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Phys. Rev. B 77, 155105 (2008) [14 pages]

Quantum criticality of U(1) gauge theories with fermionic and bosonic matter in two spatial dimensions

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Ribhu K. Kaul and Subir Sachdev
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Received 17 January 2008; revised 6 March 2008; published 3 April 2008

We consider relativistic U(1) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, with Nb species of complex bosons and Nf species of Dirac fermions at finite temperature. The quantum phase transition between the Higgs and Coulomb phases is described by a conformal field theory (CFT). At large Nb and Nf, but for arbitrary values of the ratio NbNf, we present computations of various critical exponents and universal amplitudes for these CFTs. We make contact with the different spin liquids, charge liquids, and deconfined critical points of quantum magnets that these field theories describe. We compute physical observables that may be measured in experiments or numerical simulations of insulating and doped quantum magnets.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.155105
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.77.155105
PACS:
71.10.Hf, 11.10.Kk, 64.60.F−