The Frenkel line and the pseudogap: an analogy between classical and electronic fluids
J. Fournier, P. -O. Downey, O. Gingras, C. -D. Hébert, M. Charlebois, A. -M. S. Tremblay
Published: 2025/9/22
Abstract
Asymptotically close to critical end-points of first-order transitions, maxima in thermodynamic quantities occur along a line called the Widom line, a concept first introduced in classical fluids. This concept has been extended to strongly correlated electronic fluids in the context of the Mott transition. Namely, upon increasing interaction strength in the Hubbard model at half-filling, one finds a first-order Mott metal-insulator transition with a critical end-point at high temperature above which a number of crossover lines are observable. Using the dynamical cluster approximation for the triangular-lattice Hubbard model, we compute the Frenkel line, another concept borrowed from classical fluids, useful to define a sharp crossover between the pseudogap and the correlated Fermi liquid. The Frenkel line in the electron fluid is defined by the appearance of back-scattering when entering the pseudogap. The signature of back-scattering is the existence of a negative value in the time-domain optical conductivity.