S± pairing near a Lifshitz transition

Abstract

Observations of robust superconductivity in some of the iron based superconductors in the vicinity of a Lifshitz point where a spin density wave instability is suppressed as the hole band drops below the Fermi energy raise questions for spin-fluctuation theories. Here we discuss spin-fluctuation pairing for a bilayer Hubbard model, which goes through such a Lifshitz transition. We find s± pairing with a transition temperature that peaks beyond the Lifshitz point and a gap function that has essentially the same magnitude but opposite sign on the incipient hole band as it does on the electron band that has a Fermi surface.