Fermionic atoms in 2D optical lattices and electrons in HTc cuprates may both be described by the Hubbard model. However, if Coulomb frustration is responsible for the striped phases in 2D cuprates the phase diagrams will differ markedly. Two representative scenarios are described by a simple stripe model without phase separation and a mean field model with phase separation in the absence of Coulomb frustration. When Coulomb frustrated both models display antiferromagnetism (AF) and stripe phases with d-wave superfluidity, whereas neutral atoms in optical lattices will only do so in the stripe model. Radii and densities of the various phases in harmonically confined optical lattices are calculated for the two models and have very different Mott plateaus and density discontinuities. We discuss observation of antiferromagnetic, stripe and superfluid phases in density and momentum distributions and correlations from time-of-flight experiments.
Fermionic atoms in 2D optical lattices and electrons in HTc cuprates may both be described by the Hubbard model. However, if Coulomb frustration is responsible for the striped phases in 2D cuprates the phase diagrams will differ markedly. Two representative scenarios are described by a simple stripe model without phase separation and a mean field model with phase separation in the absence of Coulomb frustration. When Coulomb frustrated both models display antiferromagnetism (AF) and stripe phases with d-wave superfluidity, whereas neutral atoms in optical lattices will only do so in the stripe model. Radii and densities of the various phases in harmonically confined optical lattices are calculated for the two models and have very different Mott plateaus and density discontinuities. We discuss observation of antiferromagnetic, stripe and superfluid phases in density and momentum distributions and correlations from time-of-flight experiments.
Antiferromagnetic, Mott-insulator, d-wave, and gossamer superfluid phases are calculated for two-dimensional (2D) square lattices from the extended Hubbard $(t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J\text{\ensuremath{-}}U)$ model using the Gutzwiller projection method and renormalized mean-field theory. The phase separation between antiferromagnetic and d-wave superfluid phases is found near half filling when the on-site repulsion exceeds $U\ensuremath{\gtrsim}7.3t$ and coincides with a first-order transition in the double occupancy. The phase separation is thus predicted for 2D optical lattices with ultracold Fermi atoms whereas it is inhibited in cuprates by Coulomb frustration which instead may lead to stripes. In a confined optical lattice the resulting density distribution is discontinuous and with extended Mott plateau which enhances the antiferromagnetic phase but suppresses the superfluid phase. Observation of Mott-insulator, antiferromagnetic, stripe, and superfluid phases in density and momentum distributions and correlations is discussed.
Quantum mechanical lattice models, such as the famous Hubbard model, were originally intended as simplified descriptions of the behavior of electrons in real solids. Today it is clear that even such simple models can present remarkably rich physics. At the same time, obtaining reliable solutions for correlated quantum systems is difficult and requires the development of both computing resources and new algorithms and approximations. Parallel with the theoretical developments, applications of lattice models have also expanded to the study of ultracold atoms in optical lattices. The hallmark of these experiments is the possibility to design different kinds of lattices and to tune the interactions between the atoms, making it possible to do real experiments on theoretical "toy models". \n \nIn this thesis we have used dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) and its cluster extensions to study superfluidity and topological phenomena in lattice models. The DMFT combines the exact solution of a small reference system with a self-consistent mean-field treatment of the rest of the lattice. After a short introduction to the physical background of the lattice models, we review the formal definition and practical aspects of the DMFT method. We discuss the Baym-Kadanoff-Luttinger-Ward functional formalism that can be used to derive the DMFT equations, and review the numerical exact diagonalization and continuous-time quantum Monte-Carlo algorithms that were used in the implementation of the method. \n \nPublications I and VI discuss superfluid states induced by correlation effects that cannot easily be treated within a static mean-field theory. In Publication I we study a bilayer system where two different types of superfluids can be found depending on the densities of particles in the layers. Publication VI has a focus in the d-wave superconductivity and non-uniform, striped magnetism of the two-dimensional Hubbard model, which are thought to be connected with the high-Tc superconductivity in cuprate materials. The stripe state along with non-Fermi-liquid properties visible only in a beyond-mean-field treatment were observed also in the study of the Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice in Publication V. \n \nTopological and geometric properties of lattice systems, such as the Berry curvature and Chern numbers, play a central role in Publications II, III and IV. In Publication II we used exact diagonalization, DMFT and mean-field theory to study the topological phase diagram of an interacting Haldane model. The methods consistently predict a phase diagram with an interme-diate topological phase not found in the well-known non-interacting case. In Publications III and IV mean-field theory is used to study the connection between Berry curvature and the superfluid weight in lattice models, and DMFT calculations were used to support the mean-field results. Topological lattice systems have recently been realized in ultracold gas experiments and it is hoped that the calculations presented here inspire this line of research.
