Electronic quasiparticles in the quantum dimer model: Density matrix renormalization group results

Abstract

We study a recently proposed quantum dimer model for the pseudogap metal state of the cuprates. The model contains bosonic dimers, representing a spin-singlet valence bond between a pair of electrons, and fermionic dimers, representing a quasiparticle with spin-1/2 and charge +e. By density matrix renormalization group calculations on a long but finite cylinder, we obtain the ground state density distribution of the fermionic dimers for a number of di↵erent total densities. From the Friedel oscillations at open boundaries, we deduce that the Fermi surface consists of small hole pockets near (⇡/2, ⇡/2), and this feature persists up to doping density 1/16. We also compute the entanglement entropy and find that it closely matches the sum of the entanglement entropies of a critical boson and a low density of free fermions. Our results support the existence of a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) in this model.