Superconductivity near a quantum-critical point --- special role of the first Matsubara frequency

ORAL

Abstract

Near a quantum-critical point in a metal strong fermion-fermion interaction mediated by a soft collective boson gives rise to incoherent, non-Fermi liquid behavior. It also often gives rise to superconductivity which masks the non-Fermi liquid behavior. We analyze the interplay between the tendency to pairing and fermionic incoherence for a set of quantum-critical models with effective dynamical interaction between low-energy fermions. We argue that superconducting $T_c$ is non-zero even for strong incoherence and/or weak interaction due to the fact that the self-energy from dynamic critical fluctuations vanishes for the two lowest fermionic Matsubara frequencies $\omega_m = \pm \pi T$. We obtain the analytic formula for $T_c$ which reproduces well earlier numerical results for the electron-phonon model at vanishing Debye frequency.

Authors

  • Artem Abanov

    Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University

  • Yuxuan Wang

    University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Emil Yuzbashyan

    Rutgers University

  • Boris Altshuler

    Columbia University

  • Andrey Chubukov

    Univ of Minnesota, University of Minnesota, Univ of Minnesota - Twin Cities