Extended quantum criticality of low-dimensional superconductors near a spin-density-wave instability

Abstract

We use the renormalization group method to study normal-state properties of quasi-one-dimensional superconductors nearby a spin-density-wave instability. On the basis of one-loop scattering amplitudes for the quasi-one-dimensional electron gas, the integration of the renormalization group equations for the two-loop single-particle Matsubara self-energy leads to a non-Fermi-liquid temperature downturn of the momentum-resolved quasiparticle weight over most part of the Fermi surface. The amplitude of the downturn correlates with the entire instability line for superconductivity, defining an extended quantum critical region of the phase diagram as a function of nesting deviations of the Fermi surface. One also extracts the downward renormalization of interchain hopping amplitudes at arbitrary low temperature in the normal phase. By means of analytical continuation of the Matsubara self-energy, one-particle spectral functions are obtained with respect to both energy and temperature and their anomalous features analyzed in connection with the sequence of instability lines of the phase diagram. The quasiparticle scattering rate is found to develop an unusual temperature dependence, which is best described by the superimposition of a linear and quadratic T dependencies. The non-Fermi-liquid linear-T component correlates with the temperature scale Tc of the superconducting instability over an extended range of nesting deviations, whereas its anisotropy along the Fermi surface is predicted to parallel the momentum profile of a d-wave pairing gap on the Fermi surface. We examine the implications of our results for low-dimensional unconventional superconductors, in particular, the Bechgaard salts series of quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors, but also the pnictide and cuprate superconductors where several common features are observed.

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