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 F I E L D T H E O R I E S O F C O N D E N S E D M AT T E R P H Y S I C S

Presenting the physics of the most challenging problems in condensed matter using
the conceptual framework of quantum field theory, this book is of great interest to
physicists in condensed matter and high-energy and string theorists, as well as
to mathematicians. Revised and updated, this second edition features new chapters
on the renormalization group, the Luttinger liquid, gauge theory, topological fluids,
topological insulators, and quantum entanglement.
The book begins with the basic concepts and tools, developing them gradually
to bring readers to the issues currently faced at the frontiers of research, such as
topological phases of matter, quantum and classical critical phenomena, quantum
Hall effects, and superconductors. Other topics covered include one-dimensional
strongly correlated systems, quantum ordered and disordered phases, topological
structures in condensed matter and in field theory and fractional statistics.

E D U A R D O F R A D K I N is a Professor in the Department of Physics, University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests are in condensed mat-
ter physics; disordered systems, high-temperature superconductors, and electronic
liquid-crystal phases of strongly correlated systems; quantum Hall fluids and other
topological phases of matter; and quantum field theory in condensed matter.

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FIELD THEORIES OF CONDENSED
MATTER PHYSICS

SECOND EDITION

E D UA R D O F R A D K I N
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521764445

c E. Fradkin 2013


This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First edition published by Addison Wesley, 1991

Second edition published by Cambridge University Press, 2013

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by the MPG Books Group

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

Fradkin, Eduardo.
Field theories of condensed matter physics / Eduardo Fradkin. – Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-76444-5
1. High temperature superconductivity. 2. Hubbard model. 3. Antiferromagnetism. I. Title.
QC611.98.H54F73 2013
537.6′ 23–dc23
2012039026

ISBN 978 0 521 76444 5 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or

accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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 Contents

Preface to the second edition page xi

Preface to the first edition xv
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Field theory and condensed matter physics 1
1.2 What has been included in this book (first edition) 2
1.3 What was left out of the first edition 3
1.4 What has been included in the second edition 4
2 The Hubbard model 8
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 Symmetries of the Hubbard model 10
2.3 The strong-coupling limit 14
2.4 The weak-coupling limit 17
2.5 Correlation functions 21
3 The magnetic instability of the Fermi system 27
3.1 Mean-field theory 27
3.2 Path-integral representation of the Hubbard model 39
3.3 Path integrals and mean-field theory 46
3.4 Fluctuations: the non-linear sigma model 51
3.5 The Néel state and the non-linear sigma model 57
4 The renormalization group and scaling 63
4.1 Scale invariance 63
4.2 Examples of fixed points 67
4.3 Scaling behavior of physical observables 72
4.4 General consequences of scale invariance 75
4.5 Perturbative renormalization group about a fixed point 78
4.6 The Kosterlitz renormalization group 82

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vi Contents

5 One-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets 90

5.1 The spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain 90
5.2 Fermions and the Heisenberg model 100
5.3 The quantum Ising chain 112
5.4 Duality 116
5.5 The quantum Ising chain as a free-Majorana-fermion system 118
5.6 Abelian bosonization 126
5.7 Phase diagrams and scaling behavior 141

6 The Luttinger liquid 145

6.1 One-dimensional Fermi systems 145
6.2 Dirac fermions and the Luttinger model 149
6.3 Order parameters of the one-dimensional electron gas 153
6.4 The Luttinger model: bosonization 155
6.5 Spin and the Luttinger model 159
6.6 Scaling and renormalization in the Luttinger model 164
6.7 Correlation functions of the Luttinger model 169
6.8 Susceptibilities of the Luttinger model 176

7 Sigma models and topological terms 189

7.1 Generalized spin chains: the Haldane conjecture 189
7.2 Path integrals for spin systems: the single-spin problem 190
7.3 The path integral for many-spin systems 198
7.4 Quantum ferromagnets 199
7.5 The effective action for one-dimensional quantum
antiferromagnets 202
7.6 The role of topology 205
7.7 Quantum fluctuations and the renormalization group 209
7.8 Asymptotic freedom and Haldane’s conjecture 213
7.9 Hopf term or no Hopf term? 218
7.10 The Wess–Zumino–Witten model 227
7.11 A (brief) introduction to conformal field theory 233
7.12 The Wess–Zumino–Witten conformal field theory 238
7.13 Applications of non-abelian bosonization 243

