Nonperturbative functional renormalization-group approach to transport in the vicinity of a $(2+1)$-dimensional O($N$)-symmetric quantum critical point

Abstract

Using a nonperturbative functional renormalization-group approach to the two-dimensional quantum O($N$) model, we compute the low-frequency limit $\omega\to 0$ of the zero-temperature conductivity in the vicinity of the quantum critical point. Our results are obtained from a derivative expansion to second order of a scale-dependent effective action in the presence of an external (i.e., non-dynamical) non-Abelian gauge field. While in the disordered phase the conductivity tensor $\sigma(\omega)$ is diagonal, in the ordered phase it is defined, when $N\geq 3$, by two independent elements, $\sigma_{\rm A}(\omega)$ and $\sigma_{\rm B}(\omega)$, respectively associated to SO($N$) rotations which do and do not change the direction of the order parameter. For $N=2$, the conductivity in the ordered phase reduces to a single component $\sigma_{\rm A}(\omega)$. We show that $\lim_{\omega\to 0}\sigma(\omega,\delta)\sigma_{\rm A}(\omega,-\delta)/\sigma_q^2$ is a universal number which we compute as a function of $N$ ($\delta$ measures the distance to the quantum critical point, $q$ is the charge and $\sigma_q=q^2/h$ the quantum of conductance). On the other hand we argue that the ratio $\sigma_{\rm B}(\omega\to 0)/\sigma_q$ is universal in the whole ordered phase, independent of $N$ and, when $N\to\infty$, equal to the universal conductivity $\sigma^*/\sigma_q$ at the quantum critical point.