In this thesis, we study quantum phase transitions and topological phases in low dimensional fermionic systems. In the first part, we study quantum phase transitions and the nature of currents in one-dimensional systems, using eld theoretic techniques like bosonization and renormalization group. This involves the study of currents in Luttinger liquids, and the fate of a persistent current in a 1D system. In the second part of the thesis, we study the different types of Majorana edge modes in a 1D p-wave topological superconductor. Further we extend our analysis to the e ect of an additional s-wave pairing and a Zeeman field on the topological properties, and present a detailed phase diagram and symmetry classification for each of the cases. In the third part, we concentrate on the topological phases in two-dimensional systems. More specifically, we study the experimental realization of SU(3) topological phases in optical lattice experiments, which is characterized by the presence of gapless edge modes at the boundaries of the system. We discuss the specific characteristics required by a such a three component Hamiltonian to have a non-zero Chern number, and discuss a schematic lattice model for a possible experimental realization. The thesis is divided into three chapters, as discussed below: In the first chapter, we study the effect of a boost (Fermi sea displaced by a finite momentum) on one dimensional systems of lattice fermions with short-ranged interactions. In the absence of a boost such systems with attractive interactions possess algebraic superconducting order. Motivated by physics in higher dimensions, one might naively expect a boost to weaken and ultimately destroy superconductivity. However, we show that for one dimensional systems the e ect of the boost can be to strengthen the algebraic superconducting order by making correlation functions fall o more slowly with distance. This phenomenon can manifest in interesting ways, for example, a boost can produce a Luther-Emery phase in a system with both charge and spin gaps by engendering the destruction of the former. In the second chapter, we study the type of Majorana modes and the topological phases that can appear in a one-dimensional spinless p-wave superconductor. We have considered two types of p-wave pairing, 4"" = 4## and 4"" = 4##., and show that in both cases two types of Majorana bound states (MBS) with different spatial dependence emerge at the edges: one purely decaying and one damped oscillatory. Even in the presence of a Zeeman term B, this nature of the MBS persists in each case, where the value of chemical potential and magnetic field B decides which type will appear. We present a corresponding phase diagram, indicating the number and type of MBS in the -B space. Further, we identify the possible symmetry classes for the two cases (based on the ten-fold classification), and also in the presence of perturbations like a s-wave pairing and various terms involving magnetic field. It is seen that in the presence of a s-wave perturbation, the MBS will now have only one particular nature, the damped oscillating behaviour, unlike that for the unperturbed p-wave case. In the third chapter, we study SU(3) topological phases in two dimension. It is shown by Barnett et.al that N copies of the Hofstadter model with 2N Abelian ux per plaquette is equivalent to an N-component atom coupled to a homogeneous non-Abelian SU(N) gauge field in a square lattice. Such models have non-zero Chern number and for N = 3, can be written in terms of the SU(3) generators. In our work, we uncover two salient ingredients required to express a general three-component lattice Hamiltonian in a SU(3) format with non-trivial topological invariant. We nd that all three components must be coupled via a gauge eld, with opposite Bloch phase (in momentum space, if the NN hopping between two components is teik, then for the other two components, this should be te ik) between any two components, and there must be band inversion between all three components in a given eigenstate. For spinless particles, we show that such states can be obtained in a tripartite lattice with three inequivalent lattice sites, in which the Bloch phase associated with the nearest neighbor hopping acts as k-space gauge eld. The second criterion is the hopping amplitude t should have an opposite sign in the diagonal element for one of the two components, which can be introduced via a constant phase ei along the direction of hopping. The third and a more crucial criterion is that there must also be an odd-parity Zeeman-like term (as k ! k, the term changes sign), i.e. sin(k) z term, where z is the third Pauli matrix defined with any two components of the three component basis. In the presence of a constant vector potential, the kinetic energy of the electron gets modified when the vector potential causes a flux to be enclosed. This can generate the desired odd parity Zeeman term, via a site-selective polarization of the vector potential. This can be achieved in principle by suitable modifications of techniques used in Sisyphus cooling, and with a suitable arrangement of polarizer plates, etc. The topological phase is a firmed by edge state calculation, obeying the bulk-boundary correspondence.