Band Degeneracy and Mott Transition: Dynamical Mean Field Study

Mott metal-insulator transitions in an M-fold orbitally degenerate Hubbard model are studied by means of a generalization of the linearized dynamical mean-field theory. The method allows for an efficient and reliable determination of the critical interaction U_c for any integer filling n and different M at zero temperature. For half-filling a linear dependence of U_c on M is found. Inclusion of the (full) Hund's rule exchange J results in a strong reduction of U_c. The transi...

We have investigated electronic properties of the degenerate multi-orbital Hubbard model, in the limit of large spatial dimension. A new local model, including a doubly degenerate strongly correlated site has been introduced and solved in the framework of the non-crossing approximation (NCA). Mott-Hubbard transitions have been examined in details, including the calculation of Coulomb repulsion critical values and electronic densities of states for any regime of parameters.

We study analytically the Mott transition of the N-orbital Hubbard model using dynamical mean-field theory and a low-energy projection onto an effective Kondo model. It is demonstrated that the critical interaction at which the insulator appears (Uc1) and the one at which the metal becomes unstable (Uc2) have different dependence on the number of orbitals as the latter becomes large: Uc1 ~ \sqrt{N} while Uc2 ~ N. An exact analytical determination of the critical coupling Uc2/...

We study the second order finite temperature Mott transition point in the fully frustrated Hubbard model at half filling, within Dynamical Mean Field Theory. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show the existence of a finite temperature second order critical point by explicitly demonstrating the existence of a divergent susceptibility as well as by finding coexistence in the low temperature phase. We determine the location of the finite temperature Mott critical point in...

Using Quantum Monte Carlo we compute thermodynamics and spectra for the orbitally degenerate Hubbard model in infinite spatial dimensions. With increasing orbital degeneracy we find in the one-particle spectra: broader Hubbard bands (consistent with increased kinetic energy), a narrowing Mott gap, and increasing quasi-particle spectral weight. In opposition, Hund's rule exchange coupling decreases the critical on-site Coulomb energy for the Mott transition. The metallic regim...

We investigate the role of the bandwidth difference in the Mott metal-insulator transition of a two-band Hubbard model in the limit of infinite dimensions, by means of a Gutzwiller variational wave function as well as by dynamical mean-field theory. The variational calculation predicts a two-stage quenching of the charge degrees of freedom, in which the narrower band undergoes a Mott transition before the wider one, both in the presence and in the absence of a Hund's exchange...

The anisotropic degenerate two-orbital Hubbard model is studied within dynamical mean-field theory at low temperatures. High-precision calculations on the basis of a refined quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method reveal that two distinct orbital-selective Mott transitions occur for a bandwidth ratio of 2 even in the absence of spin-flip contributions to the Hund exchange. The second transition -- not seen in earlier studies using QMC, iterative perturbation theory, and exact diagon...

The Mott transition in a multi-orbital Hubbard model involving subbands of different widths is studied within the dynamical mean field theory. Using the iterated perturbation theory for the quantum impurity problem it is shown that at low temperatures inter-orbital Coulomb interactions give rise to a single first-order transition rather than a sequence of orbital selective transitions. Impurity calculations based on the Quantum Monte Carlo method confirm this qualitative beha...

We investigate the Mott transitions in the multi-orbital Hubbard model at half-filling by means of the self-energy functional approach. The phase diagrams are obtained at finite temperatures for the Hubbard model with up to four-fold degenerate bands. We discuss how the first-order Mott transition points $U_{c1}$ and $U_{c2}$ as well as the critical temperature $T_c$ depend on the orbital degeneracy. It is elucidated that enhanced orbital fluctuations play a key role to contr...

We examine whether the Mott transition of a half-filled, two-orbital Hubbard model with unequal bandwidths occurs simultaneously for both bands or whether it is a two-stage process in which the orbital with narrower bandwith localizes first (giving rise to an intermediate `orbital-selective' Mott phase). This question is addressed using both dynamical mean-field theory, and a representation of fermion operators in terms of slave quantum spins, followed by a mean-field approxi...