The density-matrix renormalization group is used to study the pairing when both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions are strong in the Holstein-Hubbard model at half filling in a region intermediate between the adiabatic (Migdal's) and antiadiabatic limits. We have found (i) the pairing correlation obtained for a one-dimensional system is nearly degenerate with the charge density-wave correlation in a region where the phonon-induced attraction is comparable with the electron-electron repulsion, but (ii) pairing becomes dominant when we destroy the electron-hole symmetry in a trestle lattice. This provides an instance in which pairing can arise, in a lattice-structure dependent manner, from coexisting electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions.
Phase diagram of the Hubbard-Holstein model in the coexistence of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions has been theoretically obtained with the density-matrix renormalization group method for one-dimensional systems, where an improved warm-up (the recursive sweep) procedure has enabled us to calculate various correlation functions. We have examined the cases of (i) the systems half-filled by electrons for the full parameter space spanned by the electron-electron and electron-phonon coupling constants and the phonon frequency, (ii) non-half-filled system, and (iii) trestle lattice. For (i), we have detected a region where both the charge and on-site pairing correlations decay with power laws in real space, which suggests a metallic behavior. While pairing correlations are not dominant in (i), we have found that they become dominant as the system is doped in (ii) or as the electronic band structure is modified (with a broken electron-hole symmetry) in (iii) in certain parameter regions.
We have performed extensive density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) studies of the Hubbard model on a honeycomb ladder. The band structure (with Hubbard
U=0) exhibits an unusual quadratic band touching at half-filling, which is associated with a quantum Lifshitz transition from a band insulator to a metal. For one electron per site, nonzero
U drives the system into an insulating state in which there is no pair-binding between added electrons; this implies that superconductivity driven directly by the repulsive electron-electron interactions is unlikely in the regime of small doping, $x\ensuremath{\ll}1$. However, the divergent density of states as $x\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, the large values of the phonon frequencies, and an unusual correlation induced enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling imply that lightly doped polyacenes, which approximately realize this structure, are good candidates for high-temperature electron-phonon driven superconductivity.