Ferromagnetic ground state of the SU(3) Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice

Abstract

We investigate the magnetic properties of a repulsive fermionic SU($3$) Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice from weak to strong interaction by means of the mean-field approximation. To validate the method we employed, we first discuss the SU($2$) Hubbard model at the mean-field level, and find that our results are consistent with known rigorous theorems. We then extend the calculation to the case of SU($3$) symmetry. We find that, at $4/9$ filling, the SU$(3)$ symmetry spontaneously breaks into the SU$(2)\times$U$(1)$ symmetry in the ground state, leading to a staggered ferromagnetic state for any repulsive $U$ at zero temperature. We then investigate the stability of the ferromagnetic state by relaxing the filling away from $4/9$, and conclude that the ferromagnetic state is sensitive but robust to fillings, as it can persist within a certain filling regime. We also apply the mean-field approximation to finite temperature to calculate the critical temperature and the critical entropy of the ferromagnetic state. As the resulting critical entropy per particle is significantly greater than that can be realized in experiments, we expect some quasi-long-range-ordered features of such a ferromagnetic state can be realized and observed with fermionic alkaline-earth-metal(-like) atoms loaded into optical lattices.