text:
# Superconducting current-phase relation in Nb/Au/(001)YBa2Cu3Ox heterojunctions

## Abstract

We probe directly the superconducting current-phase relations (CPR) of Nb/Au/(001) YBa2Cu3Ox heterojunctions prepared in epitaxial $`c`$-axis oriented YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO) thin films. The measurements are performed by a single-junction interference experiment. Atomic Force Microscope observations and estimations made from $`IV`$ characteristics confirm the $`c`$-axis current transport. No deviation of the current-phase relation from a sinusoidal shape has been found within the experimental accuracy. Possible reasons of the absence of the second harmonic in the CPR due to a second order tunneling are discussed.

The symmetry of the order parameter in high temperature superconductors has been discussed since their discovery. Several types of phase sensitive experiments have been performed, such as corner-junction SQUID and tricrystal ring experiment. The results point upon a dominant $`d`$-wave symmetry of the order parameter. In contrast, the observation of a Josephson current in $`c`$ direction between a heavily twinned YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO) and a conventional $`s`$-wave superconductor indicates the presence of $`s`$ component in YBCO. Recently this conflict has been resolved. It has been shown that for YBCO there is mixed $`d`$ and $`s`$ pairing with a dominant $`d`$-wave component. In this a case, the theoretical approach developed in Ref. is valid and one can expect a finite amplitude of the second harmonic (the term $`I_2`$ in the Josephson current, $`I_s=I_1\mathrm{sin}(\phi )+I_2\mathrm{sin}(2\phi )`$) of the current-phase relationship (CPR) for $`c`$-axis junctions as well as for $`45^{}`$ grain boundary junctions in the $`ab`$ plane. For the latter, the second harmonic of the CPR has been recently observed. On the other hand, observations of microwave induced steps in $`c`$-axis oriented YBCO-Pb tunnel junctions at multiples of $`hf/2e`$ imply first-order currents and suggest a dominant $`s`$-wave contribution to the order parameter of YBCO.

In this paper we report precise measurements of CPR in Nb/Au/(001)YBa2Cu3Ox heterojunctions on YBCO epitaxial thin films. A pure $`I_s=I_1\mathrm{sin}(\phi )`$ dependence has been observed and the reasons for the absence of the second harmonic in the CPR are discussed.

Epitaxial YBCO thin films with thicknesses of $`150nm`$ were obtained $`insitu`$ by laser deposition on (100) LaAlO3 substrates. The YBCO films were usually twinned in $`ab`$ plane. The temperature of the superconducting transition was determined by magnetic induction measurements as $`T_c=88÷90K`$. The YBCO film was $`insitu`$ covered by Au thus preventing the degradation of the YBCO surface layer during processing and forming an interface with low resistance, $`rR_NS=10^6\Omega cm^2`$, where $`R_N`$ is the normal state resistance and $`S`$ is the junction area. Direct contacts Nb/YBCO usually have interfaces with resistance of the order of $`10^2\Omega cm^2`$. Photolitography and low energy ion milling techniques were used to fabricate Nb/Au/YBCO junctions, with $`8÷20nm`$ Au layer and $`200nm`$ thick Nb films (Fig. 1). Details of the junction fabrication were reported elsewhere.

The surface quality of the YBCO film is very important when the current transport in the $`c`$-direction is investigated. High-resolution atomic force microscope (AFM) studies reveal a smooth surface consisting of approximately $`200nm`$ long islands with maximum peak-to-valley distance of $`3÷4nm`$ (Fig. 2). The contribution of $`c`$-axis and $`ab`$-plane resistance to the total resistance $`r`$ can be estimated by using the following equation:

$$r=r_cr_{ab}/(r_{ab}+r_c\mathrm{tan}\gamma ),$$
(1)
where $`\gamma `$ is the averaged slope angle of the islands on the surface, and $`r_c`$ and $`r_{ab}`$ are characteristic interface resistances for current transport along $`c`$-axis and in $`ab`$-plane, respectively. They are determined by the Fermi velocity mismatch between Au and YBCO. Even for a typical Fermi momentum anisotropy of about $`3`$ for YBCO, one obtains $`r_c`$ one order of magnitude higher than $`r_{ab}`$ for sharp interfaces. For the typical values $`\gamma <2^{}`$ we estimate that the tunneling area in $`ab`$ plane is less than $`3\%`$ of the total one. This fact indicates current flowing along the $`c`$-axis of YBCO. The absence of Zero Bias Conductance Peaks (ZBCP), which is associated with Andreev bound states, gives additional evidence for a $`c`$-axis transport in our junctions.***Theory predicts the appearance of ZBCP in the case of facets on the surface even for (100)- oriented YBCO films.

We have measured 20 single junctions with areas in the range of $`10\times 10^2\mu `$m2 to $`30\times 30\mu `$m2. The $`IV`$ curve (see curve a, Fig. 3) shows the dependence typical of a superconducting tunnel junction with critical current density $`J_c=1÷12A/cm^2`$, normal resistance, $`r=3÷20\mu \Omega cm^2`$ and $`I_cR_N=10÷90\mu V`$ ($`I_c`$ is the junction critical current). The $`IV`$ curve for the small voltage scale, $`V0.3`$m$`V`$, is shown in the inset, Fig. 3. Fig. 4 presents the temperature dependence of the critical current $`I_c(T)`$ normalized to $`I_c`$ at $`4.2K`$. The differential resistance $`vs.`$ voltage dependence $`R_d(V)`$ (see curve b, Fig. 3) exhibits a gap-like structure at $`V1.2`$m$`V`$, corresponding to the Nb superconducting energy gap, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{Nb}`$. This structure has a BCS-like temperature dependence and disappears at $`T9.1K`$ (see Fig. 4). At higher bias voltage, $`V>\mathrm{\Delta }_{Nb}`$, there is a deficient current in the $`IV`$ curve, which indicates the tunneling regime of junction conductivity.

In the BTK model (Ref. ) the barrier strength is characterized by a dimensionless parameter $`Z=H/\mathrm{}v_F`$, where $`v_F`$ is the quasiparticle Fermi velocity and $`H`$ is the interface repulsive potential, responsible for an interfacial scattering. In our particular case $`Z`$ value is characterized by the ratio of the Fermi velocities between Au and YBCO, $`v_F`$(Au)$`/v_F`$(YBCO). Simulations of the $`IV`$ curve made on the basis of the BTK model with fitting parameters $`T=4.2K`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{Nb}=1.2`$m$`V`$ for $`Z=0,1`$ and $`5`$ (see dashed curves, Fig.3) result in a good agreement with the experimental ones for $`Z5`$ . Since there is a very small difference between $`IV`$-curves for $`Z5`$ in the BTK model, one can correspondingly estimate the lower limit for $`Z`$ to be $`5`$ and the average transparency $`D=1/(1+Z^2)`$ to be $`4\times 10^2`$. The average transparency can be presented also as $`D(2\rho _cl)/(3r`$), where $`\rho _c`$ \- a specific resistivity of the YBCO film in $`c`$-direction, $`l`$ \- mean free path along the $`c`$-axis of YBCO. Taking into account typical values $`\rho _c10^2\Omega cm`$, $`l1nm`$, $`R_N1\Omega `$, $`S=100\mu `$m2, one can roughly estimate $`D`$ to be $`10^3`$. This evaluation is in agreement with the comparison of the experimental $`IV`$ curves with the BTK model given above.

Actually, a mixed order parameter symmetry with a dominant $`d`$-wave component and a significant $`s`$-wave component had been confirmed. The YBCO is orthorhombic and a small difference of the magnitude of the order parameter in the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-direction is expected. The twins in $`ab`$ planes of heavily twinned YBCO can decrease this difference because of sign changes of the $`s`$-wave order parameter across twin boundaries. But because of the disorder in the YBCO surface layer and reducing of the $`d`$-wave component across the twin boundary the $`d`$-wave component is much more suppressed than the $`s`$-wave one. The suppression can give rise to a thickness of a coherent $`s`$-wave surface layer and non-random tunneling current.

