Orbital Order and Orbital Excitations in Degenerate Itinerant Electron Systems

We present a theory of orbital ordering in orbital-degenerate itinerant electron systems. The orbital instability in a two-orbital degenerate Hubbard model is investigated in the random phase approximation (RPA). After demonstrating the criteria for the formation of orbital ordering or the orbital density wave ordering, we find that the orbital and the spin-orbital collective excitation spectra in the ferro-orbital ordered phase exhibit finite gaps. The possible application of the present theory in orbital-ordered 4d compounds is also discussed.