Extensions of dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) make use of quantum impurity models as nonperturbative and exactly solvable reference systems which are essential to treat the strong electronic correlations. Through the introduction of retarded interactions on the impurity, these approximations can be made two-particle self-consistent. This is of interest for the Hubbard model because it allows to suppress the antiferromagnetic phase transition in two dimensions in accordance with the Mermin-Wagner theorem, and to include the effects of bosonic fluctuations. For a physically sound description of the latter, the approximation should be conserving. In this paper, we show that the mutual requirements of two-particle self-consistency and conservation lead to fundamental problems. For an approximation that is two-particle self-consistent in the charge and longitudinal spin channels, the double occupancy of the lattice and the impurity is no longer consistent when computed from single-particle properties. For the case of self-consistency in the charge and longitudinal as well as transversal spin channels, these requirements are even mutually exclusive so that no conserving approximation can exist. We illustrate these findings for a two-particle self-consistent and conserving DMFT approximation.
Extensions of dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) make use of quantum impurity models as nonperturbative and exactly solvable reference systems which are essential to treat the strong electronic correlations. Through the introduction of retarded interactions on the impurity, these approximations can be made two-particle self-consistent. This is of interest for the Hubbard model because it allows to suppress the antiferromagnetic phase transition in two dimensions in accordance with the Mermin-Wagner theorem, and to include the effects of bosonic fluctuations. For a physically sound description of the latter, the approximation should be conserving. In this paper, we show that the mutual requirements of two-particle self-consistency and conservation lead to fundamental problems. For an approximation that is two-particle self-consistent in the charge and longitudinal spin channels, the double occupancy of the lattice and the impurity is no longer consistent when computed from single-particle properties. For the case of self-consistency in the charge and longitudinal as well as transversal spin channels, these requirements are even mutually exclusive so that no conserving approximation can exist. We illustrate these findings for a two-particle self-consistent and conserving DMFT approximation.
Nonlocal correlations play an essential role in correlated electron systems, especially in the vicinity of phase transitions and crossovers, where two-particle correlation functions display a distinct momentum dependence. In nonequilibrium settings, the effect of nonlocal correlations on dynamical phase transitions, prethermalization phenomena, and trapping in metastable states is not well understood. In this paper, we introduce a dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) extension to the nonequilibrium two-particle self-consistent (TPSC) approach, which allows to perform nonequilibrium simulations capturing short- and long-ranged nonlocal correlations in the weak-, intermediate-, and strong-correlation regimes. The method self-consistently computes local spin and charge vertices, from which a momentum-dependent self-energy is constructed. Replacing the local part of the self-energy by the DMFT result within this self-consistent scheme provides an improved description of local correlation effects. We explain the details of the formalism and the implementation, and demonstrate the versatility of DMFT+TPSC with interaction quenches and dimensional crossovers in the Hubbard model.
We consider the thermodynamic consistency of the charge response function in the (extended) Hubbard model. In dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), thermodynamic consistency is preserved. We prove that the static, homogeneous DMFT susceptibility is consistent as long as vertex corrections obtained from the two-particle impurity correlation function are included. In the presence of a nonlocal interaction, the problem may be treated within extended DMFT (EDMFT), or its diagrammatic extension, the dual boson approach. We show that here maintaining thermodynamic consistency requires knowledge of three- and four-particle impurity correlation functions, which are typically neglected. Nevertheless, the dual boson approximation to the response is remarkably close to consistency. This holds even when two-particle vertex corrections are neglected. EDMFT is consistent only in the strongly correlated regime and near half-filling, where the physics is predominantly local.
Theoretical methods that are accurate for both short-distance observables and long-wavelength collective modes are still being developed for the Hubbard model. Here, we benchmark an approach that combines dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) observables with the two-particle self-consistent theory (TPSC). This offers a way to include non-local correlations in DMFT while also improving TPSC. The benchmarks are published diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo results for the two-dimensional square lattice Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping. This method (TPSC+DMFT) is relevant for weak to intermediate interaction, satisfies the local Pauli principle, and allows us to compute a spin susceptibility that satisfies the Mermin-Wagner theorem. The DMFT double occupancy determines the spin and charge vertices through local spin and charge sum rules. The TPSC self-energy is also improved by replacing its local part with the local DMFT self-energy. With this method, we find improvements for both spin and charge fluctuations and for the self-energy. We also find that the accuracy check developed for TPSC is a good predictor of deviations from benchmarks for this model. TPSC+DMFT can be used in regimes where quantum Monte Carlo is inaccessible. In addition, this method paves the way to multiband generalizations of TPSC that could be used in advanced electronic structure codes that include DMFT.
