Quantum criticality in a two-component two-dimensional nematic metal
Abstract
Nematic fluctuations alter the low-energy electronic behavior and reshape the mean-field phase diagram. We study a two-dimensional nematic metal with a two-component internal degree of freedom. Near the quantum critical point (QCP), longitudinal nematic fluctuations generate the non-Fermi-liquid self-energy ∝|ω|2/3, whereas transverse fluctuations give a subleading logarithmic, marginal-Fermi-liquid correction. Nevertheless, the transverse sector dominates the correction to the phase diagram through a quantum order-by-disorder mechanism: the emergent nematic background reshapes the electronic spectrum, alters the decay of nematic bosons, and produces a negative singular free-energy correction. This correction reconstructs the phase diagram, drives the transition first order, and is described by a scaling function whose two asymptotic limits define two critical regimes with free-energy corrections scaling as R8/3 and R3, respectively, where R is the order-parameter magnitude; their powers follow from the competition between the characteristic momentum of normal-state nematic fluctuations and that of the ordered-state background. These two regimes are experimentally distinguishable through nematic-susceptibility hysteresis measurements. The corrected phase diagram shows that the enlarged nodal α phase masks the otherwise bare QCP, making it inaccessible; consequently, the logarithmic self-energy correction is by no means negligible at low energies.
Related
- Extended strange metal regime in a pure nematic quantum critical superconductor
- Vestigial Nematic Order at Zero Temperature in Two-Dimensional Frustrated Quantum Antiferromagnets
- Boundary Criticality in (2+1)-dimensional U(1) Dirac Quantum Spin Liquid
- Entanglement-enabled Criticality in One-dimensional Quantum Contact Process
- Tensor network study of deconfined quantum criticality in a one-dimensional spin-phonon model
BibTeX
@misc{xiao2026quantum,
title = {{Quantum criticality in a two-component two-dimensional nematic metal}},
author = {Yuhang Xiao and Ning Hao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.29745},
eprint = {2610.29745},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29745},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum criticality in a two-component two-dimensional nematic metal
AU - Yuhang Xiao
AU - Ning Hao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.29745
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29745
AB - Nematic fluctuations alter the low-energy electronic behavior and reshape the mean-field phase diagram. We study a two-dimensional nematic metal with a two-component internal degree of freedom. Near the quantum critical point (QCP), longitudinal nematic fluctuations generate the non-Fermi-liquid self-energy ∝|ω|^2/3, whereas transverse fluctuations give a subleading logarithmic, marginal-Fermi-liquid correction. Nevertheless, the transverse sector dominates the correction to the phase diagram through a quantum order-by-disorder mechanism: the emergent nematic background reshapes the electronic spectrum, alters the decay of nematic bosons, and produces a negative singular free-energy correction. This correction reconstructs the phase diagram, drives the transition first order, and is described by a scaling function whose two asymptotic limits define two critical regimes with free-energy corrections scaling as R^8/3 and R^3, respectively, where R is the order-parameter magnitude; their powers follow from the competition between the characteristic momentum of normal-state nematic fluctuations and that of the ordered-state background. These two regimes are experimentally distinguishable through nematic-susceptibility hysteresis measurements. The corrected phase diagram shows that the enlarged nodal α phase masks the otherwise bare QCP, making it inaccessible; consequently, the logarithmic self-energy correction is by no means negligible at low energies.
ER -