An interacting lattice model describing the subspace spanned by a set of strongly correlated bands is rigorously coupled to density functional theory to enable ab initio calculations of geometric and topological material properties. The strongly correlated subspace is identified from the occupation number band structure as opposed to a mean-field energy band structure. The self-consistent solution of the many-body model Hamiltonian and a generalized Kohn-Sham equation exactly incorporates momentum-dependent and crystal-symmetric correlations into electronic structure calculations in a way that does not rely on a separation of energy scales. Calculations for a multiorbital Hubbard model demonstrate that the theory accurately reproduces the many-body macroscopic polarization.
In a previous work [Phys. Rev. B 77, 085122 (2008)], a procedure for constructing low-energy models of electrons in solids was proposed. The procedure starts with dividing the Hilbert space into two subspaces: the low-energy part (``
d space'') and the rest of the space (``
r space''). The low-energy model is constructed for the
d space by eliminating the degrees of freedom of the
r space. The thus derived model contains the strength of electron correlation expressed by a partially screened Coulomb interaction, calculated in the constrained random-phase approximation (cRPA), where screening channels within the
d space,
Pd, are subtracted. One conceptual problem of this established downfolding method is that for entangled bands it is not clear how to cut out the
d space and how to distinguish
Pd from the total polarization. Here, we propose a simple procedure to overcome this difficulty. The
d space is defined to be an isolated set of bands generated from a set of maximally localized Wannier basis, which consequently defines
Pd. The
r subspace is constructed as the complementary space orthogonal to the
d subspace, resulting in two sets of completely disentangled bands. Using these disentangled bands, the effective parameters of the
d space are uniquely determined by the cRPA method. The method is successfully applied to
3d transition metals.
In this chapter, we discuss how low-energy models can be derived from first-principle calculations. The main quantity to be determined is the effective Coulomb interaction between the electrons in the low-energy subspace, the so-called Hubbard U. We begin by giving a brief historical introduction to different ways to determine U. However, the main focus in the chapter lies on the constrained random-phase approximation (cRPA), which is a method to compute U based on the concept of partial screening. At the end of the chapter, we put the cRPA in a broader perspective by introducing the multi-tier approach, which is a general approach for downfolding that naturally encompasses the cRPA in the first step.
Due to advances in computer hardware and new algorithms, it is now possible to perform highly accurate many-body simulations of realistic materials with all their intrinsic complications. The success of these simulations leaves us with a conundrum: how do we extract useful physical models and insight from these simulations? In this article, we present a formal theory of downfolding–extracting an effective Hamiltonian from first-principles calculations. The theory maps the downfolding problem into fitting information derived from wave functions sampled from a low-energy subspace of the full Hilbert space. Since this fitting process most commonly uses reduced density matrices, we term it density matrix downfolding (DMD).
In this lecture we present many-body perturbation theory as a method to determine quasiparticle excitations in solids, especially electronic band structures, accurately from first principles.The main ingredient is the electronic self-energy that, in principle, contains all many-body exchange and correlation effects beyond the Hartree potential.As its exact mathematical expression is unknown, approximations must be used in practical calculations.The approximation is obtained using a systematic algebraic approach on the basis of Green function techniques.It constitutes an expansion of the self-energy up to linear order in the screened Coulomb potential, which describes the interaction between the quasiparticles and includes dynamic screening through the creation of exchange-correlation holes around the bare particles.The implementation of the approximation relies on a perturbative treatment starting from density functional theory.Besides a detailed mathematical discussion we focus on the underlying physical concepts and show some illustrative applications.
[[abstract]]The accurate analytical and numerical calculations of the electronic band structure and ground state properties of strongly correlated electrons within the Hubbard model are performed by constructing convergent perturbation theory for general interaction strength and electron concentration. We test the developed perturbation approach about mean field solution in the extreme conditions of one dimensionality for entire parameter space of electron interaction U/t and electron concentration n. The many-body perturbation formalism up two second order about the generalized self-consistent field (GSCF) Hamiltonian goes beyond the range of applicability of standard perturbation theory by incorporating systematically the effect of the random-phase-type perturbation techniques and controlled expansion of the energy functional for general U/t and n. The second order perturbation correction vanishes at small and large U/t limit and performed calculations of the ground state energy show a next to the perfect numerical agreement with the Bethe-ansatz results.