Correlated Dirac particles and superconductivity on the honeycomb lattice

Abstract

We investigate the properties of the nearest-neighbor singlet pairing and the emergence of d-wave superconductivity in the doped honeycomb lattice considering the limit of large interactions and the t−J1−J2 model. First, by applying a renormalized mean-field procedure as well as slave-boson theories which account for the proximity to the Mott-insulating state, we confirm the emergence of d-wave superconductivity, in agreement with earlier works. We show that a small but finite J2 spin coupling between next-nearest neighbors stabilizes d-wave symmetry compared to the extendeds-wave scenario. At small hole doping, to minimize the energy and to gap the whole Fermi surface or all the Dirac points, the superconducting ground state is characterized by a d+id singlet pairing assigned to one valley and a d−id singlet pairing to the other, which then preserves time-reversal symmetry. The slightly doped situation is distinct from the heavily doped case (around 3/8 and 5/8 filling) supporting a pure chiral d+id symmetry and breaking time-reversal symmetry. Then, we apply the functional renormalization group and study in more detail the competition between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in the vicinity of half filling. We discuss possible applications to strongly correlated compounds with copper hexagonal planes such as In3Cu2VO9. Our findings are also relevant to the understanding of exotic superfluidity with cold atoms.

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