Besides, an anisotropy of the pair potential in $`s`$-wave superconductor (for Nb see Ref.) enhances the first harmonic component of CPR. In Ref.  Rae proposed that this effect induced the first harmonic component of CPR in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO)-Pb Josephson junctions without assuming $`s`$-wave component in BSCCO. Thus, one cannot expect the $`I_1`$ component to be exactly zero.

CPR measurements were performed using a single-junction interferometer configuration in which a junction of interest is inserted into a superconducting loop with an inductance $`L80`$p$`H`$. By coupling the interferometer to a tank circuit through the mutual inductance, we measure the impedance of the tank circuit-interferometer system as a function of the external magnetic flux of the interferometer $`\mathrm{\Phi }_e`$. As shown in Ref.  the CPR can be extracted from the following equations:

$$\phi =\phi _e\beta f(\phi ),$$
(2)
$$\mathrm{tan}\alpha \frac{k^2Q\beta f(\phi )}{1+\beta f(\phi )},$$
(3)
where $`\phi _e=2\pi \mathrm{\Phi }_e/\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$, $`\alpha `$ is the phase angle between the drive current $`I_{rf}`$ and the tank voltage $`U`$ at the resonant frequency, $`\beta =2\pi LI_c/\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is a normalized critical current and $`Q`$ is the quality factor of the tank circuit. The details of this technique were reported in Ref. . Note, that from Eqs.2 and 3 follow:

$$\mathrm{tan}\alpha k^2Q\beta \frac{df(\phi )}{d\phi _e}.$$
(4)
Therefore, the method outlined above is a differential method in respect to the CPR. This provides a high sensitivity of the CPR measurement. The second harmonic component of the CPR can be detected with an amplitude down to $`100nA`$. Thus, for investigated c-axis Nb/Au/YBCO junctions we estimate that a second harmonic component much lower than the first one can be detected, $`I_2/I_1>10^2`$. A typical CPR dependence measured at $`T=5K`$ is presented in Fig. 5. No deviation of the CPR from a sinusoidal $`2\pi `$ periodic function was found in any of the four samples that were investigated within the temperature range $`1.6K<T<8.5K`$. It means that the Josephson current is due to first order tunneling which agrees with microwave experiments. It should be pointed out, that our method is more sensitive than in Ref. .

Quite generally, $`I_2/I_1D`$, where $`D`$ is the transparency of the tunnel barrier. If the transparency is low (tunneling limit) $`I_2`$ is negligible compare to $`I_1`$. To be able to measure the second harmonic component $`I_2`$, a tunnel junction with high transparency is required.

Let us discuss the difference in CPR for $`c`$-axis Nb/Au/YBCO and asymmetric $`45^{}`$ bicrystal junctions, investigated in Ref. .

An asymmetric $`45^{}`$ grain boundary Josephson junction prepared on a bicrystal substrate satisfies such a demand of high transparency, as documented in Ref. . In that case, a Fourier analysis showed that $`I_n`$ is non-negligible also for $`n3`$ which indicates a transparency $`D`$ close to $`1`$ and the CPR measurements exhibit a robust $`\pi `$ periodic component of $`I_s(\varphi )`$. The formation of the Andreev bound states mentioned above even enhances the second harmonic component $`I_2`$.

There are no Andreev bound states for $`c`$-axis tunnel junction. In the $`c`$-direction of YBCO a short coherence length and a Fermi velocity mismatch between low-$`T_c`$ and high-$`T_c`$ superconductors result in the transparency much lower compare to $`ab`$ plane junction.

From the normal-state interface resistivity ($`r`$) one can estimate the ratio between transparencies of the grain boundary ($`D_{GB}`$) and the $`c`$-axis ($`D_c`$) tunnel junction, $`D_{GB}/D_c10^2`$. Such a significant difference between transparencies can explain the absence of a second harmonic component in $`c`$-axis tunnel junction as the magnitude $`I_2DI_1`$ is below the resolution of the method.

The clear observation of a Josephson current with a pure $`\mathrm{sin}(\phi )`$ CPR in a Nb/Au/YBCO tunnel junction can be interpreted as an indication of a dominant $`s`$-wave component in the order parameter of bulk YBCO. The reason for such a conclusion, that often is given in the literature, is that for a pure $`d`$-wave order parameter, the symmetry of the $`c`$-axis tunneling between $`s`$-wave and $`d`$-wave superconductors leads to $`I_1=0`$.  On the other hand, the $`I_2`$ term results from higher-order tunneling processes and one can neglect its weak angular dependence, i.e. $`I_20`$. It is present also in weak links based on conventional $`s`$-wave superconductors, but in the tunnel limit $`|I_2/I_1|1`$. However, the CPR is $`2\pi `$ periodic and we can exclude that current is due to higher-order tunneling.

To conclude, we have found the first order tunneling of the Josephson current of Nb/Au/YBCO tunnel junction due to a non-negligible $`s`$-wave component in YBCO. We have shown experimentally, that the second harmonic component $`I_2`$ corresponding to the second order tunneling, if present, is smaller than $`1\%`$ of $`I_1`$. The absence of the second harmonic component of CPR can be caused by a low transparency of the $`c`$-axis Nb/Au/YBCO tunnel junction resulting from Fermi velocity mismatch between Nb and YBCO in the $`c`$-direction of YBCO and by the suppression of the $`d`$-wave component of the order parameter in the surface layer of YBCO.

We would like to thank P. Dmitriev for Nb films deposition, K. I. Constantinyan and M. Q. Huang for assistance in measurements, A. Tzalenchuk, F. Lombardi and P. Mozhaev for fruitful discussions and prof. Tord Claeson for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by INTAS program of EU (Grant No11459), the DFG (Ho461/3-1), the Swedish Material Consortium of superconductivity, the Russian Foundation of Fundamental Research and the Russian National Program on Modern Problems of Condensed Matter. Partial support by $`D`$-wave Systems, Inc. is gratefully acknowledged.


format: text

text:
# Tunneling between Luttinger liquids

## I Introduction

The problem of tunneling between $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids has been a focus of interest and controversy. Much of the interest stems from the unusual phenomenology of the cuprate superconductors. The normal state of these materials exhibits insulating ($`d\rho _c/dT<0`$) or, at best, very poor $`c`$-axis transport coexisting with metallic $`ab`$-plane transport . Moreover, angle-resolved photoemission  reveals a Fermi surface with no dispersion along the $`c`$-axis, despite the fact that the hopping matrix elements are quite substantial between the two planes of a Bi2212 bi-layer. Apparently, single-electron motion along the $`c`$-axis is very strongly suppressed while motion in the $`ab`$-plane is not.

It has been suggested that this peculiar situation is characteristic of a putative non-Fermi liquid normal state. $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids are the best-understood non-Fermi liquid metals; as a result, they are a natural testing ground for such ideas. Indeed, it has been suggested  that the type of behavior seen in the cuprates occurs when two $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids are coupled by weak single-electron hopping between the $`1D`$ chains.

When intrachain interactions are extremely strong, interchain hopping between $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids is irrelevant in the renormalization group sense. Extremely strong means much stronger than can be reached in the infinite-$`U`$ Hubbard model, and so strong that the fermion spectral function has no singularity whatsoever at the Fermi surface. In such a case, it is possible to have metallic behavior within a chain but insulating transport between chains. For weak and even moderately strong intrachain interaction strengths, however, interchain hopping is a relevant perturbation. The natural assumption is that this leads to metallic interchain conduction.

