We have studied the pair susceptibilities for all possible pair wave functions that fit on a two-dimensional (2D) eight-site Hubbard cluster by exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. Band fillings corresponding to four and six electrons were studied (two or four holes in the half-filled band) for a wide range of Hubbard interaction strengths and temperatures. Our results show that all pairing susceptibilities are suppressed by the Hubbard repulsion. We have also carried out perturbation-theory calculations which show that the leading-order
U2 contributions to the d-wave pair susceptibility suppresses d-wave pairing over a significant temperature range. These results are consistent with recent Monte Carlo results and provide further evidence suggesting that the 2D Hubbard model does not exhibit superconductivity.
Within the two-dimensional repulsive $t\ensuremath{-}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model, an attractive coupling in the
d-wave-pairing channel is induced by antiferromagnetic fluctuations. We investigate this coupling using functional renormalization-group equations. The momentum-dependent
d-wave coupling can be bosonized by the use of scale-dependent field transformations. We propose an effective coarse-grained model for the Hubbard model which is based on the exchange of antiferromagnetic and
d-wave collective bosons.