Pair density wave, unconventional superconductivity, and non-Fermi liquid quantum critical phase in frustrated Kondo lattice

TL;DR

This study uses density matrix renormalization group simulations to explore a frustrated Kondo-Heisenberg chain, revealing a rich phase diagram including unconventional superconductivity, pair density waves, and a non-Fermi liquid quantum critical phase, highlighting their interconnected origins.

Contribution

It uncovers the emergence of pair density wave and superconducting states from a quantum critical phase in a frustrated Kondo lattice model, linking these phenomena.

Findings

Identification of a quantum critical phase with medium Fermi volume.

Discovery of pair density wave and superconducting states as Luther-Emery liquids.

Demonstration of the connection between unconventional superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid behavior.

Abstract

Motivated by the recent discovery of an intermediate quantum critical phase between the antiferromagnetic order and the Fermi liquid in the frustrated Kondo lattice CePdAl, we study here a Kondo-Heisenberg chain with frustrated $J_1$-$J_2$ XXZ interactions among local spins using the density matrix renormalization group method. Our simulations reveal a global phase diagram with rich ground states including the antiferromagnetic order, the valence-bond-solid and bond-order-wave orders, the pair density wave state, the uniform superconducting state, and the Luttinger liquid state. We show that both the pair density wave and uniform superconductivity belong to the family of Luther-Emery liquids and may arise from pair instability of an intermediate quantum critical phase with medium Fermi volume in the presence of strong quantum fluctuations, while the Luttinger liquid has a large Fermi volume. This suggests a deep connection between the pair density wave, the unconventional superconductivity, and the non-Fermi liquid quantum critical phase.