arXiv:cond-mat/0206508 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter
Mott transitions in correlated electron systems with orbital degrees of freedom
Yūichi Ono, Michael Potthoff, R. Bulla
Abstract
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 ${U}_{\mathrm{c}}$ for any integer filling n and different M at zero temperature. For half filling a linear dependence of ${U}_{\mathrm{c}}$ on M is found. Inclusion of the (full) Hund's rule exchange J results in a strong reduction of ${U}_{\mathrm{c}}.$ The transition turns out to change qualitatively from continuous for $J=0$ to discontinuous for any finite J. This result is confirmed using the exact-diagonalization method for $M=2.$