Orbital-dependent effects of electron correlations in microscopic models for iron-based superconductors
Abstract The bad metal behavior in the normal state of the iron-based superconductors suggests an intimate connection between the superconductivity and a proximity to a Mott transition. At the same time, there is strong evidence for the multiorbital nature of the electronic excitations. It is then important to understand the orbital-dependent effects of electron correlations. In this paper we review the recent theoretical progresses on the metal-to-insulator transition in multiorbital models for the iron-based superconductors. These include studies of models that contain at least the 3 d xy and 3 d xz / yz models, using a slave-spin technique. For commensurate filling corresponding to that of the parent iron pnictides and chalcogenideds, a Mott transition generally exists in all these models. Near the Mott transition, a strongly correlated metal exhibiting bad metal features and strong orbital selectivity is stabilized due to the interplay of Hund’s coupling and orbital-degeneracy breaking. Particularly for the alkaline iron selenides, the ordered vacancies effectively reduce the kinetic energy, thereby pushing the system further into the Mott-insulating regime; in the metallic state, there exists an orbital-selective Mott phase in which the iron 3 d xy orbital is Mott localized while the other 3 d orbitals are still itinerant. An overall phase diagram for the alkaline iron selenides has been proposed, in which the orbital-selective Mott phase connects between the superconducting phase and the Mott-insulating parent state.