Long-wavelength spin fluctuations prohibit antiferromagnetic long-range order at finite temperature in two dimensions. Nevertheless, the correlation length starts to grow rapidly at a crossover temperature, leading to critical slowing down and to a renormalized-classical regime over a wide range of temperature, between a fraction of the mean-field transition temperature and the zero-temperature ordered state. This leads to a single-particle pseudogap of the kind observed in electron-doped cuprates. Very few theoretical methods can claim an accurate description of this regime. The challenge is that in this regime Fermi-liquid quasiparticles are already destroyed and new quasiparticles of the ordered state are not fully formed yet. Here, we study this problem for the two-dimensional Hubbard model by first generalizing the two-particle self-consistent approach. Using a special algorithm, spin fluctuations are treated in the thermodynamic limit even for large correlation lengths. The effects of Kanamori-Br"uckner screening, of classical and of quantum fluctuations are taken into account. Results are presented at half filling for the one-band Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping. They agree well with available benchmark diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo at high temperature where the pseudogap opens up. In addition to temperature-dependent spectral properties, we find quantum corrections to the zero-temperature renormalized mean-field antiferromagnetic gap. Finally, analytic continuation of the Matsubara results for spectral functions show that the pseudogap opens up at significantly higher temperature than was previously identified based on the Matsubara data only.
We investigate the doped two-dimensional Hubbard model at finite temperature using controlled diagrammatic Monte Carlo calculations allowing for the computation of spectral properties in the infinite-size limit and, crucially, with arbitrary momentum resolution. We show that three distinct regimes are found as a function of doping and interaction strength, corresponding to a weakly correlated metal with properties close to those of the non-interacting system, a correlated metal with strong interaction effects including a reshaping of the Fermi surface, and a pseudogap regime at low doping in which quasiparticle excitations are selectively destroyed near the antinodal regions of momentum space. We study the physical mechanism leading to the pseudogap and show that it forms both at weak coupling when the magnetic correlation length is large and at strong coupling when it is shorter. In both cases, we show that spin-fluctuation theory can be modified in order to account for the behavior of the non-local component of the self-energy. We discuss the fate of the pseudogap as temperature goes to zero and show that, remarkably, this regime extrapolates precisely to the ordered stripe phase found by ground-state methods. This handshake between finite temperature and ground-state results significantly advances the elaboration of a comprehensive picture of the physics of the doped Hubbard model.
Exact diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo (DiagMC) results for the nearest-neighbor Hubbard model motivate a closer study of the pseudogap. Using the improved two-particle self-consistent approach (TPSC+), we analyze Energy (EDC) and Momentum Distribution Curves (MDC) simultaneously. We show that Fermi-liquid terminology breaks down in the pseudogap regime, requiring a distinction between true and false Fermi surfaces and zero-energy quasiparticle (ZEQ) lines. A false Fermi surface has a momentum-space spectral maximum but a frequency-space depression at zero energy, while a false ZEQ line violates the standard quasiparticle condition
∂Σ′(k,ω)/∂ω∣ω=0<0.The pseudogap is driven by critical thermal spin fluctuations, which occur in two dimensions because of the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Commensurate fluctuations first open an antinodal pseudogap, leaving true Fermi arcs. With decreasing temperature, the Fermi surface evolves into hole- and electron-like false Fermi surfaces. Incommensurate fluctuations generate hot spots near the diagonal, where the pseudogap persists to the quantum critical point (QCP), whereas at
kAN it disappears before the QCP doping. There, the spectrum has two precursor antiferromagnetic (AFM) bands, both in the unoccupied (
ω>0) region. We benchmark TPSC+ against DiagMC results for the Matsubara spectral proxy
−Im[G(k,iπT)]/π. TPSC+ underestimates pseudogap suppression in the strong-interaction regime, reproducing DiagMC behavior at lower temperatures or doping. This proxy is equivalent to the spectral function with thermal broadening
η=πT, which obscures features when
πT is not the smallest energy scale. Using
A(k,0), we find that hole-like Fermi surfaces emerge at any interaction strength at low temperature, even at weak coupling.
