We study thermodynamic properties of the doped Hubbard model on the square lattice in the regime of strong charge and spin fluctuations at low temperatures near the metal-to-insulator crossover and obtain results with controlled accuracy using the diagrammatic Monte Carlo method directly in the thermodynamic limit. The behavior of the entropy reveals a non-Fermi-liquid state at sufficiently high interactions near half-filling: a maximum in the entropy at non-zero doping develops as the coupling strength is increased, along with an inflection point, evidencing a metal to non-Fermi-liquid crossover. The specific heat exhibits additional distinctive features of a non-Fermi-liquid state. Measurements of the entropy can therefore be used as a probe of the state of the system in quantum simulation experiments with ultracold atoms in optical lattices.
Categories: cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.quant-gas