Studies of Hamiltonians modeling electron-electron (e-e) and electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling have been fundamental in capturing the novel ordering seen in many quasi-one-dimensional condensed matter systems. Extending such studies to quasi-two-dimensional (2D) systems is of great current interest, as e-ph couplings are predicted to play a major role in the stabilization or enhancement of novel phases in 2D material systems. In this work, we study model systems that describe the interplay between the Hubbard coupling and the phonon modes in the Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonians using the functional renormalization group. For both types of e-ph couplings, we find the predicted charge density wave phases in competition with antiferromagnetic ordering. As the system is doped, the transition shifts, with both orders showing incommensurate peaks. We compare the evolution of the quasiparticle weight for the Holstein model with that of the SSH model as the systems transition from antiferromagnetic to charge-ordered ground states. Finally, we calculate the self-energy of the phonon and capture the impact of charge ordering on the phonon modes.
Studies of Hamiltonians modeling electron-electron (e-e) and electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling have been fundamental in capturing the novel ordering seen in many quasi-one-dimensional condensed matter systems. Extending such studies to quasi-two-dimensional (2D) systems is of great current interest, as e-ph couplings are predicted to play a major role in the stabilization or enhancement of novel phases in 2D material systems. In this work, we study model systems that describe the interplay between the Hubbard coupling and the phonon modes in the Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonians using the functional renormalization group. For both types of e-ph couplings, we find the predicted charge density wave phases in competition with antiferromagnetic ordering. As the system is doped, the transition shifts, with both orders showing incommensurate peaks. We compare the evolution of the quasiparticle weight for the Holstein model with that of the SSH model as the systems transition from antiferromagnetic to charge-ordered ground states. Finally, we calculate the self-energy of the phonon and capture the impact of charge ordering on the phonon modes.
Most nonperturbative numerical studies of electron-phonon interactions focus on model Hamiltonians where the electrons interact with a phonon branch via a single type of microscopic mechanism. Two commonly explored couplings in this context are the Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) interactions, which describe phonons modulating the on-site energy and intersite electron hopping, respectively. Many materials, however, have multiple phonon branches that can each interact with electronic degrees of freedom in different ways. We present here a determinant quantum Monte Carlo study of the half-filled two-dimensional (bond) SSH-Holstein Hamiltonian, where electrons couple to different phonon branches via either the Holstein or SSH mechanism. We map the model's phase diagram and determine the nature of the transitions between charge-density wave, bond-order wave, and antiferromagnetic order.
This thesis investigates the interplay between electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions in low-dimensional lattice models, specifically within the Hubbard model incorporating Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) coupling with phonons. SSH interactions, which modulate the electron hopping amplitude through lattice displacements, have recently attracted renewed interest due to their potential relevance in strongly correlated materials. The main objective of this work is to determine whether the inclusion of SSH couplings in the Hubbard model can stabilize superconducting or spin-gapped metallic states, as well as other exotic phases of matter. While the half-filled SSH-Hubbard model has been extensively studied in one dimension and only partially examined in two dimensions, its phase diagram in the doped regime remains largely unexplored. This thesis aims to fill this gap, focusing on the emergence of correlated phases away from half-filling in both one and two spatial dimensions. We use the variational Monte Carlo method with a trial wave function defined in a hybrid electron-phonon Hilbert space. In addition to Jastrow factors that account for correlation effects, the wave function includes an antisymmetric component that captures backflow-inspired electron-phonon correlations. This approach enables us to accurately model both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions. Moreover, since the variational method avoids the sign problem, we can simulate the system in the doped regime, an area typically inaccessible to exact quantum Monte Carlo methods (QMC), which are limited to half-filling. In one dimension, we observe the stabilization of a Luther-Emery liquid, a metallic phase with gapless charge excitations and a finite spin gap, upon doping a Peierls insulating phase. This finding resolves a long-standing debate regarding its realization in SSH chains. Benchmarking with density-matrix renormalization group results confirms the reliability of our approach. In two dimensions, we investigate the SSH-Hubbard model on the square lattice, obtaining results that are consistent with previous exact QMC studies at half-filling. Upon doping, we observe that SSH phonons can induce s-wave superconductivity in the weakly correlated regime. However, we suggest that the enhancement of d-wave superconductivity by SSH coupling in the strongly correlated regime may significantly depend on the specific implementation of the SSH interaction. In one particular case, we find that d-wave superconductivity is slightly suppressed by SSH coupling. These results are further confirmed by a Hartree-Fock analysis performed in the anti-adiabatic limit. Overall, this thesis highlights the crucial role of lattice effects in correlated electron systems, shedding light on the distinct contributions of SSH-type couplings in one and two dimensions. Our findings provide new insights into the microscopic mechanisms behind exotic metallic phases and set the stage for further studies of phonon-mediated phenomena in correlated systems.
Over the past several years, a new generation of quantum simulations has greatly expanded our understanding of charge density wave phase transitions in Hamiltonians with coupling between local phonon modes and the on-site charge density. A quite different, and interesting, case is one in which the phonons live on the bonds, and hence modulate the electron hopping. This situation, described by the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonian, has so far only been studied with quantum Monte Carlo in one dimension. Here we present results for the 2D SSH model, show that a bond ordered wave (BOW) insulator is present in the ground state at half filling, and argue that a critical value of the electron-phonon coupling is required for its onset, in contradistinction with the 1D case where BOW exists for any nonzero coupling. We determine the precise nature of the bond ordering pattern, which has hitherto been controversial, and the critical transition temperature, which is associated with a spontaneous breaking of Z_{4} symmetry.
The Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model, with bond phonons modulating electron tunneling, is a paradigmatic electron-phonon model that hosts an antiferromagnetic order to bond order transition at half-filling. In the presence of a repulsive Hubbard interaction, the antiferromagnetic phase is enhanced, but the phase transition remains first order. Here, we explore the physics of the SSH model with an attractive Hubbard interaction, which hosts an interesting interplay among charge order, s-wave pairing, and bond order. Using the numerically exact determinant quantum Monte Carlo method, we show that both charge order, present at weak electron-phonon coupling, and bond order, at large coupling, give way to s-wave pairing when the system is doped. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the SSH electron-phonon interaction competes with the attractive Hubbard interaction and reduces the s-wave pairing correlation.
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.
We study the Hubbard model on the square lattice coupled in addition to the optical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) phonons, using the singular-mode functional renormalization group method. At half filling and in the absence of the Hubbard interaction U, we find the degenerate spin-density-wave--charge-density-wave--s-wave-superconductivity state at smaller electron-phonon coupling strength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ and higher phonon frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$, and the valence bond solid (VBS) state at larger $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ and lower $\ensuremath{\omega}$. After switching on a positive U, the VBS state is suppressed, while the spin-density wave (SDW) state is enhanced. At finite doping, the SSH phonon is found to favor s-wave superconductivity (sSC) at U=0. With increasing positive U, we find d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and incommensurate SDW states. In a narrow window of moderate U and $\ensuremath{\lambda}$, we also find the incommensurate VBS state. The sSC and dSC here can be naturally related to the charge-density wave (CDW) and SDW fluctuations, both of which can be triggered by the SSH phonons. In contrast, the repulsive interaction U enhances SDW but suppresses CDW fluctuations. Our results at half filling are consistent with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) and provide insights at finite doping where QMC may suffer from the minus sign problem.