Quantum confinement transition in a d-wave superconductor

We study the nature of the zero-temperature phase transition between a d-wave superconductor and a Mott insulator in two dimensions. In this ‘‘quantum confinement transition,’’ spin and charge are confined to form the electron in the Mott insulator. Within a dual formulation, direct transitions from d-wave superconductors at half-filling to insulators with spin-Peierls ~as well as other! order emerge naturally. The possibility of striped superconductors is also discussed within the dual formulation. The transition is described by nodal fermions and bosonic vortices, interacting via a long-ranged statistical interaction modeled by two coupled ChernSimons gauge fields, and the critical properties of this model are discussed.