Hidden Bose-Einstein Singularities in Correlated Electron Systems: II. Pseudogap Phase in the Weakly Attractive Hubbard Model

Abstract

The hidden Bose-Einstein singularities of correlated electron systems, whose possible existence has been pointed out in a previous paper based on quantum field theory of ordered phases [T. Kita, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. {\bf 93}, 124704 (2024)], are studied in more detail in terms of the attractive Hubbard model, for which the mean-field theory predicts that spin-singlet superconductivity is realized at low enough temperatures for any band structure and interaction strength. It is shown that incorporating correlation effects should change the mean-field superconducting solution substantially and qualitatively even in the weak coupling, implying that the system lies in the strong-coupling region perturbatively. The hidden singularity is found to be present around the mean-field superconducting temperature $T_{{\rm c}0}$, below which the standard self-consistent treatment by quantum field theory cannot be used due to divergences in the zero Matsubara frequency branch obeying Bose-Einstein statistics. Our method to recover the applicability with a Lagrange multiplier predicts that the singularity is a physical entity signaling the threshold of a pseudogap phase with a characteristic V-shape structure in the density of states near zero energy, which lies above the superconducting phase and originates from the emerging one-particle-reducible structure in the self-energy.