Disorder-driven dissipative quantum criticality as a source of strange metal behavior

Abstract

The strange metal behavior, usually characterized by a linear-in-temperature (T) resistivity, is a still unsolved mystery in solid-state physics. Usually it is associated with the proximity to a quantum critical point (a second order transition at temperature T = 0) focusing on the related divergent order parameter correlation length. Here, we propose a paradigmatic shift, focusing on a divergent characteristic time scale due to a divergent dissipation acting on the fluctuating critical modes, while their correlation length stays finite. To achieve a divergent dissipation, we propose a mechanism based on the coupling between a local order parameter fluctuation and electronic diffusive modes, that accounts both for the linear-in-T resistivity and for the logarithmic specific heat versus temperature ratio C_V/T ~ log(1/T), down to low temperatures.