Many analyses  diagonalize the interchain hopping term first, forming symmetric and antisymmetric bands with displaced Fermi surfaces in the $`2`$-chain case. Interactions are then treated as perturbations. Of course, if these perturbations could be treated exactly, the resulting solution would be the same as that which would be obtained by diagonalizing intrachain interactions first and then solving interchain hopping (which we will do non-perturbatively and, in one interesting limit, exactly, as we describe below). However, this need not be true for approximate solutions; since the approximate solutions of  assume $`c`$-axis dispersion (i.e. dispersion in the direction perpendicular to the chains, which we’ll call the $`c`$-axis) by taking the existence of symmetric and antisymmetric bands as a starting point, it is not surprising that they do not find the scenario of .

Consequently, it has not been possible to rule out claims  that interchain hopping, though relevant, does not lead to coherent transport (we discuss the possible meaning of this below) and, thus, does not lead to $`c`$-axis dispersion or metallic interchain transport. These claims have been supported by appealing to the spin-boson problem – in which a two-level system is coupled to a bath of bosons – which has a parameter regime in which tunneling between the two levels is relevant, but there are no coherent oscillations . The authors of  have claimed that there is a similar range of intrachain interaction strengths for which interchain hopping between $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids is relevant but does not lead to metallic interchain transport.

To resolve this issue, we must address whether there is $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic interchain transport. If the minimum energy for adding an electron occurs at two different Fermi surfaces, $`\pm k_F^s`$ and $`\pm k_F^a`$, corresponding to the symmetric and antisymmetric bands (i.e. if there are two different wavevectors for the minimum energy excitations which are even and odd under the $`Z_2`$ symmetry which exchanges the two Luttinger liquids), then there is $`c`$-axis dispersion. If, in addition, this minimum energy is zero, then interchain transport will be metallic. In this case, various long-wavelength power-law correlation functions will oscillate at wavevector $`\pm \left(k_F^sk_F^a\right)`$. According to , there is no gap, but this splitting does not occur: $`k_F^s=k_F^a`$.

However, the problem is complicated somewhat by the fact that interchain interactions can drive the formation of a gap. When this occurs, it is possible to have $`c`$-axis dispersion without metallic interchain transport. In this case, the minimum energy for adding an electron occurs at two different ‘Fermi surfaces’, $`\pm k_F^s`$ and $`\pm k_F^a`$, but this energy is non-zero. The opening of such a gap would not explain the absence of a bi-layer splitting in photoemission studies of the cuprates  since it occurs ‘on top’ of the bi-layer splitting. On the other hand, it is also possible for the gapped phase to show no $`c`$-axis dispersion, so that the minimum energy (which is non-zero) for adding an electron occurs at a single ‘Fermi surface’. Clearly, there is no phase transition between these two limits of the gapped phase, but they embody a qualitative distinction which is important for photoemission in the cuprates. The purpose of this paper is to determine which of these possibilities is realized. We do this by diagonalizing intrachain interactions first and then treating interchain tunneling and interchain interactions by non-perturbative methods, some of which are exact.

The main technical difficulty which has prevented the resolution of the problem of tunneling between Luttinger liquids is that tunneling is a chiral perturbation – i.e. the interchain tunneling term transforms non-trivially under the $`O(2)`$ rotation group of $`1+1`$-dimensional Euclidean (in imaginary-time formalism) spacetime. Physically, the tunneling operator is chiral because it mixes right-moving fermions in one chain with right-moving fermions in the other, and similarly for left-moving fermions; it does not mix right-movers with left-movers. This stands in contrast to the case of a non-chiral perturbation – which mixes right-movers with left-movers – for which the $`1+1`$-dimensional sine-Gordon model is the archetype. As we know from this exactly soluble models, non-chiral perturbations, if relevant, usually lead to the formation of a gap. Chiral perturbations are poorly understood, however. At the free fermion point, interchain tunneling is a chiral perturbation which is soluble because it is quadratic in fermion operators; it leads to the formation of symmetric and antisymmetric bands with Fermi surfaces which are shifted from the unperturbed Fermi surface. However, the behavior at this trivial point may not be generic. Until now, it has not been possible to appeal to a non-trivial exactly soluble model in which the fate of a relevant chiral perturbation is understood.

In this paper, we consider spinless $`1D`$ Luttinger liquids coupled by tunneling. We believe that spin is an inessential complication for the issue at hand; the claims of  apply to spinful and spinless Luttinger liquids, as do possible analogies to the spin-boson problem. We map this model to a statistical mechanical model known as the generalized $`4`$-state chiral clock model. The phase structure of this model is fairly well understood . This chiral clock model has a disordered phase and both commensurate and incommensurate ordered phases. As we discuss below, the incommensurate phase corresponds to an electronic state with $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic interchain transport. This picture receives further support from the consideration of a particular limit in which the model becomes the integrable chiral Potts model which, according to exact results , is in an incommensurate phase.

In the interesting regime in which interchain tunneling is relevant, there are two possible phases. Depending on the relative strength of interchain interactions and interchain hopping, the system can either be in a gapless incommensurate phase or a gapped phase. In the incommensurate gapless phase, the coupled Luttinger chains exhibit $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic interchain transport despite strong intrachain non-Fermi liquid properties. It is not possible for the system to be gapless and commensurate; in other words, there is no gapless phase with two identical Fermi surfaces if the tunneling matrix element is non-vanishing. Hence, some of the claims of  are incorrect. The gapped phase, on the other hand, may or may not have displaced Fermi surfaces. Thus, it is possible that the mysterious $`c`$-axis physics of the high-$`T_c`$ cuprates can be explained by a simple analogy with the $`1D`$ Luttinger liquid, but only in the somewhat extreme parameter regimes in which $`c`$-axis tunneling is irrelevant or a gap forms which is strong enough to preclude $`c`$-axis dispersion.

In section 2, we introduce the model of coupled Luttinger liquids and give its bosonized formulation. In section 3, we review the results for tunneling between Fermi liquids, and see how incommensurability arises there. In section 4, we map the Luttinger problem to a generalized 4-state chiral clock model. In section 5, we use results from the chiral clock model to understand the physics of coupled Luttinger liquids.

## II The Model

The Luttinger liquid is a model of interacting gapless fermions in one spatial dimension. At the microscopic level, it might be described by the lattice Hamiltonian

$`H_0=t{\displaystyle \underset{<i,j>}{}}(c_i^{}c_j+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.)+{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}V(|ij|)n_in_j`$ (1)
where $`i,j`$ label sites along the $`1D`$ chains, $`c_i`$ annihilates a fermion at site $`i`$, and $`n_i=c_i^{}c_i`$. In the long-wavelength limit, the corresponding Luttinger liquid action is:

$`S_0={\displaystyle 𝑑x𝑑t\left(c_{R,L}^{}\left(_t\pm v_x\right)c_{R,L}uc_R^{}c_Rc_L^{}c_L\right)}`$ (2)
where the fermion creation operator is

$`c(x)=e^{ik_Fx}c_R(x)+e^{ik_Fx}c_L(x).`$ (3)
As is well known (see  and references therein), the Luttinger model may be rewritten in terms of a single free boson with action

$$S_0=𝑑x𝑑t\frac{1}{8\pi }\left(\left(_t\phi \right)^2v^2\left(_x\phi \right)^2\right)$$
(4)
The field, $`\phi `$, is taken to be an angular variable satisfying the periodicity condition $`\phi \phi +2\pi r`$. Here $`r=\sqrt{g}`$, where $`g`$ is determined by the interaction strength, $`g=\sqrt{(vu)/(v+u)}`$. The coupling $`g<1`$ for repulsive interactions, $`g>1`$ for attractive interactions. Our results apply to both cases because the Hamiltonian is invariant under the duality symmetry $`g1/g`$. In the long-wavelength limit, the theory is ‘Lorentz invariant’, with $`v`$ playing the role of the speed of light.

