Unconventional Gross-Neveu quantum criticality: Interaction-induced SO(3)-biadjoint insulator and emergent SU(3) symmetry

I point out that Gross-Neveu theory with SO(3) isospin in three space-time dimensions - proposed recently, for instance, as an effective description of the Néel transition in certain spin-orbital liquids - also hosts quantum criticality of a more exotic kind. The ordered phase breaks SO(3) spontaneously, but the SO(3)-Néel order parameter vanishes. The fermionic bilinear order parameter is instead a biadjoint with respect to SO(3); unlike its Néel cousin, it constitutes an interaction-induced insulator. Furthermore, I show that the Néel and biadjoint order parameters can be combined to transform as an adjoint under SU(3) symmetry; the symmetry is emergent at the critical point separating the symmetric semimetal and the biadjoint insulator, but only if the flavor number is small enough, suggesting order-parameter fluctuations and the interplay between different channels play a crucial role in stabilizing the enlarged symmetry. In candidate SO(3) spin-orbital liqiuds, thermodynamic critical exponents carry fingerprints of "spinons."The existence of an independent universality class in addition to the Néel transition opens the possibility of posing further constraints on spinon properties from thermodynamic measurements near criticality alone.