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arXiv:0808.1900 · Physical Review A

Fermions with attractive interactions on optical lattices and implications for correlated systems

Chih-Chun Chien, Qijin Chen, Kathryn Levin

Published Oct 23, 2008• 19 citations
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Abstract

In this paper we address the behavior of the superfluid transition temperature ${T}_{c}$ in the attractive Hubbard model. The attractive Hubbard model can be regarded as the generalization of the BCS to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover to a lattice and, as such, may have implications for future optical lattice studies. Nevertheless, the BEC limit of the Hubbard model is very different from that of the better-studied Fermi gases, owing to the strong intersite repulsion between pairs. Here we address systematically the effects of pairing fluctuations for all filling fractions over the entire range of attractive interaction strength. A central conclusion of our work is that in a lattice, around half filling, the smooth evolution from the BCS to the BEC limits is interrupted: ${T}_{c}$ vanishes when the system approaches the bosonic regime with increasing interaction strength. We suggest that this interruption of crossover may signal a quantum critical transition to another form of superfluid not continuously connected to a BCS-like phase. A simple variational ansatz for an alternate ground state in this more strongly coupled superfluid is presented. A generalization of the ($s$-wave) Hubbard model to $d$-wave pairing allows us to address issues of relevance to high-${T}_{c}$ superconductivity. The phase diagram (representing the pairing or pseudogap onset temperature ${T}^{*}$ and ${T}_{c}$) shows that here too one observes a vanishing of ${T}_{c}$ when ${T}^{*}$ becomes sufficiently large. Given this predicted breakdown of the crossover, and given the striking similarity to features of the cuprate phase diagram, we suggest that future experiments on ultracold fermions in optical lattices should not be exclusively limited to the repulsive Hubbard model, but should address the attractive model in order to elucidate features of high-temperature superconductivity.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.78.043612

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Recent experiments with ultracold fermionic atoms in optical lattices have provided a tuneable and clean realization of the attractive Hubbard model (AHM). In view of this, several physical properties may be thoroughly studied across the crossover between weak [Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer, (BCS)] and strong [Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)] couplings. Here we report on extensive determinant Quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) studies of the AHM on a square lattice from which several different quantities have been calculated and should be useful as a road map to experiments. We have obtained a detailed phase diagram for the critical superconducting temperature Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ in terms of the band filling $\ensuremath{\langle}n\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and interaction strength UUU from which we pinpoint a somewhat wide region $|U|/t\ensuremath{\approx}5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$ (ttt is the hopping amplitude) and $\ensuremath{\langle}n\ensuremath{\rangle}\ensuremath{\approx}0.79\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.09$ leading to a maximum ${T}_{c}\ensuremath{\approx}0.16t$. Two additional temperature scales, namely, pairing Tp{T}_{p}Tp​ and degeneracy Td{T}_{d}Td​ have been highlighted: The former sets the scale for pair formation (believed to be closely related to the scale for the gap of spin excitations in cuprates), whereas the latter sets the scale for dominant quantum effects. Our DQMC data for the distribution of doubly occupied sites for the momentum distribution function, and for the quasiparticle weight show distinctive features on both sides of the BCS-BEC crossover, being also suggestive of an underlying crossover between Fermi- and non-Fermi liquid behaviors.
We study fermionic superfluidity in an ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture loaded into a square optical lattice subjected to a staggered flux. While the bosons form a Bose-Einstein condensate at very low temperature and weak interaction, the interacting fermions experience an additional long-ranged attractive interaction mediated by phonons in the bosonic condensate. This leads us to consider a generalized Hubbard model with on-site and nearest-neighbor attractive interactions, which give rise to two competing pairing channels. We use the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory to determine the regimes where distinct fermionic superfluids are stabilized and find that the nonlocal pairing channel favors a superfluid state which breaks both the gauge and the lattice symmetries, similar to unconventional superconductivity occurring in some strongly correlated systems. Furthermore, the particular structure of the single-particle spectrum leads to unexpected consequences, for example, a dome-shaped superfluid region in the temperature versus filing fraction phase diagram, with a normal phase that contains much richer physics than a Fermi liquid. Notably, the relevant temperature regime and coupling strength are readily accessible in state of the art experiments with ultracold trapped atoms.
We determine the superfluid transition temperatures Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ and the ground states of the attractive Hubbard model and find unusual insulating phases associated with noninteger filling at sufficiently strong pairing attraction $\ensuremath{\mid}U\ensuremath{\mid}$. These states, distinct from the band-and Mott-insulating phases, derive from pair localization; pair hopping at large $\ensuremath{\mid}U\ensuremath{\mid}$ and high densities is impeded by intersite, interpair repulsive interactions. The best way to detect the breakdown of superfluidity is by using fermionic optical lattices, which should reveal these unusual forms of ``bosonic'' order, reflecting ground-state pairing without condensation.
We model fermions with an attractive interaction in an optical lattice with a single-band Hubbard model away from half-filling with on-site attraction UUU and nearest neighbor hopping ttt. Our goal is to understand the crossover from BCS superfluidity in the weak attraction limit to the BEC of molecules in the strong attraction limit, with particular emphasis on how this crossover in an optical lattice differs from the much better studied continuum problem. We use a large-NNN theory with Sp(2N) symmetry to study the fluctuations beyond mean field theory. At T=0, we calculate across the crossover various observables, including chemical potential, gap, ground state energy, speed of sound and compressibility. The superfluid density nsn_sns​ is found to have non-trivial U/tU/tU/t dependence in this lattice system. We show that the transition temperature TcT_cTc​ scales with the energy gap in the weak coupling limit but crosses over to a t2/Ut^2/Ut2/U scaling in the BEC limit, where phase fluctuations controlled by nsn_sns​ determine TcT_cTc​. We also find, quite contrary to our expectations, that in the strong coupling limit, the large-NNN theory gives qualitatively wrong trends for compressibility. A comparison with a simple Hartree shifted BCS theory, which takes into account both pairing and Hartree shifts, and correctly recovers the atomic limit and the right qualitative trend for compressibility, reveals that the large-NNN theory on the lattice, although considers a larger number of diagrams, is in fact inferior to the simpler Hartree shifted BCS theory. The failure of the large-NNN approach is explained by noting (i) the importance of Hartree shift in lattice problems, and (ii) inability of the large-NNN approach to treat particle-particle and particle-hole channels at equal footing at the saddle point level.
Abstract The superfluid behavior of ultracold atomic Fermi gases with a short range attractive interaction in a two‐dimensional optical lattice (2DOL) is studied using a pairing fluctuation theory, within the context of BCS‐BEC crossover. It is found that the mixing of lattice and continuum dimensions leads to exotic phenomena. For relatively large lattice constant d and small hopping integral t, the superfluid transition temperature exhibits a remarkable reentrant behavior as a function of the interaction strength, and leads to a pair density wave ground state, where vanishes, for a range of intermediate coupling strength. In the unitary and BCS regimes, the nature of the in‐plane and overall pairing changes from particle‐like to hole‐like, with an unexpected nonmonotonic dependence of the chemical potential on the pairing strength. The Bose–Einstein condensation asymptotic behaviors exhibit distinct power law dependencies on the interaction strength compared to cases of pure 3D lattice, 3D continuum, and 1DOL. These predictions can be tested in future experiments.