2001/02/28 by Vadim Oganesyan, Steven A. Kivelson, Steven Kivelson +1 · 9 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.64.195109
published as Phys. Rev. B 64, 195109 (2001) · 6 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2001/06/07 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/17 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We develop a microscopic theory of the electronic nematic phase proximate to an isotropic Fermi liquid in both two and three dimensions. Explicit expressions are obtained for the small amplitude collective excitations in the ordered state; remarkably, the nematic Goldstone mode (the director wave) is overdamped except along special directions dictated by symmetry. At the quantum critical point we find a dynamical exponent of z=3, implying stability of the Gaussian fixed point. The leading perturbative effect of the overdamped Goldstone modes leads to a breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in the nematic phase and to strongly angle-dependent electronic self energies around the Fermi surface. Other metallic liquid-crystal phases, e.g., a quantum hexatic, behave analogously.