Excitonic insulator state in the two-orbital Hubbard model: Variational cluster approach

Abstract

The variational cluster approximation is used to study the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the excitonic insulator (EI) state in the two-orbital Hubbard model defined on the two-dimensional square lattice. Evaluating the order parameter of the EI state, staggered magnetization, and number of particles on each orbital, we obtain the ground-state phase diagram of the model in a wide parameter space of the intra and interorbital Coulomb interactions. We also calculate the single-particle and anomalous Green's functions. We show that the normal metallic phase is unstable to the formation of the EI state and the EI phase appears in a wide parameter region between the band-insulator and Mott-insulator phases.