No description available.

Thesis advisor: Kevin S. Bedell / One of the many achievements of renowned physicist L.D. Landau was the formulation of Fermi Liquid Theory (FLT). Originally debuted in the 1950s, FLT has seen abundant success in understanding degenerate Fermi systems and is still used today when trying to understand the physics of a new interacting Fermi system. Of its many advantages, FLT excels in explaining why interacting Fermi systems behave like their non-interacting counterparts, and understanding transport phenomena without cumbersome and confusing mathematics. In this work, FLT is applied to systems whose low energy excitations obey the massless Dirac equation; i.e. the energy dispersion is linear in momentum, ε α ρ, as opposed to the normal quadratic, ε α ρ². Such behavior is seen in numerous, seemingly unrelated, materials including graphene, high T[subscript]c superconductors, Weyl semimetals, etc. While each of these materials possesses its own unique properties, it is their low energy behavior that provides the justification for their grouping into one family of materials called Dirac materials (DM). As will be shown, the linear spectrum and massless behavior leads to profound differences from the normal Fermi liquid behavior in both equilibrium and transport phenomena. For example, with mass having no meaning, we see the usual effective mass relation from FLT being replaced by an effective velocity ratio. Additionally, as FLT in d=2 has been poorly studied in the past, and since the most famous DM in graphene is a d=2 system, a thorough analysis of FLT in d=2 is presented. This reduced dimensionality leads to substantial differences including undamped collective modes and altered quasiparticle lifetime. In chapter 3, we apply the Virial theorem to DM and obtain an expression for the total average ground state energy $E=\frac{B}{r_s}$ where $B$ is a constant independent of density and $r_s$ is a dimensionless parameter related to the density of the system: the interparticle spacing $r$ is related to $r_s$ through $r=ar_s$ where $a$ is a characterstic length of the system (for example, in graphene, $a=1.42$ \AA). The expression derived for $E$ is unusual in that it's typically impossible to obtain a closed form for the energy with all interactions included. Additionally, the result allows for easy calculation of various thermodynamic quantities such as the compressibility and chemical potential. From there, we use the Fermi liquid results from the previous chapter and obtain an expression for $B$ in terms of constants and Fermi liquid parameters $F_0^s$ and $F_1^s$. When combined with experimental results for the compressibility, we find that the Fermi liquid parameters are density independent implying a unitary like behavior for DM. In chapter 4, we discuss the alleged universal KSS lower bound in DM. The bound, $\frac{\eta}{s}\geq\frac{\hbar}{4\pi k_B}$, was derived from high energy/string theory considerations and was conjectured to be obeyed by all quantum liquids regardless of density. The bound provides information on the interactions in the quantum liquid being studied and equality indicates a nearly perfect quantum fluid. Since its birth, the bound has been highly studied in various systems, mathematically broken, and poorly experimented on due to the difficult nature of measuring viscosity. First, we provide the first physical example of violation by showing $\frac{\eta}{s}\rightarrow 0$ as $T\rightarrow T_c$ in a unitary Fermi gas. Next, we determine the bound in DM in d=2,3 and show unusual behavior that isn't seen when the bound is calculated for normal Fermi systems. Finally we conclude in chapter 5 and discuss the outlook and other avenues to explore in DM. Specifically, it must be pointed out that the physics of what happens near charge neutrality in DM is still poorly understood. Our work in understanding the Fermi liquid state in DM is necessary in understanding DM as a whole. Such a task is crucial when we consider the potential in DM, experimentally, technologically, and purely for our understanding. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

Thesis advisor: Kevin Bedell / Over 20 years ago, Blagoev et. al. predicted an s-wave pairing instability in a ferromagnetic Fermi liquid (FFL) as a consequence of spin fluctuations [5]. Shortly after, it was discovered that, when magnetic interactions in the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2 dominate, quasiparticles with parallel spin form pairs in odd-parity orbitals; i.e., a form of spin-triplet p-wave superconductivity emerges, in contrast to Blagoev et. al.'s prediction [6]. In this work, we return to this issue by introducing the effects of a gapped amplitude (or "Higgs") mode on the vertex corrections and subsequent form of Cooper pairing. As the Higgs mode only propagates in the presence of a finite spin current, such an amplitude mode results in strong momentum-dependence in the many-body vertex. This results in the emergence of an unconventional form of superconductivity mediated by unconventional low-energy modes in a weak itinerant ferromagnet. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Scholar of the College. / Discipline: Physics. / Discipline: Mathematics.

In this thesis we study the scaling properties of unconventional metals that arise at quantum critical points using low-energy effective field theories. Due to high rate of scatterings between electrons and critical fluctuations of the order parameter associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking, Landau’s Fermi liquid theory breaks down at the critical points. The theories that describe these critical points generally flow into strong coupling regimes at low energy in two space dimensions. Here we develop and utilize renormalization group methods that are suitable for the interacting non-Fermi liquids. We focus on the critical points arising at excitonic, and commensurate spin and charge density wave transitions. By controlled analyses we find stable non-Fermi liquid and marginal Fermi liquid states, and extract the scaling behaviour. The field theories for the non-Fermi liquids are characterized by symmetry groups, local curvature of the Fermi surface, the dispersion of the order parameter fluctuations, and dimensions of space and Fermi surface. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract Interacting many-body problems are central to most fields of physics. In condensed matter physics, the systems of interest consists of a number of bodies on the order of Avogadro's constant, ~10²³. The precise modeling of such systems is usually impossible. Under certain circumstances however, even these problems can become tractable. One such circumstance is that of a Fermi liquid. At sufficiently low temperatures, in describing the dynamics of a system of interacting fermions, it is possible to forgo description of the fermions themselves, and instead concentrate on the collective excitations of the entire fermion system. These collective excitations are called quasiparticles. In this thesis we study two phenomena related to the motion of objects in a Fermi liquid. First, we study the transmission of transverse oscillations through a thin film of normal Fermi liquid. The dynamics of normal Fermi liquid are described by Landau's Fermi liquid theory. Landau's theory predicts the existence of new modes of sound under conditions where sound ordinarily would not propagate. Using the equations of motion for the Fermi liquid quasiparticles, we calculate the linear response of a Fermi liquid film to the transverse oscillations of a planar substrate under a wide range of conditions. We present the linear response in terms of the film's acoustic impedance and study the effects of quasiparticle collisions and of the Fermi liquid interactions. The second phenomenon we study is the supercritical motion of a wire in a superfluid Fermi liquid. The prevailing assumption is that if the velocity of an object moving in a superfluid Fermi liquid surpasses a characteristic critical velocity, the object experiences a sudden onset of viscous forces. This viscosity is caused by the escape of quasiparticles, produced by pair breaking on the surface of the object, into the surrounding superfluid. We study Andreev reflection of the quasiparticles by the surrounding superfluid flow field, and modifications to the flow caused by pair breaking, as possible mechanisms for low-dissipation motion above the critical velocity. / Original publications The original publications are not included in the electronic version of the dissertation. Kuorelahti, J. A., Tuorila, J. A., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2016). Fermi liquid theory applied to a film on an oscillating substrate. Physical Review B, 94(18). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.94.184103 Kuorelahti, J. A., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2018). Two-parameter boundary condition applied to transverse acoustic impedance of a Fermi liquid. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 969, 12010. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/969/1/012010 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018060425173 Kuorelahti, J. A., Laine, S. M., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2018). Models for supercritical motion in a superfluid Fermi liquid. Physical Review B, 98(14). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.98.144512 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018112148794

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Kevin S. Bedell / Landau Fermi-liquid theory was first introduced by L. D. Landau in the effort of understanding the normal state of Fermi systems, where the application of the concept of elementary excitations to the Fermi systems has proved very fruitful in clarifying the physics of strongly correlated quantum systems at low temperatures. In this thesis, I use Landau Fermi-liquid theory to study the transport phenomena of two different correlated quantum liquids: the strongly interacting ultracold Fermi gases and the ferromagnet/normal metal (F/N) junctions. The detailed work is presented in chapter II and chapter III of this thesis, respectively. Chapter I holds the introductory part and the background knowledge of this thesis. In chapter II, I study the transport properties of a Fermi gas with strong attractive interactions close to the unitary limit. In particular, I compute the transport lifetimes of the Fermi gas due to superfluid fluctuations above the BCS transition temperature Tc. To calculate the transport lifetimes I need the scattering amplitudes. The scattering amplitudes are dominated by the superfluid fluctuations at temperatures just above Tc. The normal scattering amplitudes are calculated from the Landau parameters. These Landau parameters are obtained from the local version of the induced interaction model for computing Landau parameters. I also calculate the leading order finite temperature corrections to the various transport lifetimes. A calculation of the spin diffusion coefficient is presented in comparison to the experimental findings. Upon choosing a proper value of F0a, I am able to present a good match between the theoretical result and the experimental measurement, which indicates the presence of the superfluid fluctuations near Tc. Calculations of the viscosity, the viscosity/entropy ratio and the thermal conductivity are also shown in support of the appearance of the superfluid fluctuations. In chapter III, I study the spin transport in the low temperature regime (often referred to as the precession-dominated regime) between a ferromagnetic Fermi liquid (FFL) and a normal metal metallic Fermi liquid (NFL), also known as the (F/N) junction, which is considered as one of the most basic spintronic devices. In particular, I explore the propagation of spin waves and transport of magnetization through the interface of the F/N junction where nonequilibrium spin polarization is created on the normal metal side of the junction by electrical spin injection. I calculate the probable spin wave modes in the precession-dominated regime on both sides of the junction especially on the NFL side where the system is out of equilibrium. Proper boundary conditions at the interface are introduced to establish the transport of the spin properties through the F/N junction. A possible transmission conduction electron spin resonance (CESR) experiment is suggested on the F/N junction to see if the predicted spin wave modes could indeed propagate through the junction. Potential applications based on this novel spin transport feature of the F/N junction are proposed in the end. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

