Electronic glasses from a broken gauge symmetry in disorder-free systems
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
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| _version_ | 1866916441928761344 |
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| author | Yang, Lingyu Chern, Gia-Wei |
| author_facet | Yang, Lingyu Chern, Gia-Wei |
| contents | Glass phases can be stabilized by quenched disorders, as in most spin-glass materials, or self-generated through kinetic freezing in disorder-free systems. A canonical example of the latter is structural glasses, which have been extensively studied for many decades. Yet, how the rugged energy landscape of a glass phase is spontaneously generated in disorder-free systems remains one of the key questions in glass physics. Here we present a general electronic mechanism for the emergence of glassy phase using the example of itinerant electrons coupled to XY spins on a lattice. This model can also be be viewed as the mean-field theory of a superconducting system with attractive density-density interactions. Intriguingly, the electron gauge symmetry in the strong pairing limit gives rise to a macroscopic degeneracy of XY spins. In the presence of electron hopping that breaks the gauge symmetry, the lifting of the extensive degeneracy leads to a glass phase with disordered pairings. Our findings highlight a novel scenario in which a glassy state originates from the breaking of quantum gauge symmetry without quenched disorders. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_12482 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Electronic glasses from a broken gauge symmetry in disorder-free systems Yang, Lingyu Chern, Gia-Wei Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Strongly Correlated Electrons Superconductivity Glass phases can be stabilized by quenched disorders, as in most spin-glass materials, or self-generated through kinetic freezing in disorder-free systems. A canonical example of the latter is structural glasses, which have been extensively studied for many decades. Yet, how the rugged energy landscape of a glass phase is spontaneously generated in disorder-free systems remains one of the key questions in glass physics. Here we present a general electronic mechanism for the emergence of glassy phase using the example of itinerant electrons coupled to XY spins on a lattice. This model can also be be viewed as the mean-field theory of a superconducting system with attractive density-density interactions. Intriguingly, the electron gauge symmetry in the strong pairing limit gives rise to a macroscopic degeneracy of XY spins. In the presence of electron hopping that breaks the gauge symmetry, the lifting of the extensive degeneracy leads to a glass phase with disordered pairings. Our findings highlight a novel scenario in which a glassy state originates from the breaking of quantum gauge symmetry without quenched disorders. |
| title | Electronic glasses from a broken gauge symmetry in disorder-free systems |
| topic | Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Strongly Correlated Electrons Superconductivity |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.12482 |