Putting competing orders in their place near the Mott transition. II. The doped quantum dimer model

We study the phases of doped spin S=1∕2 quantum antiferromagnets on the square lattice as they evolve from paramagnetic Mott insulators with valence bond solid (VBS) order at doping δ=0 to superconductors at moderate δ. The interplay between density-wave and VBS order and superconductivity is efficiently described by the quantum dimer model, which acts as an effective theory for the total spin S=0 sector. We extend the dimer model to include fermionic S=1∕2 excitations and show that its mean-field, static gauge-field saddle points have projective symmetries (PSG’s) similar to those of “slave”-particle U(1) and SU(2) gauge theories. We account for the nonperturbative effects of gauge fluctuations by a duality mapping of the S=0 dimer model. The dual theory of vortices has a PSG identical to that found in a previous paper [ L. Balents et al. Phys. Rev. B 71 144508 (2005)] by a duality analysis of bosons on the square lattice. The previous theory therefore also describes fluctuations across superconducting, supersolid, and Mott insulating phases of the present electronic model. Finally, with the aim of describing neutron scattering experiments, we present a phenomenological model for collective S=1 excitations and their coupling to superflow and density-wave fluctuations.