The operators of the theory are defined in terms of chiral fields obeying $`\left(_t\pm v_x\right)\phi _{R,L}=0`$. Then $`\phi =\phi _L+\phi _R`$, while the dual field $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }=\phi _L\phi _R`$. It is convenient to label the operators by their “electric” charge $`m`$ and “magnetic” charge $`n`$, defined as

$$\{m,n\}\mathrm{exp}\left(i\frac{m}{2r}\phi +inr\stackrel{~}{\phi }\right)$$
(5)
The left and right scaling dimensions of this operator are then

$$(h_L,h_R)=(\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{m}{2r}+nr\right)^2,\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{m}{2r}nr\right)^2).$$
(6)
This means that when $`r=\sqrt{g}`$, the overall scaling dimension $`x=h_L+h_R`$ and Lorentz spin $`s=h_Lh_R`$ of the operator $`\{m,n\}`$ are

$$x=\frac{m^2}{4g}+n^2g,s=mn.$$

The electron operator in particular is the $`\{1,1/2\}`$ operator, namely

$`c_L=e^{\frac{i}{2}\left(\left(\sqrt{g}+1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _L\left(\sqrt{g}1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _R\right)}`$ (7)
Then $`c_L^{}=\{1,1/2\}`$, while $`c_R=\{1,1/2\}`$ and $`c_R^{}=\{1,1/2\}`$. The electron operators have Lorentz spin $`\pm 1/2`$, meaning that they have non-trivial properties under Lorentz transformations (i.e. rotations in the in 1+1 dimensional spacetime). Operators with non-zero Lorentz spin are called chiral. Adding a chiral operator to the action breaks Lorentz invariance.

In this paper, we consider the effects of coupling two identical spinless Luttinger liquids. There are two types of couplings which will concern us here, interchain hopping and interchain interactions. Interchain hopping takes the form:

$`H_c=t_{}{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}(c_{i,1}^{}c_{i,2}+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.)`$ (8)
while interchain interactions take the form:

$`H_V_{}={\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}V_{}(|ij|)n_{i,1}n_{j,2}`$ (9)
Here, $`c_{i,1}`$ annihilates an electron at site $`i`$ of chain 1 while $`c_{i,2}`$ annihilates an electron at site $`i`$ of chain 2; $`n_{i,1}`$ and $`n_{j,2}`$ have corresponding definitions.

In the long-wavelength limit, we can rewrite the model in terms of two free bosons $`\phi _1`$ and $`\phi _2`$. However, the interactions depend only on the difference of the two, so we define the linear combinations

$$\phi _\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\phi _1\pm \phi _2\right)$$
(10)
Then interchain hopping takes the form:

$`_c`$ $`=`$ $`t_{}^Re^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\left[\left(\sqrt{g}+1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _R\left(\sqrt{g}1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _L\right]}+c.c.`$ (12)
$`t_{}^Le^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\left[\left(\sqrt{g}+1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _L\left(\sqrt{g}1/\sqrt{g}\right)\phi _R\right]}+c.c.`$
In the decoupled theory, the dimensions just add, so this operator has dimension and spin twice as large as the fermion, namely $`x=(g+1/g)/2`$ and Lorentz spin $`\pm 1`$. Thus this theory has chiral operators in the action and breaks Lorentz invariance. In a model of coupled chains which is parity-invariant, $`t_{}^L=t_{}^R`$. However, it will be convenient to allow these two hopping parameters to be independent so as to separate various effects. In particular, the case $`t_{}^L=0`$, $`t_{}^R0`$ will be of special interest. Interchain interactions take the form:

$`_V_{}`$ $`=`$ $`V_{2k_F}\mathrm{cos}(\sqrt{2g}\stackrel{~}{\phi }_{})+𝒥\mathrm{cos}(\sqrt{2/g}\phi _{}).`$ (13)
The first is a pure interaction term of dimension $`2g`$: no charge is transferred between the two liquids. The second is a Josephson tunneling or pair hopping term; it transfers a pair of electrons from one chain to the other. Even if we set these terms to zero by hand (and there is no reason to do so), second-order perturbation theory in the interchain hopping induces them. This model is invariant under the electric-magnetic duality $`g1/g`$: under this symmetry the pair hopping and interchain interactions are swapped. We could also add zero-momentum density-density and current-current interactions of the form $`_{x,t}\phi _1_{x,t}\phi _2`$, but they will not change the results described here: they only renormalize the coupling $`g`$ and the Fermi velocity $`v`$, so we absorb them in redefinitions of the couplings.

Thus the interactions of two coupled Luttinger liquids can be described by a single boson $`\phi _{}`$; the boson $`\phi _+`$ is free and describes the total charge, which is unaffected by the interchain coupling. It is useful to rewrite the interaction terms in the action in terms of electric and magnetic charges with a radius $`r=\sqrt{g/2}`$. The interchain hopping terms are of the form (5), namely $`\{\pm 1,\pm 1\}_{}`$, where the subscript indicates the extra $`\sqrt{2}`$ in the relation of the radius to $`g`$. The $`V_{2k_F}`$ term is $`\{0,\pm 2\}_{}`$, while the $`𝒥`$ term is $`\{\pm 2,0\}_{}`$.

The lowest-order RG equations for these perturbations are:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dt_{}^{R,L}}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(g+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{g}}\right)\right)t_{}^{R,L}+O\left(t_{}^{R,L}t_{}^Rt_{}^L\right)`$ (14)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{d𝒥}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(22/g\right)𝒥+O\left(t_{}^Rt_{}^L\right)`$ (15)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dV_{2k_F}}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(22g\right)V_{2k_F}+O\left(t_{}^Rt_{}^L\right)`$ (16)
Several important features of the model are apparent in these equations.

(1) For $`g1`$, either the pair-hopping or the $`2k_F`$ interaction is relevant, and the other one is irrelevant. Thus when the electrons interact, there is always a relevant non-chiral term in the action.

(2) For $`1>g>2\sqrt{3}=.268\mathrm{}`$, $`t_{}^R`$, $`t_{}^L`$ and $`V_{2k_F}`$ are relevant. For $`g<2\sqrt{3}`$ tunneling between Luttinger liquids is irrelevant. For $`g<2\sqrt{3}`$, the fermion operator has dimension $`1`$, so its spectral function has no singularity at the Fermi surface (for $`2\sqrt{3}<g<1`$, there is at least a power-law divergence; for $`g=1`$, i.e. free fermions, a $`\delta `$-function singularity); hence, this is the limit of extremely strong interactions.

(3) If $`t_{}^L=0`$ and $`V_{2k_F}=𝒥=0`$ but $`t_{}^R0`$, then all the higher-order terms in the RG equation for $`t_{}^R`$ vanish: higher powers of $`t_{}^R`$ are of higher Lorentz spin and thus cannot renormalize $`t_{}^R`$. This is in stark contrast to the pair-hopping and $`2k_F`$ interaction terms which do renormalize themselves.

Our aim in this paper is to discuss the fate of the system under the flow of these relevant perturbations.

## III Weak-Coupling Physics

We first consider the free fermion limit, $`g=1`$. If we set $`V_{2k_F}=𝒥=0`$, then we simply have two Fermi liquid chains coupled by single-fermion hopping. This special case was discussed in detail in . The hopping operators are of dimension $`(1,0)`$ and $`(0,1)`$. As a result of the interchain hopping, symmetric and antisymmetric bands are formed with Fermi surfaces displaced from $`k_F`$. For the purpose of comparison with $`g1`$, we describe this in a little more detail.

The action is

$`S_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{I=1,2}{}}{\displaystyle }dx{\displaystyle }dt(c_{IR,L}^{}(_t\pm v_x)c_{IR,L}+`$ (18)
$`t_{}^Rc_{1R}^{}c_{2R}+c.ct_{}^Lc_{1L}^{}c_{2L}+c.c)`$
where $`I=1,2`$ specifies the chain. We diagonalize this by forming symmetric and antisymmetric bands in terms of

$`c_{s,aR,L}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(c_{1R,L}(x)\pm c_{2R,L}(x)\right)e^{\frac{i}{2v}t_{}^R(vt\pm x)}`$ (19)
The action is simply:

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }dx{\displaystyle }dt(c_{sR,L}^{}(_t\pm v_s_x)c_{sR,L}+`$ (21)
$`c_{aR,L}^{}(_t\pm v_a_x)c_{aR,L}).`$
If the fermion spectra are truly strictly linear for $`t_{}^{R,L}=0`$, then $`v_s=v_a=v`$; otherwise, these velocities will be shifted.

