DEGENERATE BOSE-LIQUID IN A FLUCTUATING GAUGE FIELD

We study the effect of a strongly fluctuating gauge field on a degener ate Bose liquid, relevant to the charge degrees of freedom in doped Mo tt insulators. We find that the superfluidity is destroyed. The result ing metallic phase is studied using quantum Monte Carlo methods. Gauge fluctuations cause the boson world lines to retrace themselves. We ex amine how this world-line geometry affects the physical properties of the system. In particular, we find a transport relaxation rate of the order of 2k(B)T, consistent with the normal state of the cuprate super conductors. We also find that the density excitations of this model re semble those of the full t-J model.