Enhancement of superconductivity due to kinetic-energy effect in the strongly correlated phase of the two-dimensional Hubbard model

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in the strongly correlated phase of the 2D Hubbard model, superconductivity is enhanced through a kinetic-energy driven mechanism, contrasting with potential-energy driven states.

Contribution

It introduces a variational Monte Carlo approach with an improved wave function showing kinetic-energy driven superconductivity in the Hubbard model.

Findings

Superconductivity is stabilized by lowering kinetic energy in the strongly correlated phase.

Potential energy increases while kinetic energy decreases in the kinetic-energy driven superconducting state.

The study reveals a kinetic-energy enhancement mechanism for superconductivity in strongly correlated systems.

Abstract

We investigated kinetic properties of correlated pairing states in strongly correlated phase of the Hubbard model in two space dimensions. We employ an optimization variational Monte Carlo method, where we use the improved wave function $\psi_{\lambda}= e^{-\lambda K}\psi_G$ for the Gutzwiller wave function $\psi_G$ with $K$ being the kinetic part of the Hamiltonian. The Gutzwiller-BCS state is stabilized as the potential energy driven superconductivity because the Coulomb interaction energy is lowered while the kinetic energy increases in this state. In contrast, we show that in the $\psi_{\lambda}$-BCS wave function $\psi_{\lambda-BCS}= e^{-\lambda K}P_G\psi_{BCS}$, the Coulomb energy increases and instead the kinetic energy is lowered in the strongly correlated phase where the Coulomb repulsive interaction $U$ is large. The correlated superconducting state is realized as a kinetic energy driven pairing state and this indicates the enhancement of superconductivity due to kinetic-energy effect.