Correlation strength, gaps, and particle-hole asymmetry in high- Tc cuprates: A dynamical mean field study of the three-band copper-oxide model

The three-band model relevant to high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors is solved using single-site dynamical mean field theory and a tight-binding parametrization of the copper and oxygen bands. For a band filling of one hole per unit cell the metal/charge-transfer-insulator phase diagram is determined. The electron spectral function, optical conductivity, and quasiparticle mass enhancement are computed as functions of electron and hole doping for parameters such that at one hole per cell the paramagnetic phase is insulating and for parameters such that at one hole per unit cell the paramagnetic phase is metallic. The optical conductivity is computed using the Peierls phase approximation for the optical matrix elements. The calculation includes the physics of "Zhang-Rice singlets." The effects of antiferromagnetism on the magnitude of the gap and the relation between correlation strength and doping-induced changes in state density are determined. Three-band and one-band models are compared. The two models are found to yield quantitatively consistent results for all energies less than about 4 eV including energies in the vicinity of the charge-transfer gap. Parameters on the insulating side of the metal/charge-transfer insulator phase boundary lead to gaps which are too large and near-gap conductivities which are too small relative to data. The results place the cuprates clearly in the intermediate correlation regime, on the paramagnetic metal side of the metal/charge-transfer insulator phase boundary. © 2009 The American Physical Society.