Linear resistivity and Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) spin liquid behavior in a quantum critical metal with spin-1/2 fermions

Abstract

“Strange metals” with resistivity depending linearly on temperature T down to low T have been a long-standing puzzle in condensed matter physics. Here, we consider a lattice model of itinerant spin-1/2fermions interacting via onsite Hubbard interaction and random infinite-ranged spin–spin interaction. We show that the quantum critical point associated with the melting of the spin-glass phase by charge fluctuations displays non-Fermi liquid behavior, with local spin dynamics identical to that of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev family of models. This extends the quantum spin liquid dynamics previously established in the large-M limit ofSU(M)symmetric models to models with physicalSU(2)spin-1/2electrons. Remarkably, the quantum critical regime also features a Planckian linear-T resistivity associated with a T-linear scattering rate and a frequency dependence of the electronic self-energy consistent with the marginal Fermi liquid phenomenology.