In systems of indistinguishable particles, correlations between the quantum degrees of freedom can give rise to collective modes where particles behave coherently together over some correlation length and time, thereby forming quasiparticles. One example of such quasiparticle would be the π-ton [66], describing the binding of two particle-hole pairs via the exchange of momentum corresponding to the antiferromagnetic (AFM) wave vector. These quasiparticles would emerge in the vicinity of an AFM ordering instability [66, 119, 120] and nonlocal correlations are crucial to describe them. Especially, in systems out of equilibrium, nonlocality can give rise to prethermal states wherein the distribution function can be momentum-dependent [92, 119], and nonthermal exotic physics can be observed and manipulated [40, 68, 79, 84, 93, 132, 147, 157–159]. To be able to model and simulate systems out of equilibrium is a challenge. A few numerical methods such as nonequilibrium Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) [44] have been used extensively [5]. Nonequilibrium DMFT is designed to treat nonperturbatively the local time-dependent single-particle correlations. Since phenomena such as quantum criticality, high-Tc superconductivity or the creation of π-tons via light-matter coupling stem from nonlocal two-particle correlations, one needs to resort to diagrammatic extensions to DMFT [103] and other methods to effectively describe them, such as the post-processing DMFT treatment of vertex corrections, which will be introduced. The Two-Particle Self-Consistent approach (TPSC) and its variants figure among those methods that include nonlocal two-particle and single-particle correlations in a self-consistent way [121, 122]. TPSC and its variants have the ability to capture the effect of the growing spin fluctuations (paramagnons) in the self-energy when close to amagnetic phase transition leading to the breakdown of the Fermi-liquid quasiparticles at the Fermi level: this would mark the onset of a pseudo-gap [145, 152]. It fulfils the Mermin-Wagner theorem in two dimensions, the Pauli principle, and various two-particle local sum-rules [152]. In the works embodied in this thesis, numerical methods have been designed to access nonequilibrium regimes, by changing model parameters across time, allowing for nonlocal correlations to be properly included. With these new algorithms at hand, the π-tons were studied in the optical conductivity and magnetic response [119, 120] as well as spin and charge fluctuations in the 2D and 3D single-band Hubbard model [121, 122]. It is demonstrated by means of those methods that nonlocal two-particle vertex corrections can underpin prethermal states and could generate transient nonthermal states such as low-energy charge excitations associated with nonthermal negative temperatures. It is also shown that states lying close to the Fermi level control the thermalization timescale and that lattice hopping quenches changing the unit-cell dimensionality could allow one to play around with the charge and spin scattering channels.
Correlated electron systems exhibit a variety of intriguing emergent phenomena, including Mott physics, pseudogap behavior, and unconventional superconductivity. One of the most widely used numerical approaches for investigating these systems is dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). This dissertation addresses two related problems: how to develop better quantum impurity solvers for DMFT and how to use DMFT results to gain a better understanding of correlated electron systems. The first part of this dissertation develops numerical methods for solving quantum impurity problems, which constitute the central computational task in DMFT calculations. In Chap. 4, we develop a method that combines a tensor-train numerical integration scheme with the inchworm hybridization expansion for quantum impurity problems. Benchmarks on spinless, single-orbital, and multi-orbital impurity models demonstrate the convergence of the Green’s functions to exact or reference results and identify the regimes in which tensor-train compression of Feynman diagrams and the inchworm expansion itself are effective. In Chap. 5, we introduce the concept of counterterms within the hybridization expansion and apply it to a bare hybridization expansion solver that relies on a sum-of-exponentials integration technique. Tests on spinless, multi-orbital, and realistic embedding impurity problems show that counterterms can significantly reduce the required perturbative order and improve the efficiency of hybridization-expansion calculations. The second part of this dissertation applies the cluster extension of DMFT to the single-band Hubbard model. In Chap. 6, we introduce a fluctuation decomposition for the self-energy that eliminates the Fierz ambiguity encountered in conventional fluctuation diagnostics of the Hubbard model. The resulting analysis shows that spin fluctuations make an important contribution to the pseudogap self-energy, while multi-boson contributions are also necessary for a complete description. In Chap. 7, we analyze the spin-fermion coupling and its role in d-wave pairing. Our calculations show that, for antinodal fermions in the pseudogap regime, their coupling to antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations is strongly enhanced relative to the non-interacting limit. A modified Bethe–Salpeter equation analysis further shows that this enhanced spin–fermion coupling boosts the spin-fluctuation-induced contribution to the d-wave pairing susceptibility.
Since the first investigation of the Hubbard model in the limit of infinite dimensions by Metzner and Vollhardt, dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) has become a very powerful tool for the investigation of lattice models of correlated electrons. In DMFT the lattice model is mapped on an effective quantum impurity model in a bath which has to be determined self-consistently. This approach led to significant progress in our understanding of typical correlation problems such as the Mott transition; furthermore, the combination of DMFT with ab-initio methods now allows for a realistic treatment of correlated materials. The focus of these lecture notes is on the relation between quantum impurity physics and the physics of lattice models within DMFT. Issues such as the observability of impurity quantum phase transitions in the corresponding lattice models are discussed in detail.