Strongly correlated materials exhibit some of the most complex and technologically useful phenomena in condensed matter. We use the world line and determinant quantum Monte Carlo techniques to explore the phases of the Hubbard Hamiltonian, a model describing strong interactions, in a number of different contexts. We first consider the spin, charge, and bond order correlations of the one-dimensional extended fermion Hubbard model in the presence of a coupling to the lattice. A static alternating lattice distortion leads to enhanced charge density wave correlations at the expense of antiferromagnetic order. When the lattice degrees of freedom are dynamic, we show that a similar effect occurs even though the charge asymmetry must arise spontaneously. Although the evolution of the total energy with lattice coupling is smooth, the individual components exhibit sharp crossovers at the phase boundaries. Finally, we observe a tendency for bond order in the region between the charge and spin density wave phases. Second, we examine mixtures of bosons and fermions in one-dimensional optical lattices. We evaluate the density profiles and bosonic visibility [special characters omitted] resolving the discrepancy between theory and experiment by identifying parameter regimes where [special characters omitted] is reduced and increased. We present a simple qualitative picture of the different response to the fermion admixture in terms of the superfluid and Mott-insulating domains before and after the fermions are included. Finally, we show that [special characters omitted] exhibits kinks which are tied to the domain evolution present in the pure bosonic case, and also additional structure arising from the formation of boson-fermion molecules, a prediction for future experiments. Third, we report large scale calculations of the effective bandwidth, momentum distribution, and magnetic correlations of the square lattice fermion Hubbard Hamiltonian. The sharp Fermi surface of the non-interacting limit is significantly broadened by the electronic correlations, but retains signatures of the approach to the edges of the first Brillouin zone as the density increases. Finite size scaling of simulations on large lattices allows us to extract the interaction dependence of the antiferromagnetic order parameter, exhibiting its evolution from weak-coupling to the strong-coupling Heisenberg limit. Our lattices provide improved resolution of the momentum distribution, allowing a more quantitative comparison with time-of-flight optical lattice experiments.
We determine the spin and charge orders in the ground state of the doped two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model in its simplest form, namely with only nearest-neighbor hopping and on-site repulsion. At half-filling, the ground state is known to be an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator. Doping Mott insulators is believed to be relevant to the superconductivity observed in cuprates. A variety of candidates have been proposed for the ground state of the doped 2D Hubbard model. A recent work employing a combination of several state-of-the-art numerical many-body methods established the stripe order as the ground state near 1/8 doping at strong interactions. In this paper, we apply one of these methods, the cutting-edge constrained-path auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) method with self-consistently optimized gauge constraints, to systematically study the model as a function of doping and interaction strength. With careful finite size scaling based on large-scale computations, we map out the ground state phase diagram in terms of its spin and charge order. We find that modulated antiferromagnetic order persists from near half-filling to about 1/5 doping. At lower interaction strengths or larger doping, these ordered states are best described as spin-density waves, with essentially delocalized holes and modest oscillations in charge correlations. When the charge correlations are stronger (large interaction or small doping), they are best described as stripe states, with the holes more localized near the node in the antiferromagnetic spin order. In both cases, we find that the wavelength in the charge correlations is consistent with so-called filled stripes.
The observation of charge stripe order in the doped nickelate and cuprate materials has motivated much theoretical effort to understand the underlying mechanism of the stripe phase. Numerical studies of the Hubbard model show two possibilities: (i) stripe order arises from a tendency toward phase separation and its competition with the long-range Coulomb interaction or (ii) stripe order inherently arises as a compromise between itinerancy and magnetic interactions. Here we determine the restricted phase diagram of the two-dimensional Falicov-Kimball model and see that it displays rich behavior illustrating both possibilities in different regions.
We predict the robust existence of a novel quantum orbital stripe order in the p-band Bose-Hubbard model of two-dimensional triangular optical lattices with cold bosonic atoms. An orbital angular momentum moment is formed on each site exhibiting a stripe order both in the superfluid and Mott-insulating phases. The stripe order spontaneously breaks time-reversal, lattice translation, and rotation symmetries. In addition, it induces staggered plaquette bond currents in the superfluid phase. Possible signatures of this stripe order in the time of flight experiment are discussed.