Role of Orbital Degeneracy in Double Exchange Systems

Abstract

We investigate the role of orbital degeneracy in the double exchange (DE) model. In the $J_{H}\to\infty$ limit, an effective generalized ``Hubbard'' model incorporating orbital pseudospin degrees of freedom is derived. The model possesses an exact solution in one- and in infinite dimensions. In 1D, the metallic phase off ``half-filling'' is a Luttinger liquid with pseudospin-charge separation. Using the $d=\infty$ solution for our effective model, we show how many experimental observations for the well-doped ($x\simeq 0.3$) three-dimensional manganites $La_{1-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3}$ can be qualitatively explained by invoking the role of orbital degeneracy in the DE model.