Current Algebra Approach to 2d Chiral Metals

Abstract

We reinterpret Balents and Fisher's free 2d chiral metal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 2782 (1996)] as a chiral $U(N)$ Wess-Zumino-Witten model at level $k = 1$. Here, the $U(N)$ symmetry relates the $N \rightarrow \infty$ low-energy excitations about the chiral Fermi surface. We obtain non-Fermi liquid generalizations of the free chiral metal that maintain the $U(N)$ symmetry of the $k=1$ theory by taking the level to be a positive integer $k>1$. We calculate two-point correlation functions of the $U(1)$ number density and current operators in these theories for general $k$. We find $k$ to provide an overall rescaling of the amplitude of these correlation functions. This construction illustrates the ersatz Fermi liquid proposal of Else, Thorgren, and Senthil [Phys. Rev. X 11, 021005 (2021)].