Phase separation and electron pairing in repulsive Hubbard clusters

Abstract

Exact thermal studies of small (4-site and 8-site) Hubbard clusters with local electron repulsion yield intriguing insight into phase separation, charge-spin separation, pseudogaps, condensation, and, in particular, pairing fluctuations away from half-filling. These exact calculations, carried out in canonical and grand canonical ensembles, monitoring variations in temperature T and magnetic field h, show rich phase diagrams in a T-μ space consisting of pairing fluctuations and signatures of condensation. Corresponding electron pairing instabilities are seen when the on-site Coulomb interaction U is smaller than a critical value Uc (T) and they point to a possible electron pairing mechanism. The specific heat, magnetization, charge pairing, and spin pairing provide strong support for the existence of competing (paired and unpaired) phases near optimal doping in these clusters, and numerous similarities with experiments on high Tc superconductors are pointed out. In addition, these ideas may be linked to superconducting carbon nanotubes where a purely electronic mechanism could be responsible for superconductivity. © 2007 The American Physical Society.