Competition between superconductivity and charge density waves

Abstract

We derive an effective field theory for the competition between superconductivity (SC) and charge density waves (CDWs) by employing the SO(3) pseudospin representation of the SC and CDW order parameters. One important feature in the effective nonlinear σ model is the emergence of a Berry phase even at half filling, originating from the competition between SC and CDWs, i.e., the pseudospin symmetry. A-well known conflict between the previous studies of Oshikawa [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1535 (2000)] and Lee and Shankar [Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1490 (1990)] is resolved by the appearance of the Berry phase. The Berry phase contribution allows a deconfined quantum critical point of fractionalized charge excitations with e instead of 2e in the SC-CDW quantum transition at half filling. Furthermore, we investigate the stability of the deconfined quantum criticality against quenched randomness by performing a renormalization group analysis of an effective vortex action. We argue that, although randomness results in a weak disorder fixed point differing from the original deconfined quantum critical point, deconfinement of the fractionalized charge excitations still survives at the disorder fixed point owing to a nonzero fixed point value of the vortex charge.

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