We re-examine the Peierls insulator to Mott insulator transition scenario in the one-dimensional Holstein-Hubbard model where, at half-filling, electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions compete for establishing charge- and spin-density-wave states, respectively. By means of large-scale density-matrix renormalization group calculations we determine the spin, single-particle and two-particle excitation gaps and prove —in the course of a careful finite-size scaling analysis— recent claims for an intervening metallic phase in the weak-coupling regime. We show that for large phonon frequencies the metallic region is even more extended than previously expected, and subdivided into ordinary Luttinger-liquid and bipolaronic-liquid phases.
The Hubbard-Holstein model is one of the simplest to incorporate both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions. In one dimension at half filling, the Holstein electron-phonon coupling promotes on-site pairs of electrons and a Peierls charge-density wave, while the Hubbard on-site Coulomb repulsion
U promotes antiferromagnetic correlations and a Mott insulating state. Recent numerical studies have found a possible third intermediate phase between Peierls and Mott states. From direct calculations of charge and spin susceptibilities, we show that (i) as the electron-phonon coupling is increased, first a spin gap opens, followed by the Peierls transition. Between these two transitions, the metallic intermediate phase has a spin gap, no charge gap, and properties similar to the negative-
U Hubbard model. (ii) The transitions between Mott/intermediate and intermediate/Peierls states are of the Kosterlitz-Thouless form. (iii) For larger
U, the two transitions merge at a tricritical point into a single first-order Mott/Peierls transition. In addition, we show that an intermediate phase also occurs in the quarter-filled model.
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.
Interplay of strong electron correlation and electron-phonon interaction is one of important issues in the physics of low dimensional correlated electron systems. In order to understand the interplay, we examine the optical properties of the one-dimensional (1D) Hubbard-Holstein model at half-filling, by employing the dynamical density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) technique. We discuss the effect of the electron-phonon interaction on the single-particle spectral function and the optical absorption spectrum. The dynamical DMRG data are compared with experimental data of 1D copper oxide Mott insulators.
Density matrix renormalization group methods are used to investigate the quantum phase diagram of a one-dimensional half-filled ionic Peierls-Hubbard model at the antiadiabatic limit where quantum phonon fluctuations are taken into account partially. We found that two continuous phase transitions always exist from dimerized spin-gapped (bond-order-wave) state to band-insulator and undimerized spin-gapless (Mott-insulator) phase while undimerized spin-gapless phase vanishes at the adiabatic limit. Our results indicate that quantum phonon fluctuations, electron-electron interaction, and ionic potential combine in the formation of the bond-order wave phase.
We use the continuous-time interaction expansion (CT-INT) quantum Monte Carlo method to calculate the phonon spectral function of the one-dimensional Holstein-Hubbard model at half-filling. Our results are consistent with a soft-mode Peierls transition in the adiabatic regime, and the existence of a central peak related to long-range order in the Peierls phase. We explain a previously observed feature at small momenta in terms of a hybridization of charge and phonon excitations. Tuning the system from a Peierls to a metallic phase with a nonzero Hubbard interaction suppresses the central peak, but a significant renormalization of the phonon dispersion remains. In contrast, the dispersion is only weakly modified in the Mott phase. We discuss finite-size effects, the relation to the dynamic charge structure factor, as well as additional sum rules and their implications. Finally, we reveal the existence of a discrete symmetry in a continuum field theory of the Holstein model, which is spontaneously broken in the Peierls phase.