Mott insulating state in a quarter-filled two-orbital Hubbard chain with different bandwidths

We investigate the ground-state properties of the one-dimensional two-band Hubbard model with different bandwidths. The density-matrix renormalization group method is applied to calculate the averaged electron occupancies $n$ as a function of the chemical potential $\mu$. Both at quarter and half fillings, "charge plateaux" appear in the $n$-$\mu$ plot, where $d\mu/dn$ diverges and the Mott insulating states are realized. To see how the orbital polarization in the one-quarter charge plateau develops, we apply the second-order perturbation theory from the strong-coupling limit at quarter filling. The resultant Kugel-Khomskii spin-orbital model includes a $magnetic$ field coupled to orbital pseudo-spins. This field originates from the discrepancy between the two bandwidths and leads to a finite orbital pseudo-spin magnetization.