Effective pairing interaction in a system with an incipient band

The nature and mechanism of superconductivity in the extremely electron-doped FeSe-based superconductors remains an outstanding problem. In these systems, the hole-like band has moved below the Fermi energy, and various spin-fluctuation theories involving pairing between states near the electron Fermi surface and states of this incipient band have been proposed. Here, using a nonperturbative dynamic cluster quantum Monte Carlo calculation for a bilayer Hubbard model, we show how spin-fluctuation scattering involving intermediate virtual states of the incipient band leads to an effective pairing interaction for the electrons on the remaining Fermi surface. The key feature of this interaction is that it is retarded due to the incipient nature of the hole band and the dynamics of the spin-fluctuation interaction. This allows the pairs to avoid the instantaneous repulsive Coulomb interaction and leads to a frequency dependence of the gap which should be observable in tunneling experiments. Our work provides a different perspective for the pairing mechanism in systems with an incipient band that can be tested in future experiments.