Superconductivity, metastability and magnetic field induced phase separation in the atomic limit of the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnetic fields influence phase separation and metastability in a simplified atomic limit of the extended Hubbard model, revealing field-induced phase transitions and the role of metastable states.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of metastable and phase-separated states under magnetic fields in the zero-bandwidth limit of the extended Hubbard model, highlighting field-induced phase transitions.

Findings

Metastable phases can exist within phase-separated regions.

Magnetic fields can induce phase separation at higher fields than homogeneous phases.

First-order transitions occur between metastable superconducting and non-ordered phases.

Abstract

We present the analysis of paramagnetic effects of magnetic field ($B$) (Zeeman term) in the zero-bandwidth limit of the extended Hubbard model for arbitrary chemical potential $\mu$ and electron density $n$. The effective Hamiltonian considered consists of the on-site interaction $U$ and the intersite charge exchange term $I$, determining the hopping of electron pairs between nearest-neighbour sites. The model has been analyzed within the variational approach, which treats the on-site interaction term exactly and the intersite interactions within the mean-field approximation (rigorous in the limit of infinite dimensions $d\rightarrow+\infty$). In this report we focus on metastable phases as well as phase separated (PS) states involving superconducting (SS) and nonordered (NO) phases and determine their ranges of occurrence for $U/I_0=1.05$ ($I_0=zI$) in the presence of magnetic field $B\neq0$. Our investigations of the general case for arbitrary $U/I_0$ show that, depending on the values of interaction parameters (for fixed $n$), the PS state can occur in higher fields than the homogeneous SS phase (field-induced PS). Moreover, a first-order SS-NO transition occurs between metastable phases and these metastable phases can exist inside the regions of the PS state stability. Such behaviour is associated with the presence of tricritical line on the phase diagrams of the system.