Ubiquitous light real-space pairing from long-range hopping and interactions

Abstract

We systematically examine how long-range hopping and its synergy with extended interactions leads to light bound pairs. Pair properties are determined for a dilute extended Hubbard model with large on-site repulsion (U) and both near- and next-nearest neighbor hopping (t and t′) and attraction (V and V′), for cubic and tetragonal lattices. The presence of t′ and V′ promotes light pairs. For tetragonal lattices, t′<0 pairs can be lighter than non-interacting particles, and d-symmetric pairs form. Close packing transition temperatures, T⁎, are estimated for the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of pairs to be kBT⁎∼0.1t‾, where t‾ is the geometric mean of the hoppings on the Cartesian axes. When pairs have d-symmetry, the condensate has d-wave character. Thus, the presence of both t′ and V′ leads ubiquitously to small strongly bound pairs with an inverse mass that is linear in hopping, which could lead to high temperature BECs.