Marginal Fermi liquid behavior at the onset of $\boldsymbol{2k_F}$ density wave order in two-dimensional metals with flat hot spots

Abstract

We analyze quantum fluctuation effects at the onset of incommensurate $2k_F$ charge- or spin-density wave order in two-dimensional metals, for a model where the ordering wave vector $\boldsymbol{Q}$ connects a single pair of hot spots on the Fermi surface with a vanishing Fermi surface curvature. The tangential momentum dependence of the bare dispersion near the hot spots is proportional to $|k_t|^\alpha$ with $\alpha > 2$. We first compute the order parameter susceptibility and the fermion self-energy in random phase approximation (RPA). Logarithmic divergences are subsequently treated by a renormalization group analysis. The coupling between the order parameter fluctuations and the fermions vanishes logarithmically in the low-energy limit. As a consequence, the logarithmic divergences found in RPA do not sum up to anomalous power laws. Instead, only logarithmic corrections to Fermi liquid behavior are obtained. In particular, the quasiparticle weight and the Fermi velocity vanish logarithmically at the hot spots.