SO(5) Theory of Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity

TL;DR

This paper reviews the SO(5) theory that unifies antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in strongly correlated systems, explaining their interplay through a symmetry-based effective model and comparing with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces and reviews the SO(5) symmetry framework that unifies antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in a single theoretical model.

Findings

The SO(5) theory successfully describes the coexistence and competition of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity.

The framework aligns well with numerical simulations and experimental observations.

It provides a unified understanding of phase diagrams in high-Tc cuprates and related materials.

Abstract

Antiferromagnetism and superconductivity are both fundamental and common states of matter. In many strongly correlated systems, including the high Tc cuprates, the heavy fermion compounds and the organic superconductors, they occur next to each other in the phase diagram and influence each other's physical properties. The SO(5) theory unifies these two basic states of matter by a symmetry principle and describes their rich phenomenology through a single low energy effective model. In this paper, we review the framework of the SO(5) theory, and its detailed comparison with numerical and experimental results.