Thermal charge-density-wave transition and trion formation in the attractive SU(3) Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice
Xiang Li, Xu Han, Yu Wang
Abstract
We employ the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method to study the thermodynamic properties of the attractive SU(3) Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice. The thermal charge density wave (CDW) transition, the trion formation, the entropy-temperature relation and the density compressibility are simulated at half filling. The CDW phase only breaks the lattice inversion symmetry on the honeycomb lattice and thus can survive at finite temperatures. The disordered phase is the thermal Dirac semi-metal state in the weak coupling regime, while in the strong coupling regime it is mainly a Mott-insulated state in which the CDW order is thermally melted. The formation of trions is greatly affected by thermal fluctuations. The calculated entropy-temperature relations exhibit prominent features of the Pomeranchuk effect which is related to the distribution of trions. Our simulations show that the density compressibility is still nonzero immediately after the CDW phase appears, but vanishes when the long-range order of trions forms.