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2017-07-10T12:20:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Vanuildo Silva de Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 3221594 bytes, checksum: 54ed1f03fc423dc28c894e76c771e03f (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-07-10T12:27:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Vanuildo Silva de Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 3221594 bytes, checksum: 54ed1f03fc423dc28c894e76c771e03f (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T12:27:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Vanuildo Silva de Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 3221594 bytes, checksum: 54ed1f03fc423dc28c894e76c771e03f (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / We investigate here the low-energy properties of two strongly correlated electronic models in two spatial dimensions. The first one consists in a version of the Hubbard model in which are considered just the degrees of freedom of the system in the neighborhood of the so-called hot spots, which are defined as the intersection of the Fermi surface of the model with the antiferromagnetic zone. Initially, we set our theory up by linearizing the dispersion model in hot spots and consider all the interacting processes between these regions that conserve momentum within a reciprocal-lattice wave vector. In order to access the physics of the model, we then turn to the renormalization group method of quantum field theory and derive the flow equations for the couplings in the two-loop approximation. As a result, we obtain that the Fermi surface is strongly renormalized in hot spots as the renormalized couplings flow to a non-trivial fixed point in the low-energy limit. Then we suggest that this system can be viewed as an example of a non-Fermi liquid in two spatial dimensions, due to the lack of well defined quasiparticle fermionic excitations in the region close to hot spots. Moreover, we solve the Callan-Symanzik equation for the oneparticle Green function up to two-loop order, calculate the density of states in the hot spots, and derive the renormalization group equations for the order parameters of the potential instabilities which may eventually occur in the system at lower energies. We verify that the system can be characterized, in this regime, in terms of an emergent pseudospin symmetry [SU(2)]4, which leads to the appearance of entangled orders in the region close to the non-trivial fixed point of the model. We also show that the fermionic excitations in the adjacent regions to the hot spots get a gap in both charge a spin excitation spectra. Because of this, we argue that the Fermi surface of the model can be reconstructed, leading therefore to the formation of either Fermi arcs or electronic pockets. The second model analyzed in this thesis was the three-band Emery model, which describes all the interacting processes between fermionic excitations localized in both copper (Cu) and oxygen (O) orbitals in the CuO2 unit cell. By making use of a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation, we introduce two order parameters in the system: one for the so-called ΘII-loop-current order, which violates Z2 time-reversal symmetry, and another one for the entangled phase with dx 2 -y 2 symmetry involving the singlet superconducting instability and the quadrupole density wave order, whose wave vector points in the direction of the Brillouin zone diagonal. Minimizing the free energy of the model, we derive the self-consistent mean-field equations for these order parameters. The solution of these equations for the zero temperature regime shows that the two phases compete with themselves for the same region of the phase space and, consequently, the system tends not to display coexistence between them. We argue that this effect could be the main reason for the fact that the quadrupole density wave order has never been observed in experiments performed on the cuprate superconductors. Next, we analyze the competition between the ΘII-loop-current order, which is experimentally observed, and charge order with dx 2 -y 2 symmetry and wave vectors in the direction of the main axes of the Brillouin zone. As a result, we obtain that the system only exhibits coexistence between the ΘII-loop-current phase and the bidirectional charge order. Due to the existence of a pseudospin symmetry in this model, we also confirm that the ΘII-loop-current phase coexists with the bidirectional pair density wave order. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results for the pseudogap phase of the cuprate superconductors, which appears in the underdoped regime in these systems. / Investigamos aqui as propriedades de baixa energia de dois modelos eletrônicos fortemente correlacionados em duas dimensões espaciais. O primeiro deles consiste em uma versão do modelo de Hubbard em que são considerados apenas os graus de liberdade do sistema na vizinhança dos chamados hot spots, que são definidos como a intersecção da superfície de Fermi do modelo com a zona antiferromagnética. Inicialmente, definimos a nossa teoria linearizando a dispersão do modelo nos hot spots e consideramos todos os processos de interação entre essas regiões que conservam momento a menos de um vetor da rede recíproca. Para acessar a física do modelo, recorremos então ao método de grupo de renormalização de teoria de campos e derivamos as