Stability of the Nagaoka-type Ferromagnetic State in a $t_{2g}$ Orbital System on a Cubic Lattice

Abstract

We generalize the previous exact results of the Nagaoka-type itinerant ferromagnetic states in a three dimensional $t_{2g}$-orbital system to allow for multiple holes. The system is a simple cubic lattice with each site possessing $d_{xy}$, $d_{yz}$, and $d_{xz}$ orbitals, which allow two-dimensional hopping within each orbital plane. In the strong coupling limit of $U\to \infty$, the orbital-generalized Nagaoka ferromagnetic states are proved degenerate with the ground state in the thermodynamic limit when the hole number per orbital layer scales slower than $L^{\frac{1}{2}}$. This result is valid for arbitrary values of the ferromagnetic Hund's coupling $J>0$ and inter-orbital repulsion $V\ge 0$. The stability of the Nagaoka-type state at finite electron densities with respect to a single spin-flip is investigated. These results provide helpful guidance for studying the mechanism of itinerant ferromagnetism for the $t_{2g}$-orbital materials.