1:30 pm MCP 201
Non-Fermi Liquids and Superconductivity in the High Magnetic Field Limit.
Three-dimensional electron gases in strong magnetic fields host partially flat bands that disperse along the field direction yet exhibit Landau-level quantization in the transverse dimensions. Early work established that for spin-polarized electrons confined to the lowest Landau level band, repulsion triggers a charge density wave (CDW) in which electrons 'self-layer' into integer quantum Hall states, while attraction generates a non-Fermi liquid (rather than a superconductor). What is the nature of this non-Fermi liquid phase? How might one sidestep this metallic phase and realize a superconductor? What would be the phenomenology associated to such a high-field superconductor? In this talk, I will show evidence that the non-Fermi liquid phase has surprising connections to Luttinger liquid physics, and may realize a stable phase of matter in 3D with spin-charge separation. I will also explain how emergent symmetries of the lowest Landau level endow the putative superconducting phase with highly anisotropic transport properties, which is naturally described by a non-commutative field theory. These results expand the rich phenomenology of interacting electrons in the high-field regime and potentially inform the design of field-resistant superconductivity in low-carrier-density materials.