Jamming and unusual charge density fluctuations of strange metals

Author(s)

Thornton, Stephen J. ; Liarte, Danilo B. ; Abbamonte, Peter ; Sethna, James P. ; Chowdhury, Debanjan

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS; v. 14, n. 1, p. 6-pg., 2023-07-03.

Abstract

Recent experiments on the dynamical charge response of strange metals reveal unusual features such as momentum-independent continuum of excitations and unconventional plasmon decay. Here the authors present a phenomenological theory based on the analogy to classical fluids near a jamming-like transition. The strange metallic regime across a number of high-temperature superconducting materials presents numerous challenges to the classic theory of Fermi liquid metals. Recent measurements of the dynamical charge response of strange metals, including optimally doped cuprates, have revealed a broad, featureless continuum of excitations, extending over much of the Brillouin zone. The collective density oscillations of this strange metal decay into the continuum in a manner that is at odds with the expectations of Fermi liquid theory. Inspired by these observations, we investigate the phenomenology of bosonic collective modes and the particle-hole excitations in a class of strange metals by making an analogy to the phonons of classical lattices falling apart across an unconventional jamming-like transition associated with the onset of rigidity. By making comparisons to the experimentally measured dynamical response functions, we reproduce many of the qualitative features using the above framework. We conjecture that the dynamics of electronic charge density over an intermediate range of energy scales in a class of strongly correlated metals can be at the brink of a jamming-like transition. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 21/14285-3 - Geometry, topology and complex fluids: applications to liquid crystals and disordered elastic systems
• Grantee: Danilo Barbosa Liarte
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/01343-7 - ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research: a regional center for theoretical physics
• Grantee: Nathan Jacob Berkovits
• Support Opportunities: Special Projects