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Physical Review Letters

New Functional Integral Approach to Strongly Correlated Fermi Systems: The Gutzwiller Approximation as a Saddle Point

Gabriel Kotliar, Andrei E. Ruckenstein

Published Sep 15, 1986• 1,076 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a new functional integral representation of the Hubbarda and Anderson models of lattice fermions. The simplest saddle-point approximation leads, at zero temperature, to the results derived from the Gutzwiller variational wave function. This approach uncovers the limitations of the Gutzwiller approximation and clarifies its connection to the "auxiliary-boson" mean-field theory of the Anderson model. This formulation leads to a novel strong-coupling mean-field theory which allows for a unified treatment of antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism, metal-to-insulator transition, and Kondo compensation effects.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.57.1362

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SPIN-CARRYING SLAVE BOSON REPRESENTATION FOR STRONGLY CORRELATED FERMION SYSTEMS

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We consider slave boson formulations of the Hubbard model, the t–J model and the Anderson model, in which spin and charge fermion degrees of freedom are represented by Bose fields. The approach has been applied to the Hubbard model generalizing the formulation of Kotliar and Ruckenstein. There the Gutzwiller solution is recovered as a saddle point. The method allows to find other types of mean field solutions in a systematic way. Dynamical correlation functions in mean field approximation as well as fluctuation contributions are also calculated.

