Generic deformation channels for critical Fermi surfaces in the collisionless regime

Abstract

Using a quantum Boltzmann equation framework, we analyse the nature of generic low-energy deformations of a critical Fermi surface, which exists at the non-Fermi liquid fixed point of a system consisting of fermions interacting with massless bosons. The non-Fermi liquid behaviour arises due to the itinerant quasiparticles of the Fermi surface interacting strongly with the massless bosons, which on the other hand undergo Landau damping as a result of the mutual interactions. Focussing on the collisionless regime, where we neglect the collision integral, we chalk out the possible excitations spanning the entire spectrum of angular momentum ($\ell$) channels (i.e., including both small and large values of $\ell$). The excitations are of two types: particle-hole like localized excitations forming an energy band (or continuum) and delocalized collective modes with discrete energies. Although we find a collective mode analogous to the zero sound of a Fermi liquid, its dispersion shows a crossover from a $\Omega \sim |\mathbf q|^{6/5}$ behaviour to the usual $ \Omega \sim |\mathbf q|$ dependence, where $\Omega$ and $\mathbf q$ represent the frequency and momentum, respectively. We estimate the frequency scale at which this crossover takes place. We also determine the boundary for the particle-hole continuum in the $\Omega$--$\mathbf q$ plane, and observe a crossover from $\Omega \sim |\mathbf q|^{3/2}$ to $ \Omega \sim |\mathbf q|$ behaviour, determined by another crossover frequency scale.