Modeling Unconventional Superconductivity at the Crossover between Strong and Weak Electronic Interactions.

High-temperature superconductivity emerges in many different quantum materials, often in regions of the phase diagram where the electronic kinetic energy is comparable to the electron-electron repulsion. Describing such intermediate-coupling regimes has proven challenging as standard perturbative approaches are inapplicable. Here, we employ quantum Monte Carlo methods to solve a multiband Hubbard model that does not suffer from the sign problem and in which only repulsive interband interactions are present. In contrast to previous sign-problem-free studies, we treat magnetic, superconducting, and charge degrees of freedom on an equal footing. We find an antiferromagnetic dome accompanied by a metal-to-insulator crossover line in the intermediate-coupling regime, with a smaller superconducting dome appearing in the metallic region. Across the antiferromagnetic dome, the magnetic fluctuations change from overdamped in the metallic region to propagating in the insulating region. Our findings shed new light on the intertwining between superconductivity, magnetism, and charge correlations in quantum materials.

Fragility of Charge Order Near an Antiferromagnetic Quantum Critical Point.

We investigate the interplay between charge order and superconductivity near an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point using sign-problem-free Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We establish that, when the electronic dispersion is particle-hole symmetric, the system has an emergent SU(2) symmetry that implies a degeneracy between d-wave superconductivity and charge order with d-wave form factor. Deviations from particle-hole symmetry, however, rapidly lift this degeneracy, despite the fact that the SU(2) symmetry is preserved at low energies. As a result, we find a strong suppression of charge order caused by the competing, leading superconducting instability. Across the antiferromagnetic phase transition, we also observe a shift in the charge order wave vector from diagonal to axial. We discuss the implications of our results to the universal phase diagram of antiferromagnetic quantum-critical metals and to the elucidation of the charge order experimentally observed in the cuprates.

Superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid behavior near a nematic quantum critical point.

Using determinantal quantum Monte Carlo, we compute the properties of a lattice model with spin [Formula: see text] itinerant electrons tuned through a quantum phase transition to an Ising nematic phase. The nematic fluctuations induce superconductivity with a broad dome in the superconducting [Formula: see text] enclosing the nematic quantum critical point. For temperatures above [Formula: see text], we see strikingly non-Fermi liquid behavior, including a "nodal-antinodal dichotomy" reminiscent of that seen in several transition metal oxides. In addition, the critical fluctuations have a strong effect on the low-frequency optical conductivity, resulting in behavior consistent with "bad metal" phenomenology.

Competing Orders in a Nearly Antiferromagnetic Metal.

We study the onset of spin-density wave order in itinerant electron systems via a two-dimensional lattice model amenable to numerically exact, sign-problem-free determinantal quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The finite-temperature phase diagram of the model reveals a dome-shaped d-wave superconducting phase near the magnetic quantum phase transition. Above the critical superconducting temperature, an extended fluctuation regime manifests itself in the opening of a gap in the electronic density of states and an enhanced diamagnetic response. While charge density wave fluctuations are moderately enhanced in the proximity of the magnetic quantum phase transition, they remain short ranged. The striking similarity of our results to the phenomenology of many unconventional superconductors points a way to a microscopic understanding of such strongly coupled systems in a controlled manner.