equações de fluxo para os acoplamentos na aproximação de dois loops. Como resultado, obtemos que a superfície de Fermi do modelo sofre forte renormalização nos hot spots, ao mesmo tempo que os acoplamentos renormalizados fluem para um ponto fixo não trivial no limite de baixa energia. Sugerimos então que esse sistema pode ser visto como um exemplo de um líquido de não-Fermi em duas dimensões espaciais, devido à ausência de excitações fermiônicas do tipo quasipartícula bem definidas na região próxima aos hot spots. Além disso, resolvemos a equação de Callan- Symanzik para a função de Green de uma partícula na aproximação de dois loops, calculamos a densidade de estados nos hot spots, e derivamos as equações de grupo de renormalização para os parâmetros de ordem das possíveis instabilidades que podem, eventualmente, ocorrer no sistema em baixas energias. Verificamos que o sistema pode ser caracterizado, nesse regime, em termos de uma simetria emergente de pseudospin [SU(2)]4, que leva ao aparecimento de ordens emaranhadas na região próxima ao ponto fixo não trivial do modelo. Mostramos também que as excitações fermiônicas nas regiões adjacentes aos hot spots adquirem um gap nos espectros de excitação de carga e spin. Devido a isso, argumentamos que a superfície de Fermi do modelo pode ser reconstruída, levando assim à formação de arcos de Fermi ou pockets eletrônicos. O segundo modelo analisado nesta tese foi o modelo de três bandas de Emery, que descreve todos processos de interação entre as excitações fermiônicas localizadas nos orbitais do cobre (Cu) e do oxigênio (O) na célula unitária de CuO2. Através de uma transformada de Hubbard-Stratonovich, introduzimos dois parâmetros de ordem no sistema: um para a chamada fase de corrente de loop do tipo ΘII, que viola a simetria de reversão temporal Z2, e outro para a fase emaranhada com simetria dx 2 -y 2 envolvendo a instabilidade supercondutora do tipo singleto e a ordem de densidade de carga quadrupolar, cujo vetor de onda aponta na direção da diagonal da zona de Brillouin. Minimizando a energia livre do modelo, derivamos as equações auto-consistentes de campo médio para esses parâmetros de ordem. A solução dessas equações para o regime de temperatura nula mostra que as duas fases competem entre si pela mesma região do espaço de fase e, consequentemente, o sistema tende a não exibir coexistência entre as mesmas. Argumentamos que esse efeito pode ser a principal razão para o fato de a fase onda de densidade quadrupolar nunca ter sido observada em experimentos realizados nos cupratos supercondutores. Em seguida, analisamos a competição entre as fases de corrente de loop do tipo ΘII, observada experimentalmente, e ordem de carga com simetria dx2-y2 e vetores de onda na direção dos eixos principais da zona de Brillouin. Como resultado, obtemos que o sistema exibe coexistência apenas entre as fases de corrente de loop do tipo ΘII e ordem de carga bidirecional. Devido à existência de uma simetria de pseudospin nesse modelo, confirmamos também que a fase de corrente de loop do tipo ΘII coexiste com a fase onda de densidade de pares bidirecional. Por fim, discutimos as implicações dos nossos resultados para a fase de pseudogap dos cupratos supercondutores, que emerge no chamado regime subdopado nesses sistemas.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Neste trabalho, os efeitos de um campo magnético oblíquo externo no modelo de Gross- Neveu (2+1)-dimensional, que inclui as componentes paralela e perpendicular do campo em relação ao sistema, são estudados no contexto da simetria quiral e discreta do modelo. Nosso principal interesse está nos efeitos deste campo sobre o diagrama de fase do sistema, onde também incluímos os efeitos combinados de temperatura e potencial químico. Os diagramas de fase são obtidos através do potencial efetivo a 1 loop para o modelo, derivado em primeira ordem na expansão 1=N. Transições de fase relevantes que podem ser estudadas através deste modelo são, por exemplo, metal-isolante em matéria condensada e na teoria quântica de campos de férmions planares em geral. A relação entre a transição de fase com quebra da simetria quiral e discreta e o surgimento de um gap (ou a presença de um valor esperado no vácuo do campo escalar diferente de zero), como função do campo magnético oblíquo, é analisada em detalhes. / In this work, the effects of an external oblique magnetic field in the (2+1)-dimensional Gross-Neveu model, and that therefore includes both parallel and perpendicular components of the applied field, are studied in the context of the models discrete chiral symmetry. Our main concern is in the effects of such a field in the systems phase diagram and that also includes the combined effects of temperature and chemical potential. The phase diagrams are obtained through the one-loop effective potential for the model, derived in the leading order in the 1=N expansion Relevant phase transitions that can be studied through this model are, for example, metal-insulator ones in condensed matter and in the quantum field theory of planar fermions in general. The relation between the phase transition with (discrete) chiral symmetry breaking and the emergence of a gap (or the presence of a chiral nonvanishing vacuum expectation value) in the planar fermionic system, as a function of the external oblique magnetic field, is analyzed in details.