Phases of two coupled Luttinger liquids

A model of two interacting one-dimensional fermion systems (‘‘Luttinger liquids’’) coupled by single-particle hopping is investigated. Bosonization allows a number of exact statements to be made. In particular, for forward scattering only, the model contains two massless boson sectors and an Ising-type critical sector. For general repulsive interactions, there is a spin excitation gap and either d-type pairing or orbital antiferromagnetic fluctuations dominate. It is argued that the same behavior is also found for strong interactions. A possible scenario for the crossover to a Fermi liquid in a many-chain system is discussed. © 1996 The American Physical Society.