Relevant coherent states method for the quantum adiabatic dynamics of lattice-coupled charge carriers

A new numerical method is proposed for determining the low-frequency dynamics of the charge carrier coupled to the deformable quantum lattice. As an example, the polaron band structure is calculated for the one-dimensional Holstein model. The adiabatic limit on the lattice, which cannot be reached by other approaches, is investigated. In particular, an accurate description is obtained of the crossover between quantum small adiabatic polarons, pinned by the lattice, and large adiabatic polarons, moving along the continuum as classical particles. It is shown how the adiabatic contributions to the polaron dispersion, involving spatial correlations over multiple lattice sites, can be treated easily in terms of coherent states.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Central peak in the pseudogap of high T_c superconductors

We study the effect of antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations in the three-band Emery model, with respect to the experimental situation in weakly underdoped and optimally doped BSCCO. In the vicinity of the vH singularity of the conduction band there appears a central peak in the middle of a pseudogap, which is in an antiadiabatic regime, insensitive to the time scale of the mechanism responsible for the pseudogap. We find a quantum low-temperature regime corresponding to experiment, in which the pseudogap is created by zero-point motion of the magnons, as opposed to the usual semiclassical derivation, where it is due to a divergence of the magnon occupation number. Detailed analysis of the spectral functions along the (pi,0)-(pi,pi) line show significant agreement with experiment, both qualitative and, in the principal scales, quantitative. The observed slight approaching-then-receding of both the wide and narrow peaks with respect to the Fermi energy is also reproduced. We conclude that optimally doped BSCCO has a well-developed pseudogap of the order of 1000 K. This is only masked by the narrow antiadiabatic peak, which provides a small energy scale, unrelated to the AF scale, and primarily controlled by the position of the chemical potential.Comment: Final version as accepted in EPJ B, 13 pages, 8 figure

Dielectric properties of multiband electron systems: II - Collective modes

Starting from the tight-binding dielectric matrix in the random phase approximation we examine the collective modes and electron-hole excitations in a two-band electronic system. For long wavelengths (${\bf q}\rightarrow0$), for which most of the analysis is carried out, the properties of the collective modes are closely related to the symmetry of the atomic orbitals involved in the tight-binding states. In insulators there are only inter-band charge oscillations. If atomic dipolar transitions are allowed, the corresponding collective modes reduce in the asymptotic limit of vanishing bandwidths to Frenkel excitons for an atomic insulator with weak on-site interactions. The finite bandwidths renormalize the dispersion of these modes and introduce a continuum of incoherent inter-band electron-hole excitations. The possible Landau damping of collective modes due to the presence of this continuum is discussed in detail.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Z.Phys.

Dielectric properties of multiband electron systems: I - Tight-binding formulation

The screened electron-electron interaction in a multi-band electron system is calculated within the random phase approximation and in the tight-binding representation. The obtained dielectric matrix contains, beside the usual site-site correlations, also the site-bond and bond-bond correlations, and thus includes all physically relevant polarization processes. The arguments are given that the bond contributions are negligible in the long wavelength limit. We analyse the system with two non-overlapping bands in this limit, and show that the corresponding dielectric matrix reduces to a $2\times2$ form. The intra-band and inter-band contributions are represented by diagonal matrix elements, while the off-diagonal elements contain the mixing between them. The latter is absent in insulators but may be finite in conductors. Performing the multipole expansion of the bare long-range interaction, we show that this mixing is directly related to the symmetry of the atomic orbitals participating in the tight-binding electronic states. In systems with forbidden atomic dipolar transitions, the intra-band and inter-band polarizations are separated. However, when the dipolar transitions are allowed, the off-diagonal elements of the dielectric matrix are of the same order as diagonal ones, due to a finite monopole-dipole interaction between the intra-band and inter-band charge fluctuations.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Z.Phys.

Theory of stripes in quasi two dimensional rare-earth tritellurides

Even though the rare-earth tritellurides are tetragonal materials with a quasi two dimensional (2D) band structure, they have a "hidden" 1D character. The resultant near-perfect nesting of the Fermi surface leads to the formation of a charge density wave (CDW) state. We show that for this band structure, there are two possible ordered phases: A bidirectional "checkerboard" state would occur if the CDW transition temperature were sufficiently low, whereas a unidirectional "striped" state, consistent with what is observed in experiment, is favored when the transition temperature is higher. This result may also give some insight into why, in more strongly correlated systems, such as the cuprates and nickelates, the observed charge ordered states are generally stripes as opposed to checkerboards.Comment: Added contents and references, changed title and figures. Accepted to PR

Slave-Boson Three-Band Model with O-O Hopping for High-Tc Superconductors

Slave boson mean-field approximation is carried out analytically for weakly doped CuO_2 conduction planes, characterized by Cu-O charge transfer energy \Delta_{pd}, Cu-O hopping t_0, O-O hopping t' and repulsion U_d between holes on Cu site taken as infinite. At zero doping \delta, finite negative t',|t'|<t_0/2, expands the range of stability of the covalent, conducting state on the expense of the insulating state which, however, remains stable at larger \Delta_{pd}. For sufficiently large \Delta_{pd} the renormalized charge transfer energy saturates at 4|t'| instead of decreasing to zero, as at t'=0 case. In contrast to t', finite \delta suppresses the insulating state nearly symmetrically with respect to the sign of \delta. The regime with charge transfer energy renormalized close to 4|t'| fits remarkably well the ARPES spectra of Bi2212 and LSCO, and, in the latter case, explains the observed strong doping dependence of the Cu-O hopping.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure