Fractionalized Fermi liquids and the cuprate phase diagram

We review a theoretical framework for the cuprate superconductors, rooted in a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) description of the intermediate-temperature pseudogap phase at low doping. The FL* theory predicted hole pockets each of fractional area $p/8$ at hole doping $p$,
in contrast to the area $p/4$ in spin density wave theory. Magnetotransport measurements, including observation of the Yamaji angle, show clear evidence of hole pocket quasiparticles which can tunnel coherently between square lattice layers, and are consistent with the FL* description.
 
The FL* phase of a single-band model is described using a layer construction with a pair of ancilla qubits on each site: the Ancilla Layer Model (ALM). Its mean field theory yields hole pockets of area $p/8$, and matches the gapped photoemission spectrum in the anti-nodal region of the Brillouin zone. Fluctuations are described by the SU(2) gauge theory of a background spin liquid with critical Dirac spinons. A Monte Carlo study of the thermal SU(2) gauge theory transforms the hole pockets into Fermi arcs in photoemission. One route to confinement of FL* upon lowering temperature yields a $d$-wave superconductor via a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of $h/(2e)$ vortices, with nodal Bogoliubov quasiparticles featuring anisotropic velocities and vortices surrounded by charge order halos. An alternative route yields a charge-ordered metallic state that has quantum oscillations consistent with observations.
 
Increasing doping from the FL* phase in the ALM drives a transition to a conventional Fermi liquid (FL) at large doping, passing through an intermediate strange metal regime. We formulate a theory of the FL*-FL metal-metal transition without a symmetry-breaking order parameter, using a critical quantum `charge' liquid of mobile electrons in the presence of disorder, developed via an extension of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model to two spatial dimensions.
 
 At low temperatures, and across optimal and over doping, we address the regimes of extended non-Fermi liquid behavior by Griffiths effects near quantum phase transitions in disordered metals.&#xD.

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Publication Details

Journal
Reports on Progress in Physics
Published
2026-03-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/ae530d
Primary Topic
Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Fractionalized Fermi liquids and the cuprate phase diagram

Maine Christos, Aavishkar A. Patel, Alexander Nikolaenko, Pietro M. Bonetti et al.
Reports on Progress in Physics
Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
article

Fractionalized Fermi liquids and the cuprate phase diagram

Maine Christos, Aavishkar A. Patel, Alexander Nikolaenko, Pietro M. Bonetti, Subir Sachdev
article en

Abstract

We review a theoretical framework for the cuprate superconductors, rooted in a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) description of the intermediate-temperature pseudogap phase at low doping. The FL* theory predicted hole pockets each of fractional area $p/8$ at hole doping $p$,
in contrast to the area $p/4$ in spin density wave theory. Magnetotransport measurements, including observation of the Yamaji angle, show clear evidence of hole pocket quasiparticles which can tunnel coherently between square lattice layers, and are consistent with the FL* description.
 
The FL* phase of a single-band model is described using a layer construction with a pair of ancilla qubits on each site: the Ancilla Layer Model (ALM). Its mean field theory yields hole pockets of area $p/8$, and matches the gapped photoemission spectrum in the anti-nodal region of the Brillouin zone. Fluctuations are described by the SU(2) gauge theory of a background spin liquid with critical Dirac spinons. A Monte Carlo study of the thermal SU(2) gauge theory transforms the hole pockets into Fermi arcs in photoemission. One route to confinement of FL* upon lowering temperature yields a $d$-wave superconductor via a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of $h/(2e)$ vortices, with nodal Bogoliubov quasiparticles featuring anisotropic velocities and vortices surrounded by charge order halos. An alternative route yields a charge-ordered metallic state that has quantum oscillations consistent with observations.
 
Increasing doping from the FL* phase in the ALM drives a transition to a conventional Fermi liquid (FL) at large doping, passing through an intermediate strange metal regime. We formulate a theory of the FL*-FL metal-metal transition without a symmetry-breaking order parameter, using a critical quantum `charge' liquid of mobile electrons in the presence of disorder, developed via an extension of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model to two spatial dimensions.
 
 At low temperatures, and across optimal and over doping, we address the regimes of extended non-Fermi liquid behavior by Griffiths effects near quantum phase transitions in disordered metals.&#xD.

Reports on Progress in Physics
Harvard University Press (US), Flatiron Health (United States) (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
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