being strictly dictated by local low-energy Berry curvature monopoles. These findings demonstrate the necessity of full-band tight-binding formulations when predicting real-space magnetic interactions, providing key insights for electric-field tuning of magnetic anisotropy and constructing realistic models of heavy-fermion and Weyl-Kondo semimetals.
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