title: Broken time-reversal symmetry in strongly correlated ladder structures.
abstract: We provide, for the first time, in a doped strongly correlated system (two-leg ladder), a controlled theoretical demonstration of the existence of a state in which long-range ordered orbital currents are arranged in a staggered pattern, coexisting with a charge density wave. The method used is the highly accurate density-matrix renormalization group technique. This brings us closer to recent proposals that this order is realized in the enigmatic pseudogap phase of the cuprate high temperature superconductors.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schollwöck
authors.forename: Sudip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakravarty
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Fjaerestad
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Marston
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Troyer