It is instructive to re-cast these steps in the bosonic representation, which is the most useful representation for $`g1`$. Then,

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑x𝑑t\frac{1}{8\pi }\left(\left(_t\phi _\pm \right)^2v^2\left(_x\phi _\pm \right)^2\right)}`$ (23)
$`{\displaystyle }dx{\displaystyle }dt(t_{}^Re^{i\phi _R\sqrt{2}}+t_{}^Le^{i\phi _L\sqrt{2}}+c.c.)`$
The $`SU(2)`$ symmetry which interchanges the two uncoupled chains can be used to transform this into a more tractable form. Performing a rotation generated by the unitary operator

$`U=\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}(e^{i\phi _R\sqrt{2}}e^{i\phi _R\sqrt{2}}+LR)\right)`$ (24)
we transform the action into:

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑x𝑑t\frac{1}{8\pi }\left(\left(_t\phi _{}^{}{}_{\pm }{}^{}\right)^2v^2\left(_x\phi _{}^{}{}_{\pm }{}^{}\right)^2\right)}`$ (26)
$`{\displaystyle 𝑑x𝑑t\left(t_{}^R_{}\phi _{}^{}{}_{R}{}^{}+t_{}^L_+\phi _{}^{}{}_{L}{}^{}\right)}`$
where $`\phi ^{}`$ is the rotated field, $`_\pm =_t\pm v_x`$ and, for simplicity, we have assumed that $`t_{}^{R,L}`$ are real. The second line of (26) can be eliminated by making the change of variables: $`\phi _{}^{}{}_{R,L}{}^{}\phi _{}^{}{}_{R,L}{}^{}+\frac{1}{2v}t_{}^{R,L}(vtx)`$. As a result, various correlations functions of the unshifted variables will be spatially modulated:

$$e^{i\phi _{}^{}{}_{R}{}^{}(x)/\sqrt{2}}e^{i\phi _{}^{}{}_{R}{}^{}(0)/\sqrt{2}}=\frac{1}{x^2}e^{\frac{i}{v}t_{}^Rx}$$
(27)
The same is true of the unprimed fields. This spatial modulation of a correlation function is characteristic of an incommensurate phase, and can be taken as the definition of such a phase . This behavior still occurs even if $`t_{}^Rt_{}^L`$. In particular, if $`t_{}^R0`$, but $`t_{}^L=0`$, the modulation occurs in the right-moving sector, but not the left-moving one. The relation to the fermionic representation is:

$`c_{s,aR,L}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`e^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\phi _{+R}}e^{\pm \frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\phi _{}^{}{}_{R}{}^{}\pm \eta \frac{i}{2v}t_{}^{R,L}x}`$ (28)
so comparing with (3) we see how in an incommensurate phase the fermi surfaces are shifted.

To summarize, the hallmark of $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic $`c`$-axis transport is the oscillation of the power-law correlation functions of $`\phi _{}`$, as exemplified by eq. (27). This is equivalent to the statement that gapless fermionic excitations occur at two different Fermi surfaces.

Let us now turn on weak interactions and move away from the free fermion point, but remaining in the weak-coupling regime. In this regime, it makes sense to consider both intra- and interchain interactions as a perturbation of the system in which interchain hopping has already been solved (21). These interactions take the form:

$`S_{\mathrm{int}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }dx{\displaystyle }dt[u_sc_{sR}^{}c_{sR}c_{sL}^{}c_{sL}+`$ (32)
$`u_ac_{aR}^{}c_{aR}c_{aL}^{}c_{aL}`$
$`+u_x\left(c_{sR}^{}c_{sR}c_{aL}^{}c_{sL}+c_{aR}^{}c_{aR}c_{sL}^{}c_{sL}\right)`$
$`+u_t(c_{sR}^{}c_{sL}^{}c_{aR}c_{aL}+c_{aR}^{}c_{aL}^{}c_{sR}c_{sL})]`$
The renormalization group equations for these interactions read:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{du_{s,a}}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{v_s+v_a}{2v_{s,a}}}u_t^2`$ (33)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{du_x}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`u_t^2`$ (34)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{du_t}{d\mathrm{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{v_s+v_a}{2v_s}}u_s+{\displaystyle \frac{v_s+v_a}{2v_a}}u_a2u_x\right]u_t`$ (35)
For $`v_s=v_a`$, these are the Kosterlitz-Thouless equations for $`u_t`$ and $`u_s+u_a2u_x`$. In the limit of small $`u_t`$, the system is described by two gapless decoupled Luttinger liquids (corresponding to the symmetric and antisymmetric bands) if $`u_s+u_a2u_x>0`$. If, in the same limit, we instead have $`u_s+u_a2u_x<0`$, then a gap is opened. The action (32) is Lorentz invariant in this limit, so this gap cannot affect the splitting between the Fermi momenta of the symmetric and antisymmetric bands. The lowest energy single-fermion excitations will be at $`k_F\pm \frac{1}{2v}t_{}^R`$. When we move away from $`v_s=v_a`$ (which will certainly happen if the interaction strengths are different in the two bands), we can no longer appeal to Lorentz invariance, and it is possible that the symmetric and antisymmetric bands are not split in momentum. In the limit of very large $`u_s+u_a+2u_x`$, the entire approach breaks down because interchain tunneling between the two chains is irrelevant. In this limit, symmetric and antisymmetric bands do not form, and $`c`$-axis transport is insulating. In subsequent sections, we address the question of whether this can happen in the strong-coupling limit even when interchain tunneling is still relevant.

## IV The chiral clock model

In this section we introduce a lattice model which, in the continuum limit, is described by the above coupled Luttinger liquids, including the chiral operators. In the next section we will utilize known results on the incommensurate phases of this lattice model to extract physics for our problem.

The lattice model is a generalized chiral clock model, with nearest-neighbor interactions on a square lattice. It is written in terms of discrete “clock” variables $`2a\pi /N`$, where $`a`$ is an integer ranging from $`0`$ to $`N1`$. The interaction energy between neighbors of values $`a`$ and $`b`$ is required to have a $`𝐙_n`$ symmetry and, thus, is of the form $`(a,b)=(ab)=(ab+N)`$. The general action is

$`S={\displaystyle \underset{x,y}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N1}{}}}`$ $`(K_j\mathrm{cos}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{N}}(jD_xa\mathrm{\Delta }_j)\right]`$ (37)
$`+\widehat{K_j}\mathrm{cos}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{N}}(jD_ya\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_j)\right])`$
where $`D`$ is the lattice derivative, namely $`D_xaa(x+1,y)a(x,y)`$ and $`D_yaa(x,y+1)a(x,y)`$. We can obtain the physics we want by taking

$`K_j=\widehat{K}_j`$ $`K_{Nj}=K_j`$ (38)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=\mathrm{\Delta }_{N1}=\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{N1}=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ (39)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_j=`$ $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_j=0\text{otherwise}`$ (40)
We will also take $`K_j`$ to be real, but $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ need not be real. Usually, clock models have $`K_j=0`$ for $`j>1`$, but it will prove very useful to relax this condition. This model was originally introduced in , which discussed the special case $`K_1=1/T`$ and $`K_j=0`$ for $`j>1`$, and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$. When $`\mathrm{\Delta }0`$, the model is chiral. For $`0<\mathrm{\Delta }1/2`$, it is energetically more favorable for $`D_xa`$ to be $`1`$ than for it to be $`1`$: $`a`$ tends to rise (cyclically) as $`x`$ moves to the right. The fact that at low temperature there are two possibilities (no rise or a rise of $`+1`$) leads to the existence of an incommensurate phase, to which we will return in the next section.

