Three-component fermionic atoms with repulsive interaction in optical lattices

Abstract

We investigate three-component (colors) repulsive fermionic atoms in optical lattices using the dynamical mean field theory. Depending on the anisotropy of the repulsive interactions, either a color density-wave state or a color selective staggered state appears at half filling. In the former state, pairs of atoms with two of the three colors and atoms with the third color occupy different sites alternately. In the latter state, atoms with two of the three colors occupy different sites alternately and atoms with the third color are itinerant throughout the system. When the interactions are isotropic, both states are degenerate. We discuss the results using an effective model.