Thesis advisor: Kevin S. Bedell / We present several results based upon non-trivial extensions of Landau-Fermi liquid theory. First proposed in the mid-20th century, the Fermi liquid approach assumes an adiabatic “switching-on” of the interaction, which allows one to describe the collective excitations of the many-body system in terms of weakly-interacting quasiparticles and quasiholes. At its core, Landau-Fermi liquid theory is often considered a perturbative approach to study the equilibrium thermodynamics and out-of-equilibrium response of weakly-correlated itinerant fermions, and therefore non-trivial extensions and consequences are usually overlooked in the contemporary literature. Instead, more emphasis is often placed on the breakdown of Fermi liquid theory, either due to strong correlations, quantum critical fluctuations, or dimensional constraints. After a brief introduction to the theory of a Fermi liquid, I will first apply the Landau quasiparticle paradigm to the theory of itinerant Majorana-like fermions. Defined as fermionic particles which are their own anti-particle, traditional Majorana zero modes found in topological materials lack a coherent number operator, and therefore do not support a Fermi liquid-like ground state. To remedy this, we will apply a combinatorical approach to build a statistical theory of self-conjugate particles, explicitly showing that, under this definition, a filled Fermi surface exists at zero temperature. Landau-Fermi liquid theory is then used to describe the interacting phase of these Majorana particles, from which we find unique signatures of zero sound in addition to exotic, non-analytic contributions to the specific heat. The latter is then exploited as a “smoking-gun” signature for Majorana-like excitations in the candidate Kitaev material Ag3LiIr2O6, where experimental measurements show good agreement with a sharply-defined, “Majorana-Fermi surface” predicted in the underlying combinatorial treatment. I will then depart from Fermi liquid theory proper to tackle the necessary conditions for the applicability of Luttinger’s theorem. In a nutshell, Luttinger’s theorem is a powerful theorem which states that the volume of phase space contained in the Fermi surface is invariant with respect to interaction strength. In this way, whereas Fermi liquid only describes fermionic excitations near the Fermi surface, Luttinger’s theorem describes the fermionic degrees of freedom throughout the entire Fermi sphere. We will show that Luttinger’s theorem remains valid only for certain frequency and momentum-dependencies of the self-energy, which correlate to the exis- tence of a generalized Fermi surface. In addition, we will show that the existence of a power-law Green’s function (a unique feature of “un-particle” systems and a proposed characteristic of the pseudo-gap phase of the cuprate superconductors) forces Luttinger’s theorem and Fermi liquid theory to be mutually exclusive for any non-trivial power of the Feynman propagator. Finally, we will return to Landau-Fermi liquid theory, and close with novel out-of-equilibrium behavior and stability in unconventional Fermi liquids. First, we will consider a perfectly two- dimensional Fermi liquid. Due to the reduction in dimension, the traditional mode expansion in terms of Legendre polynomials is modified to an expansion in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. The resulting orthogonality conditions greatly modifies the stability and collective modes in the 2D system. Second, we will look at a Fermi liquid in the presence of a non-trivial gauge field. The existence of a gauge field will effectively shift the Fermi surface in momentum space, resulting in, once again, a modified stability condition for the underlying Fermi liquid. Supplemented with a modernized version of Mermin’s condition for the propagation of zero sound, we outline the full effects a spin symmetric or anti-symmetric gauge would have on a Fermi liquid ground state. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

No description available.

<p> Although the electronic pairing hypothesis of Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer is verified by experiment, the lattice polarisation mechanism for over-screening the repulsion between mates in a pair need not be the sole mechanism. </p> <p> Alternatives to the lattice polarisation mechanism are discussed and a new approach to electronic polarisation is developed. Propagator formalism is reworked using a charge density propagator to avoid the Dyson equation for the screened potential. The fermi liquid approach to electrons in a metal is avoided, too, because it misses the correlations which give a solid its atomicity. An atomic picture is contrived instead and used to predict what observable features of a superconductor are influenced by atomic correlations. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)