In this paper, we analyze a simple extended Hubbard model with an intermediate on-site interaction (both repulsive and attractive) and a weak intersite attractive interaction. Following Hubbard decoupling approximations and introducing Hubbard subband operators, we obtain a generalized gap function for singlet s-wave pairing that explicitly depends on the Hubbard subband energies. For the on-site repulsive-interaction case, we find that the superconductivity is not destroyed in the intermediate-interaction regime, contrary to the prediction of a Hartree-Fock mean-field treatment. The essential consequence of the on-site repulsion is the formation of the Hubbard subbands separated by the Mott-Hubbard gap, and it is within these subbands that pairing induced by the intersite interaction occurs. For the attractive on-site interaction case, the on-site pairing amplitude is found to be proportional to the bandwidth, and the gap function has contributions from both on-site and intersite pairing. The relevance of the model to high-temperature superconductivity is discussed.
In order to develop our theoretical understanding of the superconducting state of strongly correlated electron systems, we investigate the many-body ground state of the attractive Hubbard model in infinite dimensions using the Gutzwiller-type projected BCS variational (GBCS) wave function. We first calculate various physical quantities by numerically evaluating analytical equations for systems in the thermodynamic limit. We then show that the GBCS wave function has the lowest energy when the gap parameter has a mixture of s wave and extended s wave pairing symmetry and that the ground state energy of the GBCS is lower than that of either the BCS or Fermi liquid at any electron density and any strength of the attractive interactions in our model. We also show that with infinite strength interactions, each pair of electrons with opposite spins forms a tightly bound pair on a lattice site (BEC-like state). We find a smooth crossover from a BCS-like state with large, overlapping Cooper pairs (for weakly attractive interactions) to a BEC-like state of composite bosons formed out of the tightly bound pairs of fermions (for strongly attractive interactions).
Recently a new phenomenological Hamiltonian was proposed to describe the superconducting cuprates in which correlations and on-site Coulomb repulsion are introduced by partial Gutzwiller projection. This Gossamer Hamiltonian has an exact ground state and differs from the t-J and Hubbard Hamiltonians in possessing a powerful attractive interaction among electrons responsible for Cooper pairing in the d-wave channel. It is a faithful description for a superconductor with strong on-site electronic repulsion. The superconducting tunneling gap remains intact and despite on-site repulsion. Near half-filling the Gossamer superconductor with strong repulsion has suppressed photoemission intensities and superfluid density, is unstable toward an antiferromagnetic insulator and possesses an incipient Mott-Hubbard gap. The Gossamer technique can be applied to metallic ground states thus possibly serving as an apt description of strongly correlated metals. Such a Gossamer metallic phase, just as the Gossamer superconducting one, becomes arbitrarily hard to differentiate from an insulator as one turns the Coulomb correlations up near half-filling. Both the metallic and superconducting states undergo a quantum phase transition to an antiferromagnetic insulator as one increases the on-site Coulomb repulsion. In the Gossamer model we reach the critical point at half-filling by fully projecting out the double occupancy. Such a critical point might be the Anderson Resonating Valence bond state.
Our previous mean-field study concerning superconducting pairings in the extended Hubbard model with on-site repulsive and intersite attractive interaction and arbitrary electron density is extended to include the effects of nearest-neighbor exchange (
J) and correlated hopping (
K) interaction. Detailed numerical analysis of
s-,
p-, and
d-wave pairing solutions is performed for the two-dimensional square lattice with nearest- (
t) and next-nearest- (
t2) neighbor hopping, and the resulting mutual stability phase diagrams are given as a function of band filling and the interaction parameters. Antiferromagnetic exchange can enhance both the
d-wave and the extended
s-wave pairing. If it prevails over the repulsive intersite density-density interaction, such a term can be a leading mechanism for superconductivity. However, its effects strongly depend on the band filling and the
tt2 ratio, giving in particular for
t2=0 s-wave (
d-wave) pairing as most favorable in the low (high) density limit, but increasing
t2 can even reverse this tendency. The correlated hopping term which breaks the electron-hole symmetry affects
s-wave pairing mostly. A condensation transition (phase separation), possible in the presence of the attractive density-density interaction, is also analyzed within the random-phase approximation, and stability conditions of such an electron droplet phase with respect to other types of ordering are determined as a function of the band filling for the two-dimensional square lattice.
Understanding how electrons form pairs in the presence of strong electron correlations demands going beyond the BCS paradigm. We study a correlated superconducting model where the correlation effects are accounted for by a U term local in momentum space. The electron correlation is treated exactly while the electron pairing is treated approximately using the mean-field theory. The self-consistent equation for the pair potential is derived and solved. Somewhat contrary to expectation, a weak attractive U comparable to the pair potential can destroy the superconductivity, whereas for weak to intermediate repulsive U , the pair potential can be enhanced. The fidelity of the mean-field ground state is calculated to describe the strength of the elelectron correlation. We show that the pair potential is not equal to the single-electron superconducting gap for the strongly correlated superconductors, in contrast to the uncorrelated BCS limit.
The phase diagrams and superconducting properties of the extended Hubbard model with pair hopping interaction, i.e., the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model are studied. The analysis of the model is performed for d-dimensional hypercubic lattices, including
d=1 and $d=\ensuremath{\infty},$ by means of the (broken symmetry) Hartree-Fock approximations and, for $d=\ensuremath{\infty},$ by the slave-boson mean-field method. For
d=1, at half filling the phase diagram is shown to consist of nine different phases including two superconducting states with center-of-mass momentum
q=0 and
q=Q $(\ensuremath{\eta}$ pairing), site and bond-located antiferromagnetic and charge-density wave states as well as three mixed phases with coexisting site and bond orderings. The stability range of the bond-type orderings shrinks with increasing lattice dimensionality d and for $d=\ensuremath{\infty}$ the corresponding diagram consists of four phases only, involving exclusively site-located orderings. Comparing the pair hopping model with the attractive Hubbard model we found in both cases gradual evolution from the BCS-like limit to the tightly bound pairs regime and a monotonic increase of the gap in the excitation spectrum with increasing coupling. However, the dynamics of electron pairs in both models is qualitatively different, which results in different dependences of condensation energies and critical temperatures on interaction parameters as well as in different electrodynamic properties, especially in a strong coupling regime.