Metal-insulator transition in an one-dimensional two-band Hubbard-like model

Abstract

We consider a one-dimensional two-band model of electrons on a lattice with equal nearest-neighbour hopping, an interband splitting Delta and a Hubbard-like repulsion U. The model is defined via the SU(4) generalization of Lieb and Wu's Bethe ansatz solution of the one-dimensional Hubbard model. At T=0 the model has a Mott metal-insulator transition at a critical value Uc( Delta ) for a band filling of exactly one electron per site. Uc decreases with Delta , being zero if the excited-electron band is empty, and Uc=2.981 when the bands are degenerate. We discuss the ground-state properties, the spectrum of elemental excitations, the specific heat and the magnetic susceptibility, in both the metallic and insulating phases, as a function of the crystal-field splitting for exactly one electron per site. There are four branches of elemental excitations: (i) charge excitations, (ii) crystalline-field excitations and (iii) two branches of spin waves. The Fermi velocity is finite in the metallic phase, diverges as the metal-insulator transition is approached from the metallic side and vanishes for the insulator. Each band contributes to the susceptibility with a term that is inversely proportional to the spin-wave velocity for that band. The low-temperature specific heat is proportional to T and to the sum of the inverses of the velocities of the four branches.