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Neste trabalho, os efeitos de um campo magnético oblíquo externo no modelo de Gross- Neveu (2+1)-dimensional, que inclui as componentes paralela e perpendicular do campo em relação ao sistema, são estudados no contexto da simetria quiral e discreta do modelo. Nosso principal interesse está nos efeitos deste campo sobre o diagrama de fase do sistema, onde também incluímos os efeitos combinados de temperatura e potencial químico. Os diagramas de fase são obtidos através do potencial efetivo a 1 loop para o modelo, derivado em primeira ordem na expansão 1=N. Transições de fase relevantes que podem ser estudadas através deste modelo são, por exemplo, metal-isolante em matéria condensada e na teoria quântica de campos de férmions planares em geral. A relação entre a transição de fase com quebra da simetria quiral e discreta e o surgimento de um gap (ou a presença de um valor esperado no vácuo do campo escalar diferente de zero), como função do campo magnético oblíquo, é analisada em detalhes. / In this work, the effects of an external oblique magnetic field in the (2+1)-dimensional Gross-Neveu model, and that therefore includes both parallel and perpendicular components of the applied field, are studied in the context of the models discrete chiral symmetry. Our main concern is in the effects of such a field in the systems phase diagram and that also includes the combined effects of temperature and chemical potential. The phase diagrams are obtained through the one-loop effective potential for the model, derived in the leading order in the 1=N expansion Relevant phase transitions that can be studied through this model are, for example, metal-insulator ones in condensed matter and in the quantum field theory of planar fermions in general. The relation between the phase transition with (discrete) chiral symmetry breaking and the emergence of a gap (or the presence of a chiral nonvanishing vacuum expectation value) in the planar fermionic system, as a function of the external oblique magnetic field, is analyzed in details.

Ultracold atomic systems have provided an ideal platform to study the physics of strongly interacting many body systems in an unprecedentedly controlled and clean environment. And, since fermions are the building blocks of visible matter, being naturally motivated we focus on the physics of ultracold fermionic systems in this thesis. There have been many recent experimental developments in these systems such as the creation of synthetic gauge fields, realization of dimensional crossover and realization of systems with synthetic dimensions. These developments pose many open theoretical questions, some of which we address in this thesis. We start the discussion by studying the spectral function of an ideal spin-12 Fermi gas in a harmonic trap in any dimensions. We discuss the performance of the local density approximation (LDA) in calculating the spectral function of the system by comparing it to exact numerical results. We show that the LDA gives better results for larger number of particles and in higher dimensions. Fermionic systems with quasi two dimensional geometry are of great importance because of their connections to the high-Tc superconducting cuprate materials. Keeping this in mind, we consider a spin-12 fermionic system in three dimensions interacting with a contact interaction and confined by a one dimensional optical potential in one direction. Using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism, we show that with increasing the depth of the optical potential the three dimensional superfluid evolves into a two dimensional one by looking at the shifts in the radio-frequency spectrum of the system and the change in the binding energy of the pairs that are formed. The next topic of interest is studying the effect of synthetic gauge fields on the ultracold fermionic systems. We show that a synthetic non-Abelian Rashba type gauge field has experimentally observable signatures on the size and shape of a cloud of a system of non-interacting spin-12 Fermi system in a harmonic trap. Also, the synthetic gauge field in conjunction with the harmonic potential gives rise to ample possibilities of generating novel quantum Hamiltonians like the spherical geometry quantum Hall, magnetic monopoles etc. We then address the physics of fermions in “synthetic dimensions”. The hyperfine states of atoms loaded in a one dimensional optical lattice can be used as an extra dimension, called the synthetic dimension (SD), by using Raman coupling. This way a finite strip Hofstadter model is realized with a tunable flux per plaquette. The experimental realization of the SD system is most naturally possible in systems which also have SU(M) symmetric interactions between the fermions. The SU(M) symmetric interactions manifest as long-ranged along the synthetic dimension and is the root cause of all the novel physics in these systems. This rich physics is revealed by a mapping of the Hamiltonian of the system to a system of particles interacting via an SU(M) symmetric interaction under the influence of an SU(M) Zeeman field and a non-Abelian SU(M) gauge field. For example, this equivalence brings out the possibility of generating a non-local interaction between the particles at different sites; while the gauge