For couplings close to a critical point, one expects the continuum physics of the chiral clock model to be described by a field theory. For $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$, a number of critical points are well understood. For $`N`$=3, there is a single critical point at $`K_1=[\mathrm{ln}(\sqrt{3}+1)]/3`$, the $`S_3`$-symmetric 3-state Potts model critical point. The corresponding field theory is a conformal field theory with central charge $`c=4/5`$. For $`N5`$, there is a critical “Villain” line. This line appears by arguments familiar from the Coulomb gas approach to the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in the XY model. Namely, one assumes that the discrete clock variable $`a(x,y)`$ can be replaced by a bosonic field $`\varphi (x,y)`$ taking continuous values: the effect of the original discreteness is a potential $`\mathrm{cos}(N\varphi )`$ (the operator $`\{N,0\}`$ in the notation of section 2). When $`N5`$ there is a regime in which both vortices (operators $`\{0,n\}`$ for $`n`$ integer) and the $`\mathrm{cos}(N\varphi )`$ potential are irrelevant . In this regime the free boson fixed-line is therefore stable. In the full parameter space of the generalized clock model with no chirality, there is a region which flows to this stable fixed line. However, there is an additional fixed point in this parameter space, known as the Fateev-Zamolodchikov or parafermion fixed point . This unstable fixed point is at the edge of the region of stability of the Villain line, and is at a self-dual value of the couplings. The parafermion conformal field theory describing this fixed point has central charge $`c=2(N1)/(N+2)`$ while the Villain line has central charge $`c=1`$. As $`N`$ gets higher, the structure gets more elaborate, but the parafermion and Villain points are the only ones we need to discuss here; see  for a thorough discussion of the phase structure of the $`𝐙_5`$ and $`𝐙_6`$ models.

The case of interest for the coupled Luttinger liquids turns out to be $`N=4`$. The existence of the Villain line follows directly from the fact that the (non-chiral) $`𝐙_4`$ clock model is equivalent to the Ashkin-Teller model. The Ashkin-Teller model is two coupled Ising models, with $`s,\sigma =\pm 1`$ on every site related to $`a`$ via

$$e^{i\pi a/2}=\frac{s+i\sigma }{1+i}$$

so at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$ the action becomes

$$S=\underset{<ij>}{}\left(K_1(\sigma _i\sigma _j+s_is_j)+K_2\sigma _i\sigma _js_is_j\right).$$
(41)
The original chiral clock model is at $`K_2=0`$, where the two Ising models decouple. On the self-dual line $`\mathrm{sinh}(2K_1)=\mathrm{exp}(2K_2)`$, the Ashkin-Teller model is, in turn, equivalent to a special case of the lattice 8-vertex model which is not only integrable but critical for $`K_2\mathrm{ln}(3)/4`$ . The continuum field theory description of this critical line is precisely a free boson (or to be precise, its orbifold ). That the Ashkin-Teller model is equivalent to a free boson should not be surprising. The two-dimensional Ising model is equivalent to a free Majorana (real) fermion, so two Ising models are equivalent to a Dirac fermion. In the continuum theory, the four-fermion coupling is the only way to add interactions without moving off the critical line. The $`N=4`$ parafermion critical point is a special point on this line, namely $`K_2=(\mathrm{ln}(\sqrt{2}+1))/4`$. The critical point of the four-state Potts model (which has a full $`S_4`$ symmetry) is on the self-dual line at $`K_2=K_1=(\mathrm{ln}3)/4`$.

Now that we have found a critical line of the lattice model and the corresponding field theory, we need to find the operators in the field theory which are relevant perturbations. The thermal perturbation is not chiral: it corresponds to moving off the self-dual line while keeping $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$. This model is not integrable on the lattice, but the dimension of the thermal operator is known by combining the exact solution at $`T=T_c`$  with standard scaling assumptions and a Coulomb-gas analysis . We can put this result in our notation for free bosons by defining the radius $`r_{AT}`$ via

$$\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\pi }{8r_{AT}^2}\right)\frac{1}{2}(1e^{4K_2})$$

The thermal operator then is $`\{0,\pm 2\}_{AT}`$, with left and right dimensions ($`2r_{AT}^2,2r_{AT}^2`$). At the $`K_2=0`$ decoupled point, $`r_{AT}=1/2`$, so the thermal perturbation has dimensions $`(1/2,1/2)`$: it corresponds to giving a mass to the Ising fermions. At the parafermion fixed point, the thermal operator is of dimension $`(1/3,1/3)`$.

We find the operators in the long-wavelength field theory which couple to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ by following the argument in . When $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ are small, the linear term in (37) can be rewritten as

$`K_1\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{sin}[{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi j}{N}}(D_xa)]+\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}\mathrm{sin}[{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi j}{N}}(D_ya)]\right).`$ (42)
As one would expect from difference operators, $`\mathrm{sin}D_xf`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}D_yf`$ transform into each other under $`90^o`$ lattice rotations. In other words, these operators are not invariant under Lorentz transformations: they transform like vectors. In the continuum theory, they should therefore have Lorentz spin $`\pm 1+4n`$, for some integer $`n`$. The chiral perturbation must correspond to adding to the action operators with Lorentz spin $`\pm 1`$ (operators with higher spin are irrelevant). We can identify these operators unambiguously by using one other fact about this perturbation: second-order contributions of the chiral terms renormalize the original thermal perturbation, because $`2\mathrm{sin}^2x=1+\mathrm{cos}2x`$. Thus the operator product of the chiral operator (Lorentz spin $`1`$) with the antichiral operator (Lorentz spin $`1`$) must contain the thermal operator. Under operator products, the electric and magnetic charges merely add. This means that the chiral operators must be $`\{1,1\}_{AT}`$ and $`\{1,1\}_{AT}`$, while the antichiral operators are $`\{1,1\}_{AT}`$ and $`\{1,1\}_{AT}`$.

For example, at the point $`K_2=0`$ where the Ising models decouple, the interaction between Ising spins connected by a bond in the $`x`$ direction is

$$K_1\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Delta }(\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}+s_is_{i+1})+K_1\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Delta }(\sigma _is_{i+1}s_i\sigma _{i+1}).$$

The second term is thus proportional to $`\sigma D_xssD_x\sigma `$. The continuum field theory therefore has action

$`S=S_{I^2}`$ $`+`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_L{\displaystyle \left(\sigma (x,t)_Ls(x,t)s(x,t)_L\sigma (x,t)\right)}`$ (43)
$`+`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R{\displaystyle \left(\sigma (x,t)_Rs(x,t)s(x,t)_R\sigma (x,t)\right)}`$ (44)
where $`S_{I^2}`$ is the action of two decoupled Ising models, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{L,R}=(\mathrm{\Delta }\pm i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }})`$. We have continued to real time $`t`$ via $`y=it`$. The operator product of two magnetization operators in the Ising model indeed contains the thermal operator, so the second-order contribution of this term indeed obeys our above condition. Since the magnetization fields $`\sigma ,s`$ of the Ising models have dimensions $`(1/16,1/16)`$, the operator coupling to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_L`$ has dimensions $`(9/8,1/8)`$, while the operator coupling to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R`$ has dimensions $`(1/8,9/8)`$. These operators are not total derivatives, so in the bosonic language they do indeed correspond to the operators $`\{\pm 1,\pm 1\}_{AT}`$ and $`\{\pm 1,1\}_{AT}`$ at the decoupling radius $`r_{AT}=1/2`$.

