BOSONIZATION IN 2 DIMENSIONS - A SPACE-TIME TUNNELING APPROACH

Using the space-time curve representation, a bosonization scheme is constructed which includes density excitations around each point on the Fermi surface (FS) and space-time tunneling of charges which belong to different FS points. The space-time tunneling reproduces the two-dimensional Jordan-Wigner transformation. In two dimensions, since the tunneling involves two electrons, the total Jordan-Wigner phase maps boson into boson. Therefore, the tunneling corresponds to instantons in 2e bosonic systems. Using this formalism, a spinless fermion model with short-range repulsive interactions is investigated. We find two components: sound-wave excitations in the normal direction of the FS reproduce the Fermi liquid (FL); the second component corresponds to the cooperon channel, violates charge conservation, and gives rise to two-particle coherent tunneling. As a result, the FL phase is destroyed at temperature T=0, and a tunneling gap for charge 2e is formed with angular momentum l0. We apply our formalism to the U(1) gauge field coupled to a spinless fermion and find that at T0 the FL is again destroyed. We also make some remarks concerning the t-J model. © 1994 The American Physical Society.