8 Spin-liquid states 251

8.1 Frustration and disordered spin states 251
8.2 Valence bonds and disordered spin states 253
8.3 Spinons, holons, and valence-bond states 261
8.4 The gauge-field picture of the disordered spin states 263
8.5 Flux phases, valence-bond crystals, and spin liquids 270

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 Contents vii

8.6 Is the large-N mean-field theory reliable? 277

8.7 SU(2) gauge invariance and Heisenberg models 279

9 Gauge theory, dimer models, and topological phases 286

9.1 Fluctuations of valence bonds: quantum-dimer models 286
9.2 Bipartite lattices: valence-bond order and quantum criticality 290
9.3 Non-bipartite lattices: topological phases 291
9.4 Generalized quantum-dimer models 292
9.5 Quantum dimers and gauge theories 294
9.6 The Ising gauge theory 298
9.7 The Z2 confining phase 301
9.8 The Ising deconfining phase: the Z2 topological fluid 305
9.9 Boundary conditions and topology 309
9.10 Generalized Z2 gauge theory: matter fields 314
9.11 Compact quantum electrodynamics 319
9.12 Deconfinement and topological phases in the U(1) gauge theory 321
9.13 Duality transformation and dimer models 325
9.14 Quantum-dimer models and monopole gases 336
9.15 The quantum Lifshitz model 342

10 Chiral spin states and anyons 359

10.1 Chiral spin liquids 359
10.2 Mean-field theory of chiral spin liquids 366
10.3 Fluctuations and flux phases 371
10.4 Chiral spin liquids and Chern–Simons gauge theory 375
10.5 The statistics of spinons 382
10.6 Fractional statistics 389
10.7 Chern–Simons gauge theory: a field theory of anyons 393
10.8 Periodicity and families of Chern–Simons theories 398
10.9 Quantization of the global degrees of freedom 400
10.10 Flux phases and the fractional quantum Hall effect 402
10.11 Anyons at finite density 405
10.12 The Jordan–Wigner transformation in two dimensions 412

11 Anyon superconductivity 414

11.1 Anyon superconductivity 414
11.2 The functional-integral formulation of the
Chern–Simons theory 415
11.3 Correlation functions 417
11.4 The semi-classical approximation 418
11.5 Effective action and topological invariance 424

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viii Contents

12 Topology and the quantum Hall effect 432

12.1 Quantum mechanics of charged particles in magnetic fields 432
12.2 The Hofstadter wave functions 438
12.3 The quantum Hall effect 445
12.4 The quantum Hall effect and disorder 447
12.5 Linear-response theory and correlation functions 449
12.6 The Hall conductance and topological invariance 456
12.7 Quantized Hall conductance of a non-interacting system 468
12.8 Quantized Hall conductance of Hofstadter bands 472

13 The fractional quantum Hall effect 480

13.1 The Laughlin wave function 480
13.2 Composite particles 499
13.3 Landau–Ginzburg theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect 502
13.4 Fermion field theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect 512
13.5 The semi-classical excitation spectrum 523
13.6 The electromagnetic response and collective modes 525
13.7 The Hall conductance and Chern–Simons theory 528
13.8 Quantum numbers of the quasiparticles: fractional charge 530
13.9 Quantum numbers of the quasiparticles: fractional statistics 534

14 Topological fluids 536

14.1 Quantum Hall fluids on a torus 536
14.2 Hydrodynamic theory 542
14.3 Hierarchical states 547
14.4 Multi-component abelian fluids 552
14.5 Superconductors as topological fluids 556
14.6 Non-abelian quantum Hall states 563
14.7 The spin-singlet Halperin states 573
14.8 Moore–Read states and their generalizations 575
14.9 Topological superconductors 587
14.10 Braiding and fusion 597

15 Physics at the edge 603

15.1 Edge states of integer quantum Hall fluids 603
15.2 Hydrodynamic theory of the edge states 609
15.3 Edges of general abelian quantum Hall states 620
15.4 The bulk–edge correspondence 624
15.5 Effective-field theory of non-abelian states 641
15.6 Tunneling conductance at point contacts 647
15.7 Noise and fractional charge 661

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 Contents ix

15.8 Quantum interferometers 662

15.9 Topological quantum computation 667
16 Topological insulators 669
16.1 Topological insulators and topological band structures 669
16.2 The integer quantum Hall effect as a topological insulator 670
16.3 The quantum anomalous Hall effect 672
16.4 The quantum spin Hall effect 687
16.5 Z2 topological invariants 696
16.6 Three-dimensional topological insulators 701
16.7 Solitons in polyacetylene 705
16.8 Edge states in the quantum anomalous Hall effect 714
16.9 Edge states and the quantum spin Hall effect 718
16.10 Z2 topological insulators and the parity anomaly 720
16.11 Topological insulators and interactions 733
16.12 Topological Mott insulators and nematic phases 736
16.13 Topological insulators and topological phases 745
17 Quantum entanglement 753
17.1 Classical and quantum criticality 753
17.2 Quantum entanglement 756
17.3 Entanglement in quantum field theory 758
17.4 The area law 762
17.5 Entanglement entropy in conformal field theory 765
17.6 Entanglement entropy in the quantum Lifshitz universality class 769
17.7 Entanglement entropy in φ 4 theory 778
17.8 Entanglement entropy and holography 780
17.9 Quantum entanglement and topological phases 785
17.10 Outlook 795
References 799
Index 826

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 Preface to the second edition

I am extremely happy to, at long last, be able to present the second edition of this
book. In spite of what I stated in the preface of the 1991 edition, I ended up not only
writing a second edition but, in a sense, a new book. So one can say, once again,
that we have met the enemy and it is us. I have been pleased that the 1991 edition
of this book was appreciated by many people who found it useful and stimulating.
I am really happy that my effort was not in vain.
My motivation for writing this book, in 1991 and now, was to present quan-
tum field theory as a conceptual framework to understand problems in condensed
matter physics that cannot be described perturbatively, and hence do not admit
a straightforward reduction to some non-interacting problem. In essence, almost
all interesting problems in condensed matter physics have this character. Two
prime examples of problems of this type in condensed matter physics that devel-
oped in the late 1980s, and even more so in the 1990s, are the understanding
of high-temperature superconductors and the quantum Hall effects. In both areas
field theory played (and plays) a central role. If anything, the use of these ideas
has become widespread and increasingly plays a key role. It was lucky that the
first edition of this book appeared at just about the right time, even though this
meant that I had to miss out on research that was and still is important. This was
probably the only time that I was on time, as people who know me can relate.
Much has happened since the first edition appeared in print. The problem of the
quantum Hall effects has developed into a full-fledged framework to understand
topological phases of matter. Although it is still an unsolved problem, the research
in high-temperature superconductors (and similar problems) has motivated theo-
rists to look for new ways to think of these problems, and the ideas of quantum
field theory have played a central role. The concepts, and subtleties, of gauge
theory have come to play a key role in many areas, particularly in frustrated quan-
tum magnetism. The interactions between condensed matter and other areas of
physics, particularly high-energy physics and string theory, have become more

xi

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xii Preface to the second edition

important. Concepts in topology and other areas of mathematics rarely frequented

by condensed matter physicists have also entered the field with full force. More
recent developments have seen the incorporation of ideas of general relativity and
quantum entanglement into the field.
These developments motivated me to work on a second edition of this book. I
have to thank Simon Capelin, my editor from Cambridge University Press, who
took the time to persuade me that this was not a foolish project. So, some time in
2007 (I think) I finally agreed to do it. Of course, this was a more complex project
than I had expected (nothing new there!). For this reason it took until now, the
Spring of 2012, for me to finish what I thought would take just one year (or so).
I wish to thank Simon Capelin and the people at Cambridge University Press for
working with me throughout this project.
This second edition contains essentially all that was included in the ten chapters
of the first edition, with a substantial editing of misprints and “misprints.” However,
it has grown to have seven more chapters to incorporate some important material
that I left out in 1991 and to add new material to reflect some of the new develop-
ments. The result is that this is essentially a new book. I hope that in the process
of writing this second edition I have not ruined what was good in the first one, and
that the new material will be useful to a wide spectrum of people, not only in con-
densed matter. Although the book is significantly larger than its first edition, I had
to leave out some really important material. In particular, I incorporated hardly any
discussion of Fermi liquids, non-Fermi liquids (except for Luttinger liquids), and
superconductors, among many important problems that are also of interest to me.
Several notable books that cover some parts of the material I cover have appeared
in print since 1991, such as Xiao-Gang Wen’s Quantum Field Theory of Many
Body Systems (published in 2003) and Subir Sachdev’s Quantum Phase Transi-
tions (published in 1999). Other books that cover some aspects of the material are
Assa Auerbach’s Interacting Electrons and Magnetism (published in 1994) and the
book by A. Gogolin, A. Nersesyan, and A. Tsvelik, Bosonization and Strongly Cor-
related Systems (published in 2004), as well as the superb Principles on Condensed
Matter Physics by Paul Chaikin and Tom Lubensky (published in 1995) and John
Cardy’s Scaling and Renormalization in Statistical Physics (published in 1996).
I am deeply indebted to many people whose work has influenced my views. I
have to particularly thank Steve Kivelson for his long-term friendship and collabo-
ration, which has had a strong impact on my work, as reflected here. I also thank my
collaborators in many projects, some of which are reflected here, Chetan Nayak,
Claudio Chamon, Paul Fendley, Shivaji Sondhi, Joel Moore, and Fidel Schapos-
nik. I am also indebted to Lenny Susskind and Steve Shenker, who played a great
role during my formative years as a theorist and whose outlook has strongly influ-
enced these pages. I also thank my former students Ana López, Christopher Mudry,

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 Preface to the second edition xiii

Antonio Castro Neto, Eun-Ah Kim, Michael Lawler, Kai Sun, and Benjamin Hsu,
whose work is also reflected here. I am also indebted to my colleagues Mike Stone
and Rob Leigh, with whom I collaborated in several projects and had countless
stimulating discussions. Their work has strongly influenced my own. I also wish
to thank Taylor Hughes and Shinsei Ryu for explaining their work (and others) on
topological insulators, and motivating me to think on these problems. I am also
grateful to Pouyan Ghaemi for reading the chapter on topological insulators and
catching several misprints, and to Rodrigo Soto Garrido and to Ponnuraj Krish-
nakumar for proofreading the entire book and for their great help in generating the
skyrmion figures for the cover.
I must also acknowledge the constant and permanent support of the Department
of Physics of the University of Illinois, and my colleagues in our department. Some
of the material presented here was also used in several special-topics courses I
taught in Urbana over the years. I am particularly grateful to Professor Dale van
Harlingen, our Department Head, for his constant support. I also wish to thank the
many people who over the years have pointed out to me several conceptual issues
present in the first edition as well as numerous misprints. I hope the editing of the
second edition is substantially better than that of the first. I also wish to thank the
National Science Foundation, which supported my research for many years.
This second edition, much like the first, could not have existed without the emo-
tional support and love of Claudia, my wife and lifetime companion. Our children
have fortunately (for them) been spared this second edition, which also could not
have existed without my father constantly asking when I was going to be done
with it.
Eduardo Fradkin
Urbana, Illinois, USA

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 Preface to the first edition

This volume is an outgrowth of the course “Physics of Strongly Correlated Sys-

tems” which I taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the
Fall of 1989. The goal of my course was to present the field-theoretic picture of
the most interesting problems in Condensed Matter Physics, in particular those rel-
evant to high-temperature superconductors. The content of the first six chapters is
roughly what I covered in that class. The remaining four chapters were developed
after January 1, 1990. Thus, that material is largely the culprit for this book being
one year late! During 1990 I had to constantly struggle between finalizing the book
and doing research that I just could not pass on. The result is that the book is one
year late and I was late on every single paper that I thought was important! Thus,
I have to agree with the opinion voiced so many times by other people who made
the same mistake I did and say, don’t ever write a book! Nevertheless, although
the experience had its moments of satisfaction, none was like today’s when I am
finally done with it.
This book exists because of the physics I learned from so many people, but it
is only a pale reflection of what I learned from them. I must thank my colleague
Michael Stone, from whom I have learned so much. I am also indebted to Steven
Kivelson, Fidel Schaposnik, and Xiao-Gang Wen, who not only informed me on
many of the subjects which are discussed here but, also, more importantly, did not
get too angry with me for not writing the papers I still owe them.
This book would not have existed either without the extraordinary help of
Christopher Mudry, Carlos Cassanello, and Ana López, who took time off their
research to help me with this crazy project. They have done an incredible job in
reading the manuscript, finding my many mistakes (not just typos!), making very
useful comments, and helping me with the editing of the final version. I am partic-
ularly indebted to Christopher, who made very important remarks and comments
concerning the presentation of very many subjects discussed here. He also gener-
ated the figures. Mrs. Phyllis Shelton-Ball typeset the first six chapters. My wife,

xv

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xvi Preface to the first edition