Starting from the Hubbard model in the weak-coupling limit, we derive a spin-fermion model where the collective spin excitations are described by a nonlinear sigma model. This result is used to compute the fermion spectral function $A(\mathbf{k},\ensuremath{\omega})$ in the low-temperature regime where the antiferromagnetic (AF) coherence length is exponentially large (``renormalized classical'' regime). At the Fermi level, $A({\mathbf{k}}_{F},\ensuremath{\omega})$ exhibits two peaks around $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}$ (with ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}$ the mean-field gap), which are precursors of the zero-temperature AF bands, separated by a pseudogap.
We describe a low-temperature approach to the two-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model which allows us to study both antiferromagnetism and single-particle properties. This approach ignores amplitude fluctuations of the antiferromagnetic (AF) order parameter and is valid below a crossover temperature
TX which marks the onset of AF short-range order. Directional fluctuations (spin waves) are described by a nonlinear sigma model $(\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M})$ that we derive from the Hubbard model. The parameters of the $\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$---the spin stiffness and spin-wave velocity---are calculated as a function of the Coulomb repulsion U. The $\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$ is solved by a saddle-point approximation within the
CP1 representation where the N\'eel field is parametrized by two Schwinger bosons. At zero temperature, there is always Bose condensation of the Schwinger bosons, which signals AF long-range order for any value of the Coulomb repulsion. At finite temperature, the AF long-range order is suppressed (in agreement with the Mermin-Wagner theorem), but the AF correlation length remains exponentially large. In the
CP1 representation, the fermion field is naturally expressed as the product of a Schwinger boson and a pseudofermion whose spin is quantized along the (fluctuating) N\'eel field. This allows us to write the fermion Green's function as the product (in direct space) of the Schwinger boson propagator (which is derived from the $\mathrm{NL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M})$ and the pseudofermion propagator. At zero temperature and weak coupling, our results are typical of a Slater antiferromagnet. The AF gap is exponentially small; there are well-defined Bogoliubov quasiparticles (QP's) (carrying most of the spectral weight) coexisting with a high-energy incoherent excitation background. As U increases, the Slater antiferromagnet progressively becomes a Mott-Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The Bogoliubov bands evolve into Mott-Hubbard bands separated by a large AF gap. A significant fraction of spectral weight is transferred from the Bogoliubov QP's to incoherent excitations. At finite temperature, there is a metal-insulator transition between a pseudogap phase at weak coupling and a Mott-Hubbard insulator at strong coupling. Finally, we point out that our results straightforwardly translate to the half-filled attractive Hubbard model, where the $\mathbf{q}=(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$ charge and
q=0 pairing fluctuations combine to form an order parameter with SO(3) symmetry.
We compute unbiased spectral functions of the two-dimensional Hubbard model by extrapolating Green functions, obtained from determinantal quantum Monte Carlo simulations, to the thermodynamic and continuous time limits. Our results clearly resolve the pseudogap at weak to intermediate coupling, originating from a momentum selective opening of the charge gap. A characteristic pseudogap temperature
T∗, determined consistently from the spectra and from the momentum dependence of the imaginary-time Green functions, is found to match the dynamical mean-field critical temperature, below which antiferromagnetic fluctuations become dominant. Our results identify a regime where pseudogap physics is within reach of experiments with cold fermions on optical lattices.
The Hubbard model represents the fundamental model for interacting quantum systems and electronic correlations.Using the two-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model at weak coupling as a testing ground, we perform a comparative study of a comprehensive set of state-of-the-art quantum many-body methods.Upon cooling into its insulating antiferromagnetic ground state, the model hosts a rich sequence of distinct physical regimes with crossovers between a high-temperature incoherent regime, an intermediate-temperature metallic regime, and a low-temperature insulating regime with a pseudogap created by antiferromagnetic fluctuations.We assess the ability of each method to properly address these physical regimes and crossovers through the computation of several observables probing both quasiparticle properties and magnetic correlations, with two numerically exact methods (diagrammatic and determinantal quantum Monte Carlo methods) serving as a benchmark.By combining computational results and analytical insights, we elucidate the nature and role of spin fluctuations in each of these regimes.Based on this analysis, we explain how quasiparticles can coexist with increasingly longrange antiferromagnetic correlations and why dynamical mean-field theory is found to provide a remarkably accurate approximation of local quantities in the metallic regime.We also critically