SUPERFLUID TO BOSE METAL TRANSITION IN SYSTEMS WITH RESONANT PAIRING

Experiments in thin films whose thickness can be modified and by this way induce a superconductor to insulator transition, seem to suggest that in the quantum critical regime of this phase transition there might be a Bose metal, i.e., uncondensed bosonic carriers with a finite dissipation. This poses a fundamental problem as to our understanding of how such a state could be justified. On the basis of a simple Boson-Fermion model, where bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom are strongly inter-related via a Boson-Fermion pair exchange coupling g, we illustrate how such a bosonic metal phase could possibly come about. We show that, as we approach the quantum critical point at some critical gc from the superfluid side, the superfluid phase locking is sustained only for longer and longer spatial scales. On a finite spatial scale, the boson have a quasi-free itinerant behavior with metallic features. At the quantum critical point the systems exhibits a phase separation which shows a ressemblance to that of a He3–He4 mixture. This could be the clue to the apparent dilemma of a Bose metal at zero temperature.