We introduce a slave-fermion formulation in which to study the charge dynamics of the half-filled Hubbard model on the square lattice. In this description, the charge degrees of freedom are represented by fermionic holons and doublons and the Mott-insulating characteristics of the ground state are the consequence of holon–doublon bound-state formation. The bosonic spin degrees of freedom are described by the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, yielding long-ranged (Néel) magnetic order at zero temperature. Within this framework and in the self-consistent Born approximation, we perform systematic calculations of the average double occupancy, the electronic density of states, the spectral function and the optical conductivity. Qualitatively, our method reproduces the lower and upper Hubbard bands, the spectral-weight transfer into a coherent quasiparticle band at their lower edges and the renormalisation of the Mott gap, which is associated with holon–doublon binding, due to the interactions of both quasiparticle species with the magnons. The zeros of the Green function at the chemical potential give the Luttinger volume, the poles of the self-energy reflect the underlying quasiparticle dispersion with a spin-renormalised hopping parameter and the optical gap is directly related to the Mott gap. Quantitatively, the square-lattice Hubbard model is one of the best-characterised problems in correlated condensed matter and many numerical calculations, all with different strengths and weaknesses, exist with which to benchmark our approach. From the semi-quantitative accuracy of our results for all but the weakest interaction strengths, we conclude that a self-consistent treatment of the spin-fluctuation effects on the charge degrees of freedom captures all the essential physics of the antiferromagnetic Mott–Hubbard insulator. We remark in addition that an analytical approximation with these properties serves a vital function in developing a full understanding of the fundamental physics of the Mott state, both in the antiferromagnetic insulator and at finite temperatures and dopings.
We study the two-dimensional one-band Hubbard model on the square lattice through the spin rotation invariant Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave-boson method, with an emphasis on the electron-doped regime. The phase diagram determined within mean field approximation reveals three different magnetically ordered phases separated by first-order transitions, and a wide instability region as indicated by a negative compressibility. We show that this conundrum of the unstable mean field domain is resolved by spatially mixed phases of neighboring stable states. We also find charge density wave type instabilities in the antiferromagnetically ordered (AFM) state at wave vectors commensurate with the doping. The corresponding charge and spin density response functions are calculated from a Gaussian fluctuations formalism about a magnetic saddle point, for which we provide a detailed derivation. Further, we present density and spin excitation spectra in the AFM phase, allowing for a quantitative calculation of the spin wave parameters, the gap in the longitudinal spin excitation spectrum, and the density excitations in the upper Hubbard band.
The cluster slave-spin method is employed to investigate systematically the ground state properties of the Hubbard model on a square lattice with doping $\ensuremath{\delta}$ and coupling strength
U being its parameters. At half-filling, a relation between the staggered magnetization
M and the antiferromagnetic (AFM) gap ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\text{AFM}}$ is established in the small
U limit to compare with that from the Hartree-Fock theory, and a first-order metal-insulator Mott transition in the paramagnetic state is substantiated, which is characterized by discontinuities and hystereses at
UMott=10t. The interaction
Uc for the crossover in the AFM state, separating the weak- and strong-coupling regimes, is found to remain almost unchanged with large dopings, and smaller than
UMott at half-filling because of long range AFM correlations. Finally, an overall phase diagram in the $U\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}$ plane is presented, which is composed of four regimes: the AFM insulator at half-filling, the AFM metal with the compressibility $\ensuremath{\kappa}>0$ or $\ensuremath{\kappa}<0$, and the paramagnetic metal, as well as three phase transitions: (i) From the AFM metal to the paramagnetic metal, (ii) between the AFM metal phases with positive and negative $\ensuremath{\kappa}$, and (iii) separating the AFM insulating phase at $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$ from the AFM metal phase for $\ensuremath{\delta}>0$.
We use an effective Hamiltonian for two-dimensional Hubbard model including an antiferromagnetic spin-spin coupling term to study recently proposed Gossamer superconductivity. We apply a renormalized mean field theory to approximately take into account the strong correlation effect in partially projected Gutzwiller wave functions. At the half-filling, there is a first order phase transition to separate a Mott insulator at large Coulomb repulsion
U from a Gossamer superconductor at small
U. At the critical value
U=Uc, the charge carrier density and the superconducting (SC) order parameter change discontinuously from zero in the Mott insulating phase to finite values in the Gossamer SC phase. The first order transition is due to the interplay of the kinetic and spin exchange energies. As the electron density changes away from half-filling, the Gossamer SC state changes smoothly, while the Mott insulator is evolved into a resonating valence bond (RVB) SC state. The Gossamer and RVB SC states have the same pairing symmetry. The SC order parameter changes smoothly from a RVB SC state at
U>Uc to a Gossamer SC state at
U<Uc at a fixed nonhalf-filled electron density. We argue that the RVB SC state is smoothly connected to the Gossamer SC state, hence to the BCS state.
We present a variety of physical implications of a mean-field theory for spiral spin-density-wave states in the square-lattice Hubbard model for small deviations from half filling. The phase diagram with the paramagnetic metal, two spiral (semimetallic) states, and ferromagnet is calculated. The momentum distribution function and the (quasiparticle) density of states are discussed. There is a significant broadening of the quasiparticle bands when the antiferromagnetic insulator is doped. The evolution of the Fermi surface and the variation of the plasma frequency and a charge-stiffness constant with U/t and \ensuremath{\delta} are calculated. The connection to results based on the Schwinger-boson--slave-fermion formalism is made.