Extremely correlated quantum liquids

Abstract

Extreme correlations arise as the limit of strong correlations, when the local interaction constant U goes to infinity. This singular limit transforms canonical fermions to noncanonical Hubbard-type operators with a specific graded Lie algebra replacing the standard anticommutators. We are forced to deal with a fundamentally different and more complex lattice field theory. We study the t-J model, embodying such extreme correlations. We formulate the picture of an extremely correlated electron liquid, generalizing the standard Fermi liquid. This quantum liquid breaks no symmetries, and has specific signatures in various physical properties, such as the Fermi-surface volume and the narrowing of electronic bands by spin- and density-correlation functions. We use Schwinger's source field idea to generate equations for the Green's function for the Hubbard operators. A local (matrix) scale transformation in the time domain to a quasiparticle Green's function is found to be optimal. This transformation allows us to generate vertex functions that are guaranteed to reduce to the bare values for high frequencies, i.e., are "asymptotically free." The quasiparticles are fractionally charged objects, and we find an exact Schwinger-Dyson equation for their Green's function, i.e., the self-energy is given explicitly in terms of the singlet and triplet particle-hole vertex functions. We find a hierarchy of equations for the vertex functions, and further we obtain Ward identities so that systematic approximations are feasible. An expansion in terms of the density of holes measured from the Mott Hubbard insulating state follows from the nature of the theory. A systematic presentation of the formalism is followed by some preliminary explicit calculations. We find a d -wave superconducting instability at low T that formally resembles that found in the resonating valence-bond theory, but with a much reduced Tc. © 2010 The American Physical Society.