Influence of the inter-orbital interaction and kinetic terms on superconductivity: a simple two-orbital Hubbard model

Abstract

We investigate a minimal two-orbital Hubbard model with intra- and inter-orbital nearest-neighbor hopping $t$ and $\tilde{t}$, as well as intra- and inter-orbital density-density interactions $U$ and $U'$ by means of variational ansätze based on Jastrow-Slater wave functions within quantum Monte Carlo techniques. To focus on the electronic mechanisms of superconductivity, we restrict the variational ansätze to uniform nonmagnetic states with an explicit pairing amplitude and compute the pairing correlations as a function of filling and model parameters. At $U/t=10$, superconducting correlations are highly enhanced by the presence of inter-orbital terms, $U'$ and $\tilde{t}$. For $\tilde{t}=0$, a finite value of $U'$ effectively screens the intra-orbital repulsion $U$, producing a shift in the superconducting dome. Consequently, inter-orbital repulsion yields a sizable increase in electron pairing compared to the single-orbital baseline. Furthermore, introducing a finite $\tilde{t}$ provides an additional boost to superconducting correlations, an effect driven by the simultaneous presence of flat and broad bands in the electronic structure.