Compressible quantum phases from conformal field theories in 2+1 dimensions

Understand

Conformal field theories (CFTs) with a globally conserved U(1) charge Q can be deformed into compressible phases by modifying their Hamiltonian, H, by a chemical potential H -> H - \mu Q.

• We study 2+1 dimensional CFTs upon which an explicit S duality mapping can be performed.
• We find that this construction leads naturally to compressible phases which are superfluids, solids, or non-Fermi liquids which are more appropriately called `Bose metals' in the present context.
• The Bose metal preserves all symmetries and has Fermi surfaces of gauge-charged fermions, even in cases where the parent CFT can be expressed solely by bosonic degrees of freedom.