Claudia, made this project possible by learning LATEX at great speed and typeset-
ting the last four chapters, correcting some of my very boring and awkward writing
style.
This book was also made possible by the love and help of my children Ana,
Andrés, and Alejandro, who had to live with a father who became a ghost for a
while. Ana and Andrés helped in the proofreading, and took care of their little
brother, who helped by keeping everybody happy.
Finally, I must acknowledge the support of the Department of Physics and
the Center for Advanced Study of the University of Illinois. The help and
understanding of the staff at Addison Wesley is also gratefully acknowledged.
Eduardo Fradkin
Urbana, Illinois, USA

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 1
Introduction

1.1 Field theory and condensed matter physics

Condensed matter physics is a very rich and diverse field. If we are to define it as
being “whatever gets published in the condensed matter section of a physics jour-
nal,” we would conclude that it ranges from problems typical of material science to
subjects as fundamental as particle physics and cosmology. Because of its diversity,
it is sometimes hard to figure out where the field is going, particularly if you do
not work in this field. Unfortunately, this is the case for people who have to make
decisions about funding, grants, tenure, and other unpleasant aspects in the life of
a physicist. They have a hard time figuring out where to put this subject which is
neither applied science nor dealing with the smallest length scales or the highest
energies. However, the richness of the field comes precisely from its diversity.
The past few decades have witnessed the development of two areas of condensed
matter physics that best illustrate the strengths of this field: critical phenomena and
the quantum Hall effect. In both cases, it was the ability to produce extremely pure
samples which allowed the discovery and experimental study of the phenomenon.
Their physical explanation required the use of new concepts and the development
of new theoretical tools, such as the renormalization group, conformal invariance,
and fractional statistics.
While the concept of conformal invariance was well known in field theory before
critical phenomena became recognized as a field, its importance to the complete
structure of the field theory was not understood. The situation changed with the
development of the renormalization group (RG). For condensed matter physics,
the RG is the main tool for the interpretation of the experimental data, providing
the conceptual framework and the computational algorithm which has allowed the
theory to make powerful predictions. In particle physics, the RG is also a tool for
the interpretation of the data. But, more importantly, the concept of an infrared-
unstable fixed point has become the definition of the field theory itself.

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2 Introduction

Similarly, the Chern–Simons theories, which are field theories that describe sys-
tems exhibiting fractional statistics, were known before the quantum Hall effect
(QHE) was discovered (actually they were discovered at about the same time),
but were regarded as a curiosity of field theories below four dimensions: in other
words, a beautiful piece of mathematical physics but without relevance to “the
world.” We have come to recognize that Chern–Simons theories are the natural
theoretical framework to describe the quantum Hall effect.
Another case relevant to this point is superconductivity. Viable mechanisms for
superconductivity have been known for the fifty-some years that have passed since
the theory of Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS). This theory has successfully
explained superconductivity, and a variety of related phenomena, in very diverse
areas of physics. This theory has been applied to diverse areas of physics, rang-
ing from superconductivity in metals and superfluidity of liquid 3 He in condensed
matter physics to neutron stars and nuclear matter in nuclear physics, and dynami-
cal symmetry breaking and grand unification mechanisms (such as technicolor) in
elementary-particle physics.
The origin of this constant interplay between field theory and condensed matter
(or statistical) physics is that, despite their superficial differences, both fields deal
with problems that involve a large (macroscopic) number of degrees of freedom
that interact with each other. Thus, it should be no surprise that the same techniques
can be used in both fields. The traditional trend was that field theory provided the
tools (and the “sexy” terms) which were later adapted to a condensed matter prob-
lem. In turn, condensed matter models were used as “toy models” in which to
try new techniques. Although this is still the case, more recent developments in
condensed matter physics have allowed us to investigate new fundamental concep-
tual problems in quantum field theory. However, as the examples of the RG and
the QHE show, the “toy models” can provide a framework for the understanding
of much more general phenomenon. The experimental accessibility of condensed
matter systems is just as important. The MOSFETs and heterostructures in which
the QHE is studied have given us the surprisingly exact quantization of the Hall
conductance whose understanding has required the use of topology and fiber
bundles.
The importance of condensed matter physics to field theory, and vice versa, has
been recognized at least since the 1950s. Landau and Feynman are perhaps the two
theorists who best understood this deep connection. They worked in both fields and
used their ideas and experience from one field in the other and then the converse.

1.2 What has been included in this book (first edition)

This volume is an outgrowth of the course “Physics of Strongly Correlated Sys-
tems” which I taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the

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