Phase structure of an Abelian two-Higgs model and high temperature superconductors

Abstract

We study the phase structure of a three dimensional Abelian Higgs model with singly- and doubly-charged scalar fields coupled to a compact Abelian gauge field. The model is pretending to describe systems of strongly correlated electrons such as high-Tc superconductivity in overdoped regime and exotic phases supporting excitations with fractionalized quantum numbers. We identify the Fermi liquid, the spin gap, the superconductor and the strange metallic phases in which densities and properties of holon and spinon vortices and monopoles are explored. The phase diagram in the 3D coupling space is predicted. We show that at sufficiently strong gauge coupling the spinon-pair and holon condensation transitions merge together and become, unexpectedly, first order.