2007/05/31 by Eun-Ah Kim, Michael J. Lawler, Paul Oreto +3 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.77.184514
published as Phys. Rev. B vol 77, 184514 (2008) · 9 page, 4 figures, an error in one of expressions corrected and a new author was added. New references and footnotes are added and this is the version to appear in PRB
arxiv created 2008/05/21 · openalex publication_date 2008/05/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study the character of an Ising nematic quantum phase transition deep inside a d-wave superconducting state with nodal quasiparticles in a two-dimensional tetragonal crystal. We find that, within a 1∕N expansion, the transition is continuous. To leading order in 1∕N, quantum fluctuations enhance the dispersion anisotropy of the nodal excitations and cause strong scattering, which critically broadens the quasiparticle (qp) peaks in the spectral function, except in a narrow wedge in momentum space near the Fermi surface where the qps remain sharp. We also consider the possible existence of a nematic glass phase in the presence of weak disorder. Some possible implications for cuprate physics are also discussed.