The action of the continuum field theory describing the $`4`$-state chiral clock model near its critical line is therefore found by adding all the different perturbations to the free boson action $`S_0`$:

$`S=S_0+(TT_c){\displaystyle (\{0,2\}+\{0,2\})}`$ (46)
$`+\mathrm{\Delta }_L{\displaystyle (\{1,1\}+\{1,1\})}+\mathrm{\Delta }_R{\displaystyle (\{1,1\}+\{1,1\})}.`$ (47)
All the operators are defined with radius $`r_{AT}`$. This is the action of our coupled Luttinger liquid written in terms of $`\phi _{}`$ ! One needs to make the identification $`t_{}^{L,R}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{L,R}`$, $`TT_c=V_{2k_F}`$, and $`r_{AT}=\sqrt{g/2}`$. The critical line and hence the description is valid for $`e^{4K_2}<3`$, which corresponds to $`1/8<r_{AT}^2<3/8`$. Thus the coupled Luttinger liquid is equivalent to the continuum limit of the generalized chiral clock model if $`1/4<g<3/4`$. For the dual regime $`4>g>4/3`$, one instead identifies $`r_{AT}=\sqrt{1/2g}`$ and $`TT_c=𝒥`$.

## V Coupled Luttinger Liquid Physics from the Chiral Clock Model

The chiral clock models were the subject of quite a bit of study a few decades ago; a review can be found in . The four-state model with $`K_20`$ was discussed in . When $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$, the four-state model is believed to have a phase diagram which looks like Fig. 1.

This picture is for some fixed value of $`K_2/K_1`$ (fixed $`g`$ in the Luttinger problem). The critical point at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ is the corresponding critical point on the Ashkin-Teller self-dual line; changing the temperature corresponds to changing $`K_2`$ and $`K_1`$ while keeping $`K_2/K_1`$ constant. This phase diagram should be valid for $`2\sqrt{3}<g<3/4`$. Since everything is invariant under the transformations $`g1/g`$, the models are also equivalent for $`4/3<g<2+\sqrt{3}`$. For $`g<2\sqrt{3}`$, the chiral perturbation is irrelevant, so there is no incommensurate phase. The other bound of the map, $`g=3/4`$, is the value $`K_2=\mathrm{}`$. As shown in section 3, there is definitely an incommensurate phase at the free fermion point $`g=1`$. As we will argue below, we expect three types of behavior. For $`g<2\sqrt{3}`$ and its dual, the model is always commensurate. For $`2\sqrt{3}<g<3/4`$ and its dual, both phases are possible, depending on the relative strength of the interchain interactions and the interchain hopping. Because as one brings $`g`$ closer to $`1`$ the hopping operator becomes more relevant and the non-chiral operator less relevant, our guess is that the incommensurate phase takes a larger portion of the phase diagram as $`g3/4`$. For $`4/3>g>3/4`$, we argue that the commensurate phase vanishes. These possibilities are summarized in figure 2. Explaining these phase diagrams is the purpose of this section.

The evidence for the existence of an incommensurate phase in the chiral clock model derives from several arguments. In the parity-invariant model ($`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$), the main evidence comes from looking at the lattice model close to zero temperature ($`K_1\mathrm{}`$, $`K_2\mathrm{}`$ with $`K_2/K_1`$ fixed). At zero temperature, the system is completely ordered, except at special points at which there are two lowest-energy states. In the four-state model, this happens at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_I1/2`$, where

$$\frac{K_2}{K_1}=\sqrt{2}\mathrm{sin}\left[\frac{\pi }{2}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_I\frac{1}{2}\right)\right].$$
(48)
At zero temperature, if $`\mathrm{\Delta }<\mathrm{\Delta }_I`$, $`a`$ takes the same value at every site; but if $`\mathrm{\Delta }_I<\mathrm{\Delta }<2\mathrm{\Delta }_I`$, $`D_xa=1`$, i.e. $`a`$ increases by one (cyclically) every site as one moves to the right. These are commensurate phases. At $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_I`$, it is equally favorable energetically for $`D_xa`$ to be $`0`$ or $`1`$. Thus there are a huge number of ground states, characteristic of an incommensurate phase. At $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_I`$ (while still $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$ and $`T=0`$), the system forms stripes with constant $`a`$ in the $`y`$-direction. . The values of $`a`$ increases (cyclically) from stripe to stripe as $`x`$ increases.

We can extend the argument of  to $`K_20`$ to show that there is an incommensurate phase at small but nonzero values of temperature. At non-zero temperature, the stripe boundaries are no longer necessarily strictly parallel to the $`y`$-axis: they can develop kinks. The partition function can be computed at low temperatures if one neglects stripe creation (i.e. stripes which do not exist for all values of $`y`$). Defining $`\rho `$ to be the number of stripes per unit length, one finds

$$\mathrm{cos}(\pi \rho )=e^{2K_1+2K_2}\left(K_1\sqrt{2}\mathrm{sin}\left[\frac{\pi }{2}\left(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\right)\right]+K_2\right)$$
(49)
When the magnitude of the right-hand side is greater than one, the phase is ordered and commensurate. In the range of $`K_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ where this magnitude is less than 1, the density of stripes varies continuously with the parameters. This is the incommensurate phase.

The low-temperature approximation thus accounts for the bottom part of the phase diagram. We now consider the evidence supporting the upper part of the phase diagram of figure 1. First of all, it is useful to consider what happens for clock models for $`N>4`$. As noted before, there is a region of the phase diagram in which vortices (which correspond in the low-temperature picture to stripe-creation operators) and the $`\mathrm{cos}N\varphi `$ clock operator are irrelevant. The chiral operators coupling to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ still remain relevant. Thus even at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ there is a range of temperatures with a phase intermediate between commensurate and disordered, in the manner of . It is natural to assume that as one turns on $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, this intermediate phase turns into the incommensurate phase. Thus the phase diagram for $`N>4`$ looks like figure 1, except that the incommensurate/disordered transition line hits the $`y`$-axis above the commensurate/incommensurate line. For $`N=4`$, there is a particular point on the $`y`$-axis at which the vortex and the clock operators become (naively) marginal, while, as we have seen, the chiral operators remain relevant. This results in the picture of figure 1, in which the disorder/incommensurate and commensurate/incommensurate lines hit the $`y`$-axis at the same point. The system can be tuned across the disorder/incommensurate boundary by varying the chiral and non-chiral perturbations, i.e. by changing the interchain tunneling and interaction strengths in the coupled Luttinger liquid model.

As $`g`$ increases to $`3/4`$, the size of the incommensurate region increases because the exponent in (49) decreases. In fact, as $`g3/4`$, $`K_2\mathrm{}`$ while $`K_2/K_11`$. This means effectively that the critical point at $`T=T_c`$ is moving towards the $`T=0`$ axis. In addition, the incommensurate value $`\mathrm{\Delta }_I`$ also is moving to $`0`$. Moreover, at $`g=3/4`$, $`2(K_1+K_2)=\mathrm{ln}2`$ on the self-dual line so the exponential factor in (49) goes away. Thus the commensurate phase in the field theory is being pushed out. Therefore, we believe that in the low-temperature phase at $`g=3/4`$ the model is gapless even at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ (and that the low-energy fixed point turns out to be the three-state Potts critical point). There is no longer a commensurate phase in the field theory. We believe that for $`4/3>g>3/4`$, only the incommensurate and disordered phases are possible, which dovetails with our analysis of the weak-coupling RG equations (33). These equations are of Kosterlitz-Thouless type, and there is no evidence for any commensurate phase.

Thus we see that the $`g1`$ weak-coupling picture should persist until $`g`$ is lowered to $`3/4`$. For $`2\sqrt{3}<g<3/4`$, the phase diagram in Fig. 1 is applicable. In the continuum picture, this phase diagram results from the interplay between the chiral and non-chiral operators. At $`T=T_c`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$, the coefficient of the thermal (interchain interaction) operator is tuned to be zero, and we have a critical point. Taking $`\mathrm{\Delta }>0`$ while keeping $`|V_{2k_F}|`$ small then results in the incommensurate phase. Thus we believe that the phase structure is determined by the relative strengths of the tunneling and the interactions. (We will present additional evidence for this below.) We expect the size of the incommensurate phase to get bigger as $`g`$ increases to $`3/4`$, because of the low-temperature argument above, and because the chiral tunneling operator is getting more relevant while the non-chiral interactions are getting less relevant.

