Collective modes of the extended Hubbard model with negative U and arbitrary electron density.

Abstract

By use of a diagrammatic method we determine the density-density response functions in the random-phase approximation (RPA) and the collective-excitation spectrum for the extended Hubbard model with on-site attraction and arbitrary electron density, in the superconducting ground state. The energy of the collective modes, given by the poles of these response functions, is found to be a linear function of the wave vector (for small k and short-range intersite interaction) with the velocity interpolating smoothly between the weak- (\ensuremath{\propto}2zt, \ensuremath{\Vert}U\ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\ll}2zt) and strong-coupling (\ensuremath{\propto}${\mathit{zt}}^{2}$/\ensuremath{\Vert}U\ensuremath{\Vert}, \ensuremath{\Vert}U\ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\gg}2zt) limits. The latter agrees with the results obtained from an effective pseudospin Hamiltonian valid in the strong-coupling limit. The numerical analysis for a two-dimensional (2D) square lattice shows the occurrence of a rotonlike minima near the zone boundary. In the weak-coupling regime we find that apart from a commensurate charge-density-wave (CDW) instability, an increase in the intersite Coulomb repulsion can give rise to a CDW incommensurate with the lattice period, away from half-filling. The resulting phase diagram for the 2D square lattice, including a singlet superconducting ground state, electronic-droplet formation, and CDW's, is determined. Finally, the effects of a long-range Coulomb interaction are analyzed briefly and it is shown that the energy of collective excitations evolves smoothly from the weak- to the strong-coupling limit for a 2D lattice.