New class of flat-band models on tetragonal and hexagonal lattices: Gapped versus crossing flat bands

Abstract

We propose a new class of tight-binding models where a flat band is either gapped from or crossing right through a dispersive band on two-band (i.e., two sites/unit cell) tetragonal and honeycomb lattices. By imposing a condition on the hopping parameters for generic models with up to third-neighbor hoppings, we first obtain models having a rigorously flat band isolated from a dispersive band with a gap, which accommodate both rank-reducing and non-rank-reducing of the Hamiltonian. The class of models include Tasaki's flat-band models, but the present model has a nonzero flat-band energy, whose gap from the dispersive band is controllable as well. We then modify the models by appropriately changing the second- or third-neighbor hoppings, leading to a new class of two-dimensional lattices where a (slightly warped) flat band pierces a dispersive one. As with the known flat-band models, the connectivity condition is satisfied in the present models, so that we have unusual, unorthogonalizable Wannier orbitals. We have also shown that the present flat-band model can be extended to three (or higher) dimensions. Implications on possible high-$T_{C}$ superconductivity are discussed when a repulsive electron-electron interaction is introduced, where the flat band is envisaged to be utilized as intermediate states in pair scattering processes.