TY - JOUR
T1 - How many quantum phase transitions exist inside the superconducting dome of the iron pnictides?
AU - Fernandes, Rafael M.
AU - Maiti, Saurabh
AU - Wölfle, Peter
AU - Chubukov, Andrey V.
PY - 2013/7/29
Y1 - 2013/7/29
N2 - Recent experiments on two iron-pnictide families suggest the existence of a single quantum phase transition inside the superconducting dome despite the fact that two separate transition lines - magnetic and nematic - cross the superconducting dome at Tc. Here we argue that these two observations are actually consistent. We show, using a microscopic model, that each order coexists with superconductivity for a wide range of parameters, and both transition lines continue into the superconducting dome below Tc. However, at some Tmerge<Tc, the two transitions merge and continue down to T=0 as a single simultaneous first-order nematic-magnetic transition. We show that superconductivity has a profound effect on the character of this first-order transition, rendering it weakly first order and allowing strong fluctuations to exist near the quantum phase transition.
AB - Recent experiments on two iron-pnictide families suggest the existence of a single quantum phase transition inside the superconducting dome despite the fact that two separate transition lines - magnetic and nematic - cross the superconducting dome at Tc. Here we argue that these two observations are actually consistent. We show, using a microscopic model, that each order coexists with superconductivity for a wide range of parameters, and both transition lines continue into the superconducting dome below Tc. However, at some Tmerge<Tc, the two transitions merge and continue down to T=0 as a single simultaneous first-order nematic-magnetic transition. We show that superconductivity has a profound effect on the character of this first-order transition, rendering it weakly first order and allowing strong fluctuations to exist near the quantum phase transition.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.057001
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.057001
M3 - Article
C2 - 23952431
AN - SCOPUS:84881528618
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 111
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 5
M1 - 057001
ER -