filed mitigates the baryon (SU(M) singlet M-body bound states) breaking effect of the Zeeman field. As a result, the site localized SU(M) singlet baryon gets deformed and forms a “squished baryon”. Also, finite momentum dimers and resonance like states are formed in the system. Many body physics in the SD system is then studied using both analytical and numerical (Density Matrix Renormalization Group) techniques. This study reveals fascinating possibilities such as the formation of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov states even without any “imbalance” and the possibility to evolve a “ferromagnet” to a “superfluid” by the application of a magnetic field. Other novel fermionic phases with quasi-condensates of squished baryons are also demonstrated. In summary, the topics addressed in this thesis demonstrate the possibilities and versatilities of the ultracold fermionic systems used in conjunction with synthetic gauge fields and dimensions

This thesis deals with out-of-equilibrium transport phenomena in strongly correlated low-dimensional fermionic systems, with special emphasis on π-conjugated molecular materials. The focus of this work is to study real-time dynamics of spin and charge transport in these systems in order to investigate non-equilibrium transport in single-molecule electronic and spintronic devices. Chapter 1 describes the electronic structure and dynamics of strongly correlated fermionic systems in general, and in one-dimension, in particular. For this purpose, effective low-energy model Hamiltonians (used in this work) are discussed. Whenever applicable, approximate analytical and numerical methods commonly used in the literature to deal with these model Hamiltonians, are outlined. In the context of one-dimensional strongly correlated fermionic systems, analytical techniques like the Bethe ansatz and bosonization, and numerical procedures like exact diagonalization and DMRG, used for solving finite systems, are discussed in detail. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the different zero-temperature (T = 0) time-dependent DMRG algorithms, which have been used to study out-of-equilibrium time-dependent phenomena in low-dimensional strongly correlated systems. In Chapter 3 we employ the time-dependent DMRG algorithm proposed by Luo, Xiang and Wang [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 049701 (2003)], to study the role of dimerization and electronic correlations on the dynamics of spin-charge separation. We employ the H¨uckel and Hubbard models for our studies. We have modified the algorithm proposed by Luo et. al to overcome some of its limitations. Chapter 4 presents a generalized adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) scheme developed by us, called the Double Time Window Targeting (DTWT) technique, which is capable of giving accurate results with lesser computational resources than required by the existing methods. This procedure originates from the amalgamation of the features of pace keeping DMRG algorithm, first proposed by Luo et. al, [Phys.Rev. Lett. 91, 049701 (2003)], and the time-step targeting (TST) algorithm by Feiguin and White [Phys. Rev. B 72, 020404 (2005)]. In chapter 5 we apply the Double Time Window Targeting (DTWT) technique, which was discussed in the previous chapter, for studying real-time quantum dynamics of spin-charge separation in π-conjugated polymers. We employ the Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) model which has long-range electron-electron interactions. For investigating real-time dynamics of spin and charge transport, we inject a hole at one end of polyene chains of different lengths and study the temporal evolution of its spin and charge degrees of freedom, using the DTWT td-DMRG algorithm. Chapter 6 we investigate the effect of terminal substituents on the dynamics of spin and charge transport in donor-acceptor substituted polyenes (D- (CH)x- A) chains, also known as push-pull polyenes. We employ long-range correlated model Hamiltonian for the D- (CH)x- A system and, real-time DMRG dynamics for time propagating the wave packet obtained by injecting a hole at a terminal site in the ground state of the system. Our studies reveal that the end groups do not affect the spin and charge velocities in any significant way, but change the amount of charge transported. We have compared these with the polymethineimine (CN)x system in which besides electron affinities, the nature of pz orbitals in conjugation also alternate from site to site. Chapter 7 presents our investigation on the effect of static electron-phonon coupling (dimerization) on the dynamics of spin-charge separation in particular, and transport in general, in π-conjugated polyene chains. The polyenes are modeled by the Pariser-Parr-Pople Hamiltonian, having long-range electron-electron correlations. Our studies reveal that spin and charge velocities depend both on the chain length and dimerization. The spin and charge velocities increase as dimerization increases, but the amount of charge and spin transported along the chain decrease with enhancement in dimerization. Furthermore, in the range 0.3≤ δ≤0.5, it is observed that the dynamics of spin-charge separation becomes complicated, and the charge degree of freedom is affected more by electron-phonon coupling compared to the spin degree of freedom.