Models of strongly interacting Fermi systems are sufficiently intractable that simple mean-field approximations (typically Hartree-Fock) are often employed to obtain qualitative insight into their properties, and also to set parameter values by comparing with band-structure calculations. However, if the correlations are accounted for with use of more sophisticated (but still mean-field-like) methods, qualitative changes in charge densities and magnetic properties can result. We compare four ``mean-field'' approximations for an extended Hubbard model and show that they yield quite different results. Implications for the choice of model for high-temperature superconductors are discussed.
Models of strongly interacting Fermi systems are sufficiently intractable that simple mean-field approximations (typically Hartree-Fock) are often employed to obtain qualitative insight into their properties, and also to set parameter values by comparing with band-structure calculations. However, if the correlations are accounted for with use of more sophisticated (but still mean-field-like) methods, qualitative changes in charge densities and magnetic properties can result. We compare four ``mean-field'' approximations for an extended Hubbard model and show that they yield quite different results. Implications for the choice of model for high-temperature superconductors are discussed.
Strongly correlated electron systems with planar structure, like high{Tc superconductors, are currently under intensive study.In the search for a realistic model to describe the anomalous behaviors of these systems, we have studied the 2D Extended Hubbard model by means of the Composite Operator Method.The local properties, the density of states and the Fermi surface have been calculated as functions of the model parameters.Particular attention has been paid to the role played by the intersite interaction V which drives important changes in the electronic properties of the system.
The recently introduced concept of exact mean-field theories is applied to the extended simplified Hubbard model, which is a one-band extended Hubbard model (including nearest-neighbor interaction) where only the \ensuremath{\downarrow} electrons can hop. An exact mean-field Hamiltonian is derived for the model on a Bethe lattice in the limit of a large coordination number (Z\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}). The mean-field Hamiltonian is used to calculate the Green functions and the free energy at half-filling. This exact solution is analyzed analytically at small and large values of the on-site (U) and nearest-neighbor (V) interaction strengths. One finds that a phase transition occurs at sufficiently low temperatures for all U,V>0. The low-temperature phase is a charge-density wave for V>1/2U and a spin-density wave for V1/2U. Special attention is paid to (i) the critical temperature as a function of U and V, (ii) the order parameter as a function of temperature, and (iii) the density of states. The density of states shows that the low-temperature phase is an insulator for all U,V provided that V/U\ensuremath{\ne}1/2, while the high-temperature phase is a paramagnetic metal for all V if U2, and a paramagnetic insulator if U>2. Many detailed results are given.
The phase diagrams and superconducting properties of the extended Hubbard model with pair hopping interaction, i.e., the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model are studied. The analysis of the model is performed for d-dimensional hypercubic lattices, including d=1 and $d=\ensuremath{\infty},$ by means of the (broken symmetry) Hartree-Fock approximations and, for $d=\ensuremath{\infty},$ by the slave-boson mean-field method. For d=1, at half filling the phase diagram is shown to consist of nine different phases including two superconducting states with center-of-mass momentum q=0 and q=Q $(\ensuremath{\eta}$ pairing), site and bond-located antiferromagnetic and charge-density wave states as well as three mixed phases with coexisting site and bond orderings. The stability range of the bond-type orderings shrinks with increasing lattice dimensionality d and for $d=\ensuremath{\infty}$ the corresponding diagram consists of four phases only, involving exclusively site-located orderings. Comparing the pair hopping model with the attractive Hubbard model we found in both cases gradual evolution from the BCS-like limit to the tightly bound pairs regime and a monotonic increase of the gap in the excitation spectrum with increasing coupling. However, the dynamics of electron pairs in both models is qualitatively different, which results in different dependences of condensation energies and critical temperatures on interaction parameters as well as in different electrodynamic properties, especially in a strong coupling regime.
The last decade has seen a large increase in the number of electronic-structure calculations that involve adding a Hubbard term to the local-density approximation band-structure Hamiltonian. The Hubbard term is then determined either at the mean-field level or with sophisticated many-body techniques such as using dynamical mean-field theory. We review the physics underlying these approaches and discuss their strengths and weaknesses in terms of the larger issues of electronic structure that they involve. In particular, we argue that the common assumptions made to justify such calculations are inconsistent with what the calculations actually do. Although many of these calculations are often treated as essentially first-principles calculations, in fact, we argue that they should be viewed from an entirely different point of view, namely, as based on phenomenological many-body corrections to band-structure theory. Alternatively, it may also be considered that they are just based on a Hubbard model that is more complex than the simple one- or few-band models traditionally used in many-body theories of solids.
The canonical one-band Hubbard model is studied using a computational method that mixes the Monte Carlo procedure with the mean field approximation. This technique allows us to incorporate thermal fluctuations and the development of short-range magnetic order above ordering temperatures, contrary to the crude finite-temperature Hartree-Fock approximation, which incorrectly predicts a N\'eel temperature TN that grows linearly with the Hubbard U/t. The effective model studied here contains quantum and classical degrees of freedom. It thus belongs to the ``spin fermion'' model family widely employed in other contexts. Using exact diagonalization, supplemented by the traveling cluster approximation, for the fermionic sector, and classical Monte Carlo for the classical fields, the Hubbard U/t vs temperature T/t phase diagram is studied employing large three- and two-dimensional clusters. We demonstrate that the method is capable of capturing the formation of local moments in the normal state without long-range order, the nonmonotonicity of TN with increasing U/t, the development of gaps and pseudogaps in the density of states, and the two-peak structure in the specific heat. Extensive comparisons with determinant quantum Monte Carlo results suggest that the present approach is qualitatively, and often quantitatively, accurate, particularly at intermediate and high temperatures. Finally, we study the Hubbard model including plaquette diagonal hopping (i.e., the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model) in two dimensions and show that our approach allows us to study low-temperature properties where determinant quantum Monte Carlo fails due to the fermion sign problem. Future applications of this method include multiorbital Hubbard models such as those needed for iron-based superconductors.
Abstract. A simple and commonly employed approximate technique with which one can examine spatially disordered systems when strong electronic correlations are present is based on the use of real-space unrestricted self-consistent Hartree-Fock wave functions. In such an approach the disorder is treated exactly while the correlations are treated approximately. In this report we critique the success of this approximation by making comparisons between such solutions and the exact wave functions for the Anderson-Hubbard model. Due to the sizes of the complete Hilbert spaces for these problems, the comparisons are restricted to small one-dimensional chains, up to ten sites, and a 4x4 two-dimensional cluster, and at 1/2 filling these Hilbert spaces contain about 63,500 and 166 million states, respectively. We have completed these calculations both at and away from 1/2 filling. This approximation is based on a variational approach which minimizes the Hartree-Fock energy, and we have completed comparisons of the exact and Hartree-Fock energies. However, in order to assess the success of this approximation in reproducing ground-state correlations we have completed comparisons of the local charge and spin correlations, including the calculation of the overlap of the Hartree-Fock wave functions with those of the exact solutions. We find that this approximation reproduces the local charge densities to quite a high accuracy, but that the local spin correlations, as represented by 〈Si · Sj〉, are not as well represented. In addition to these comparisons, we discuss the properties of the spin degrees of freedom in the HF approximation, and where in the disorderinteraction phase diagram such physics may be important. PACS numbers: 71.27.+a,71.23.-k,71.10.-wCritiquing HF for the Anderson-Hubbard Model 2 1.