The incommensurate phase here is believed to be gapless. The main evidence for this comes from a closely-related model: the sine-Gordon field theory in a background field coupling to the charge . This model clearly has a phase diagram similar to that of figure 1. The commensurate phase comes when the $`\mathrm{cos}(N\varphi )`$ term is relevant and the background field is small. For large enough background field, it is energetically favorable to have kinks in the ground state, even though they are gapped. This results in the incommensurate phase, which clearly is gapless, because increasing the background field continuously increases the number of kinks in the ground state.

Note that the disordered phase can have minimum energy excitations which are commensurate or incommensurate. The former case occurs in the limit in which the non-chiral perturbation is much larger than the chiral perturbation. The latter was discussed in the context of the weak-coupling analysis at the end of section III. Both of these possibilities lie within the disordered phase of the chiral clock model and are, hence, adiabatically connectable.

Note also that our results predict the existence of a Lifshitz point (i.e. a point at which the commensurate, incommensurate, and disordered phases all coexist) in the chiral clock model for $`1/4<K_2/K_1<2\sqrt{3}=.268\mathrm{}`$. In this regime, the chiral operator is irrelevant near the $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ critical point, so the disordered/commensurate transition line should extend out for finite $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. However, for $`g>1/4`$ there is still an incommensurate phase at low-enough temperature. The phase diagram should look almost like figure 1, except there is a direct phase transition between the disordered and commensurate phases for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ small. The phase boundary between the disordered and commensurate phases ends at a Lifshitz point, beyond which these two phases are separated by the incommensurate phase.

Strong support for the above picture comes from an integrable model, usually called the chiral Potts model . This model comprises a special subspace of the couplings in the general clock Hamiltonian (37). The name is somewhat misleading: the integrable model is not $`S_N`$ symmetric but only $`𝐙_N`$ symmetric. When there is no chiral interaction, the integrable model reduces to the $`𝐙_N`$ Fateev-Zamolodchikov parafermion critical point (there is no Potts critical point for $`N>4`$).

Unfortunately, except at the critical point the couplings in the integrable model do not include the value $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}=0`$ in which we are most interested. However, it does include a very interesting special case, corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\pm i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$. Because of the $`i`$, the Boltzmann weights are not real, but the Hamiltonian in real time is Hermitian. In the language of the coupled Luttinger model, this corresponds to setting the tunneling at one of the Fermi points, say $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R=t_{}^R=0`$. With this condition, the model remains self-dual even away from the critical line . The thermal operator is not self-dual, so it cannot be in the continuum action either . Thus the field theory of the integrable model on this line is equivalent to that of Luttinger liquids at $`g=1/3`$ (the parafermion value) coupled by a single chiral tunneling operator . This allows us to isolate the physics of the chiral operator (with coefficient $`\mathrm{\Delta }_L=t_{}^L`$) from that of the thermal ($`V_{2k_F}`$) perturbation.

At a special value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_L`$ known as the superintegrable point, the exact excitation energies can be computed . One finds that level crossing has occurred: there are states with $`Z_N`$ charge (not to be confused with the electric charge of our Luttinger liquids) which have energy below that of the original ground state, which is chargeless. Thus the ground state at non-zero temperature contains a mixture of these $`Z_N`$ charged states, just as in the sine-Gordon model at large enough background fields. Thus, at the superintegrable point on the self-dual line, the model is gapless and incommensurate. Moreover, this phase persists even when a small non-zero $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R`$ is allowed.

One very interesting exact result is that the exponents are the same at the superintegrable point and the parafermion critical point, once the anisotropy is properly accounted for. This is a strong indication that the model is gapless and incommensurate as one tunes $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ from $`0`$ to the superintegrable point, and in fact all along the self-dual line. All other exact results support this assertion as well . The continuum language also strongly supports this picture . Because the critical point is perturbed only by a single chiral operator, the thermal operator is not induced in perturbation theory. The only effect of renormalization is to scale the coefficient of the chiral operator, and not create a gap. This is also implied by the analysis of the sine-Gordon model in a background field , which indicates that there is no Lifshitz point in the three-state model.

Thus the integrable model provides strong evidence that adding a single chiral operator to the action results in a gapless incommensurate phase. This is in perfect harmony with the picture that adding chiral operators to the action tends to cause an incommensurate phase, while adding non-chiral ones causes commensurability. A transition occurs as the relative couplings are varied. Unfortunately, we do not know how to determine the exact location of the transition line (except at low temperatures in the lattice model). Nevertheless, we believe that all available evidence agrees with the phase diagram of figure 1.

## VI Conclusions

Our main conclusions are

(1) For $`g=1/3`$, interchain tunneling alone (which can be disentangled from interactions by taking $`t_{}^L=V_{2k_F}=0`$ but $`t_{}^R0`$) leads to the formation of symmetric and antisymmetric bands with displaced Fermi surfaces – i.e. $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic interchain transport.

(2) Interchain interactions which couple the $`2k_F`$ density oscillations of the two chains suppress $`c`$-axis dispersion and transport. As a result, for $`3/4>g>2\sqrt{3}`$ (and the mathematically equivalent dual case $`4/3<g<2+\sqrt{3}`$), the relative strengths of interchain tunneling and interchain interactions determine the phase boundary between a state with $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic $`c`$-axis transport and a state with a partially gapped spectrum (the total charge mode remains gapless) which exhibits insulating $`c`$-axis transport. As interchain interactions are increased within the gapped phase, the $`c`$-axis dispersion smoothly disappears; no phase boundary is crossed as the minimum energy excitations move to the same point in momentum space.

(3) There is no fully gapless phase without $`c`$-axis dispersion and metallic interchain transport, contrary to the claim of .

These results were drawn by mapping the problem of coupled Luttinger liquids onto the $`4`$-state chiral clock model. The phase diagram of the latter model can be obtained from an analysis of the low- and high-temperature expansions of this model, together with an analysis of the $`Z_4`$ parafermion critical point of the non-chiral limiting case of the model. Result (2) follows from this phase diagram. Note, in particular, that this phase diagram has a single gapless phase: the incommensurate phase. Hence, it is not possible to have a completely gapless phase with two identical Fermi surfaces unless $`g<2\sqrt{3}`$, in which case interchain tunneling is irrelevant (this case is beyond the regime of validity of the mapping to the $`4`$-state chiral clock model). Result (1) was obtained from exact solutions of the $`4`$-state chiral Potts model (a special case of the general $`4`$-state chiral clock model). These conclusions are consistent with earlier analytical  and numerical  studies. They contradict some of the claims of , although we do find that it is possible for $`c`$-axis transport to be suppressed in a regime in which the tunneling is still relevant.

These results suggest the following lessons for the interlayer physics of the high-$`T_c`$ superconductors. In-plane non-Fermi liquid behavior alone is not likely to be enough to frustrate single-electron hopping between copper-oxide planes in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors. However, the formation of a gap (possibly with interlayer correlations) could have this effect, thereby leading to a state which is metallic within the planes but does not show $`c`$-axis dispersion.

We would like to thank Alexei Tsvelik for organizing the Newton Institute conference where this work was initiated. We thank Duncan Haldane for an inspirational conversation, and for discussing his unpublished results (some of which we probably have reproduced). We also thank John Cardy, Sudip Chakravarty, Marcel den Nijs and Barry McCoy for helpful conversations. The work of P.F. was supported by a DOE OJI Award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and by NSF grant DMR-9802813. The work of C.N. was supported by NSF grant DMR-9983544 and the A.P. Sloan Foundation.