Quantum criticality of topological phase transitions in three-dimensional interacting electronic systems

Topological phase transitions in condensed matter systems accompany emerging singularities of the electronic wavefunction, often manifested by gap-closing points in momentum space. In conventional topological insulators in three dimensions, the low-energy theory near the gap-closing point can be des...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2014, Vol.10 (10), p.774-778
Main Authors: Yang, Bohm-Jung, Moon, Eun-Gook, Isobe, Hiroki, Nagaosa, Naoto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/119/2795
Anisotropy
Atomic
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensed Matter Physics
Critical point
Electronics
Fermions
Low energy
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Optical and Plasma Physics
Phase transformations
Physics
Quantum physics
Screening
Symmetry
Theoretical
Three dimensional
Topological manifolds
Topology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Topological phase transitions in condensed matter systems accompany emerging singularities of the electronic wavefunction, often manifested by gap-closing points in momentum space. In conventional topological insulators in three dimensions, the low-energy theory near the gap-closing point can be described by relativistic Dirac fermions coupled to the long-range Coulomb interaction; hence, the quantum critical point of topological phase transitions provides a promising platform to test the intriguing predictions of quantum electrodynamics. Here we discover a class of quantum critical phenomena in topological materials for which either the inversion symmetry or time-reversal symmetry can be broken. At the quantum critical point, the emerging low-energy fermions, dubbed the anisotropic Weyl fermions, show both relativistic and Newtonian dynamics simultaneously. The interplay between the anisotropic dispersion and the Coulomb interaction brings about a screening phenomenon distinct from the conventional Thomas–Fermi screening in metals and logarithmic screening in Dirac fermions. In a topological material, Weyl fermions—with relativistic and Newtonian characteristics—at a quantum critical point couple to the Coulomb interaction, leading to an anisotropic screening such that the fermions are effectively non-interacting.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/nphys3060