Surface Dead Layer for Quasiparticles Near a Mott Transition

Electron quasiparticles are progressively weakened by correlations upon approaching a continuos Mott metal-insulator transition in a bulk solid. We show that corresponding to the bulk weakening, a dead layer forms below the surface of the solid, where quasiparticles are exponentially suppressed. The surface dead layer depth is a bulk property and diverges when the Mott transition is approached. We describe this phenomenon in a Hubbard model within a self-consistent Gutzwiller approximation. The photoemission data of Rodolakis et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 066805 (2009)] in V2O3 appear to be in accord with this physical picture.