Fluctuating intertwined stripes in the strange metal regime of the Hubbard model

TL;DR

This paper uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations to reveal fluctuating, intertwined charge and spin stripes in the strange metal phase of the Hubbard model, shedding light on the microscopic correlations in strongly correlated electron systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates the presence of short-range, fluctuating intertwined charge and spin stripes in the strange metal state of the Hubbard model using advanced numerical methods.

Findings

Charge and spin stripes are mutually commensurate.

Stripes are fluctuating and short-ranged.

Microscopic correlations are revealed through three-point correlation functions.

Abstract

Strongly correlated electron systems host a variety of poorly understood correlations in their high temperature normal state. Unlike ordered phases defined by order parameters, these normal state phases are often defined through unconventional properties such as strange metallic transport or spectroscopic pseudogaps. Characterizing the microscopic correlations in the normal state is necessary to elucidate mechanisms that lead to these properties and their connection to ground state orders. Here we establish the presence of intertwined charge and spin stripes in the strange metal normal state of the Hubbard model using determinant quantum Monte Carlo calculations. The charge and spin density waves constituting the stripes are fluctuating and short-ranged, yet they obey a mutual commensurability relation and remain microscopically interlocked, as evidenced through measurements of three-point spin-spin-hole correlation functions. Our findings demonstrate the ability of many-body numerical simulations to unravel the microscopic correlations that define quantum states of matter.