The Hubbard-Holstein model describes fermions on a discrete lattice, with on-site repulsion between fermions and a coupling to phonons that are localized on sites. Generally, at half-filling, increasing the coupling
g to the phonons drives the system towards a Peierls charge density wave state, whereas increasing the electron-electron interaction
U drives the fermions into a Mott antiferromagnet. At low
g and
U, or when doped, the system is metallic. In one dimension, using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we study the case where fermions have a long-range coupling to phonons, with characteristic range $\ensuremath{\xi}$, interpolating between the Holstein and Fr\"ohlich limits. Without electron-electron interaction, the fermions adopt a Peierls state when the coupling to the phonons is strong enough. This state is destabilized by a small coupling range $\ensuremath{\xi}$ and leads to a collapse of the fermions, and, consequently, phase separation. Increasing interaction
U will drive any of these three phases (metallic, Peierls, phase separation) into a Mott insulator phase. The phase separation region is once again present in the $U\ensuremath{\ne}0$ case, even for small values of the coupling range.
The adiabatic Holstein-Hubbard model describes electrons on a chain with step a interacting with themselves (with coupling U) and with a classical phonon field ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{x}$ (with coupling \ensuremath{\lambda}). There is Peierls instability if the electronic ground-state energy $F(\ensuremath{\varphi})$ as a functional of ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{x}$ has a minimum which corresponds to a periodic function with period $\ensuremath{\pi}{/p}_{F},$ where
pF is the Fermi momentum. We consider ${p}_{F}/\ensuremath{\pi}a$ irrational so that the charge-density wave is incommensurate with the chain. We prove in a rigorous way in the spinless case, when \ensuremath{\lambda}, U are small and $U/\ensuremath{\lambda}$ large, that (a) when the electronic interaction is attractive
U<0 there is no Peierls instability and (b) when the interaction is repulsive
U>0 there is Peierls instability in the sense that our convergent expansion for $F(\ensuremath{\varphi}),$ truncated at second order has a minimum which corresponds to an analytical and $\ensuremath{\pi}{/p}_{F}$ periodic ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{x}.$ Such a minimum is found solving an infinite set of coupled self-consistent equations, one for each of the infinite Fourier modes of ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{x}.$
Within the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation applied to one-dimensional Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-Hubbard models, we study the influence of electron correlations on the phonon self-energy. For the local Holstein coupling, we find that the phonon-frequency renormalization gets weakened upon increasing the on-site interaction
U for all momenta. In contrast, correlations can enhance the phonon-frequency shift for small wave vectors in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-Hubbard model. Moreover, the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation applied to the latter model provides a mechanism which leads to phonon-frequency corrections at intermediate momenta due to the coupling with double-occupancy fluctuations. Both models display a shift of the nesting induced to a
q=0 instability when the on-site interaction becomes sufficiently strong and thus establishing phase separation as a generic phenomenon of strongly correlated electron-phonon coupled systems.
By using variational wave functions and quantum Monte Carlo techniques, we investigate the interplay between electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions in the two-dimensional Hubbard-Holstein model. Here, the ground-state phase diagram is triggered by several energy scales, i.e., the electron hopping
t, the on-site electron-electron interaction
U, the phonon energy ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, and the electron-phonon coupling
g. At half filling, the ground state is an antiferromagnetic insulator for $U\ensuremath{\gtrsim}2{g}^{2}/{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, while it is a charge-density-wave (or bipolaronic) insulator for $U\ensuremath{\lesssim}2{g}^{2}/{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$. In addition to these phases, we find a superconducting phase that intrudes between them. For ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}/t=1$, superconductivity emerges when both
U/t and $2{g}^{2}/t{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ are small; then, by increasing the value of the phonon energy ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, it extends along the transition line between antiferromagnetic and charge-density-wave insulators. Away from half filling, phase separation occurs when doping the charge-density-wave insulator, while a uniform (superconducting) ground state is found when doping the superconducting phase. In the analysis of finite-size effects, it is extremely important to average over twisted boundary conditions, especially in the weak-coupling limit and in the doped case.
We present a numerical study of the Hubbard-Holstein model in one dimension at half filling, including finite-frequency quantum phonons. At half filling, the effects of the electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions compete with the Holstein phonon coupling acting as an effective negative Hubbard on-site interaction U that promotes on-site electron pairs and a Peierls charge-density wave state. Most previous work on this model has assumed that only Peierls or Mott phases are possible at half filling. However, there has been speculation that a third metallic phase exists between the Peierls and Mott phases. We confirm the intermediate phase, and show that the Luttinger liquid correlation exponent K(rho) >1 in this region, indicating dominant superconducting pair correlations. We explore the full phase diagram as a function of Hubbard U, phonon coupling constant, and phonon frequency.
In phonon mediated conventional
s-wave superconductors, higher-frequency phonon (or smaller atomic mass) leads to a higher superconducting transition temperature, known as the isotope effect. However, in correlated systems, various competing electronic order (such as spin-density-wave, charge-density-wave, and unconventional superconductivity) arises and the effect of electron-phonon coupling on these orders is a long-standing problem. Using the functional renormalization group, here we investigated the interplay between the electron correlation and electron-phonon coupling in the Hubbard-Holstein model on a square lattice. At half-filling, we found spin-density-wave and charge-density-wave phases and the transition between them, while no superconducting phase arises. Upon finite doping,
d-wave/
s-wave superconductivity emerges in proximity to the spin-density-wave/charge-density-wave phase. Surprisingly, lower-frequency Holstein phonons are either less destructive or even beneficial to the various phases, resulting in a negative isotope effect. For the superconducting phases, such an effect is apparently beyond the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory.