Spinon-orbiton repulsion and attraction mediated by Hund's rule

Abstract

We study the impact of Hund's-rule coupling on orbital excitations, as e.g. measured in inelastic resonant x-ray scattering. We find that the interpretation in terms of spin-orbit separation, which has been derived for one-dimensional systems without Hund's rule, remains robust in its presence. Depending on whether or not the orbital excitation includes a spin excitation, Hund's rule leads to an attractive or repulsive interaction between spinon and orbiton. Attraction and repulsion leave clear signatures through a transfer of spectral weight to the lower resp. upper edge of the spectrum.