International Journal of Modern Physics B•Dec 1, 1989•0 citations
We propose a new functional integral representation of the Hubbarda and Anderson models of lattice fermions. The simplest saddle-point approximation leads, at zero temperature, to the results derived from the Gutzwiller variational wave function. This approach uncovers the limitations of the Gutzwiller approximation and clarifies its connection to the "auxiliary-boson" mean-field theory of the Anderson model. This formulation leads to a novel strong-coupling mean-field theory which allows for a unified treatment of antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism, metal-to-insulator transition, and Kondo compensation effects.
We develop a new mean field-theory for systems with on-site correlations, like the Hubbard and Anderson models. It consists in a generalization of the saddle-point approximation to the functional integral representation proposed by Kotliar and Ruckenstein to more than one saddle point. It contains also the alloy analog approximation proposed by Hubbard as a particular case. For a half-filled Hubbard model and a model density of states appropriate for three dimensions, we obtain a metal to insulator transition as U increases. The effective Hamiltonian for the insulating phase contains two split bands (rather than only one with an extremely heavy mass) which reproduce correctly the Green’s functions of the atomic limit.
A systematic extension of the model of almost localized fermions to finite temperatures is presented. It consists in accounting for the quantum fluctuations beyond the Gutzwiller approximation (GA). We use the slave-boson formulation of the Hubbard model which has been proved to be equivalent at the saddle-point level to the GA. We determine the values of the Lagrange multipliers introduced to enforce the constraints, and show how they involve a Mott gap at nearly half filling for U>Uc{U}_{c}Uc​ (localization edge). The results of the GA for the correlation functions are reproduced at the saddle point when taking into account the implicit dependence of the boson fields with the external excitation. The Gaussian fluctuations are then considered in a renormalized basis of the boson fields which brings out two distinct channels (symmetric s and antisymmetric a). We show how the free energy and the correlation functions can be simply expressed as a function of the same Landau parameters F0s{F}_{0}^{s}F0s​ and F0a{F}_{0}^{a}F0a​ defined in the GA.
We introduce Gutzwiller-correlated wave functions for the variational investigation of general multi-band Hubbard models. We set up a diagrammatic formalism which allows us to evaluate analytically ground-state properties in the limit of infinite spatial dimensions. In this limit recent results obtained within the Gutzwiller approximation are seen to become exact for these wave functions. We further show that the slave-boson mean-field theory for degenerate bands becomes variationally controlled at zero temperature in infinite dimensions. Lastly, we briefly comment on the variational approach to the Anderson transition in strongly correlated electron systems.
We review the recently proposed extension of the Gutzwiller approximation, M. Schiro' and M. Fabrizio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 076401 (2010), designed to describe the out-of-equilibrium time-evolution of a Gutzwiller-type variational wave function for correlated electrons. The method, which is strictly variational in the limit of infinite lattice-coordination, is quite general and flexible, and it is applicable to generic non-equilibrium conditions, even far beyond the linear response regime. As an application, we discuss the quench dynamics of a single-band Hubbard model at half-filling, where the method predicts a dynamical phase transition above a critical quench that resembles the sharp crossover observed by time-dependent dynamical mean field theory. We next show that one can actually define in some cases a multi-configurational wave function combination of a whole set of mutually orthogonal Gutzwiller wave functions. The Hamiltonian projected in that subspace can be exactly evaluated and is equivalent to a model of auxiliary spins coupled to non-interacting electrons, closely related to the slave-spin theories for correlated electron models. The Gutzwiller approximation turns out to be nothing but the mean-field approximation applied to that spin-fermion model, which displays, for any number of bands and integer fillings, a spontaneous Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry breaking that can be identified as the Mott insulator-to-metal transition.
The principal purpose of this topical review is to single out some of the universal features of high-temperature (high-Tc) and related strongly-correlated systems, which can be compared with experiment in a quantitative manner. The description starts with the concept of exchange-interaction-mediated (real-space) pairing, combined with strong correlations among narrow band electrons, for which the reference state is that of the Mott–Hubbard insulator. The physical discussion of concrete properties relies on variational approach, starting from generalized renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) in the form of statistically-consistent Gutzwiller approximation (SGA), and its subsequent generalization, i.e., a systematic Diagrammatic Expansion of the Variational (Gutzwiller-type) Wave Function (DE-GWF). The solution leads to the two energy scales, one involving unconventional quasiparticles close to the Fermi energy, and the other reflecting the fully correlated state, involving electrons deeper below the Fermi surface. Those two regimes are separated by a kink in the dispersion relation, which is observed in photoemission. As a result, one obtains both the doping dependent properties in the correlated state, and effective renormalized quasiparticles. The reviewed ground-state characteristics for high-Tc systems encompass high-Tc superconductivity, nematicity, charge- (and pair-) density-wave effects, as well as non-BCS kinetic energy gain in the paired state. The calculated dynamic properties are: the universal Fermi velocity, the Fermi wave-vector, the effective mass enhancement, the pseudogap; and the d-wave gap magnitude. We discuss that, within the variational approach, the minimal realistic model is represented by the so-called t-J-U Hamiltonian. Inadequacy of the t-J and Hubbard models, particularly of their RMFT versions, is discussed explicitly. For heavy fermion systems, modeled by the Anderson lattice model and with the DE-GWF approach, we discuss the phase diagram, encompassing superconducting, Kondo insulating, ferro- and anti-ferromagnetic states. The superconducting state is then a two-d-wave gap system. If the orbital degeneracy of f-electrons is included, the coexistent ferromagnetic- (spin–triplet) superconducting phases appear and match those observed for UGe2 in a semiquantitative manner. Finally, in the second part, we generalize our approach to the collective spin and charge fluctuations in high-Tc systems, starting from variational approach, defining the saddle-point state, and combining it with 1/N expansion. The present scheme differs essentially from that starting from the saddle-point Hartree–Fock approximation, and incorporating the fluctuations in the random phase approximation (RPA). The spectrum of collective spin and charge excitations is determined for the Hubbard and t-J-U models, and subsequently compared quantitatively with recent experiments. The Appendices provide formal details to make this review self-contained.
We consider slave boson formulations of the Hubbard model, the t–J model and the Anderson model, in which spin and charge fermion degrees of freedom are represented by Bose fields. The approach has been applied to the Hubbard model generalizing the formulation of Kotliar and Ruckenstein. There the Gutzwiller solution is recovered as a saddle point. The method allows to find other types of mean field solutions in a systematic way. Dynamical correlation functions in mean field approximation as well as fluctuation contributions are also calculated.