A general expansion scheme based on the concept of linked-cluster expansion from the theory of classical spin systems is constructed for models of interacting electrons. It is shown that with a suitable variational formulation of mean-field theories at weak (Hartree-Fock) and strong (Hubbard-III) coupling the expansion represents a universal and comprehensive tool for systematic improvements of static mean-field theories. As an example of the general formalism we investigate in detail an analytically tractable series of ring diagrams that correctly capture dynamical fluctuations at weak coupling. We introduce renormalizations of the diagrammatic expansion at various levels and show how the resultant theories are related to other approximations of similar origin. We demonstrate that only fully self-consistent approximations produce global and thermodynamically consistent extensions of static mean-field theories. A fully self-consistent theory for the ring diagrams is reached by summing the so-called noncrossing diagrams.
The partition function of the Ising model of ferromagnetism is examined in the limit of high density in the anticipation that in the limit of infinite density one recovers the Weiss molecular field. The formal parameter of expansion is
z1 where
z is the number of spins in the range of the exchange potential (not restricted to nearest neighbor interactions). In the absence of long-range order, only ring diagrams in the cluster expansion contribute. These give a divergence in the specific heat at $k{T}_{c}=\ensuremath{\Sigma}{j\ensuremath{\ne}i}^{}{v}_{\mathrm{ij}}$ where
vij is the exchange potential. This is the molecular field value for the Curie point
Tc. In the presence of a magnetic field the partition function is evaluated for fixed magnetic moment
M in the same approximation,
M being determined by minimization. This results in a susceptibility differing from the molecular field theory and hence an inconsistency in the theory.The inconsistency is traced back to the observation that the acceptance of ring diagrams is equivalent to the gaussian model of Kac and Berlin which violates the sum rule ${{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}_{i=1}}^{N}{{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{i}}^{2}=N$. Here ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{i}$ is the "spin" per particle and
N is the total number of particles. This condition is reinstated by insuring the sum rule. The result leads to the spherical model. Thus, a consistent high density approximation to the Ising model is the spherical model. Below the Curie point or for fixed magnetic field,
M is again held fixed and only the Fourier components of the spin density with nonvanishing wave vector are "sphericalized." The result leads to a physically acceptable model which becomes the molecular field theory at low temperatures or high fields and deviates in
O(z1) in general. Formally, the results are simply expressed in terms of a temperature dependent Weiss field. These results differ from the ordinary spherical model which is physically unacceptable below the Curie point. However, a molecular field modification of the spherical model due to M. Lax yields the same result when properly interpreted.It is shown that the above results are also valid (to the same approximation) in the quantum mechanical Heisenberg model, for temperatures above the Curie point.
We give a simple derivation of a finite cluster expansion for the free energy of a general inhomogeneous lattice system which uses only connected clusters. Two possible ways of defining these clusters are discussed in detail, one most useful for obtaining high-temperature series expansions and another low-temperature expansions. A renormalized finite cluster expansion which uses only multiply connected or star clusters follows from a Legendre transformation on the free energy in which single-site potentials are replaced as independent variables by single-site probability distribution functions. Certain special cases of these results have been known before and successfully used to derive high-temperature series expansions. The relationship of the present approach to the renormalized linked-cluster perturbation expansion used by Wortis and co-workers is discussed, and comparison is also made with the work of Rushbrook and Scoins. Truncations of the renormalized cluster expansion yield closed-form approximations which, except in the critical region, offer a systematic way of improving mean-field theory.
A linked-cluster expansion for the expectation values of operators between correlated wave functions of the Jastrow type is described. The expansion is based on the logarithm of the correlation function and leads to terms that are explicitly proportional to the particle number for infinite systems. The lowest-order terms for a weakly interacting system of spin-1/2 particles are calculated explicitly. From these, the Euler-Lagrange equations for the correlation functions have been calculated. The equation for the correlation function between particles of antiparallel spin can be solved by Fourier transform, and it is shown that for $r\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, the correlation function behaves like
1+r2A. In the case of a system of particles interacting by hard-core repulsions, the logarithm of the correlation function does not exist inside the hard-core radius. It is then necessary to sum over ladder diagrams as in the derivation of the reaction matrix in many-body perturbation theory. This is carried out to provide a low-density approximation to the ground-state energy of the system and the Euler-Lagrange equation for the correlation function. It is argued that the correlation function again behaves like
1+r2A for large
r. The expansion is applied to the problem of calculating the correlation energy of the electron gas. It is shown that a variational calculation based on the lowest-order terms in an expansion of the wave function leads to a divergent result (unbounded from below), but that a convergent result is obtained by summing over ring diagrams, which correspond to long-range polarization of the electron cloud. The result is similar to that of Gaskell obtained by a somewhat different method. It is shown analytically that at high densities the result behaves logarithmically, specifically as $0.0570\mathrm{ln}{r}_{s}\ensuremath{-}0.1324$ Ry. The lowest-order exchange contributions have also been calculated and found to contribute 0.040 Ry to the energy at densities of physical interest.
This work covers three lectures on Gutzwiller wave functions for correlated electron systems. In the first lecture, some basic ideas on model Hamiltonians and their motivation are outlined, Gutzwiller's variational approach to Landau Fermi-liquid theory is sketched, and, as a first application, the theory is applied to the one-band Hubbard model where the Brinkman–Rice metal-to-insulator transition is found. The second lecture is devoted to the perturbative calculation of expectation values. In this rather technical part the variational analog of Wick's theorem, Feynman diagrams, and the linked-cluster theorem are introduced. The important differences between the variational approach and the standard Green function technique are the absence of a time-dependence and the flexibility to select the expansion parameter of the variational perturbation theory. When this flexibility is used appropriately, not a single self-energy diagram must be calculated in the limit of large dimensions, i.e. in the limit of large lattice coordination number the expectation values can be evaluated exactly for general Hubbard-type models for all interaction strengths and band fillings. The third lecture covers the application of the theory to ferromagnetism of nickel. After a discussion of the nickel problem, multi-band Hubbard models and Gutzwiller wave functions are introduced and parameterized. The favourable comparison between the results from Gutzwiller theory and a large number of experiments shows that correlations play an important role in itinerant ferromagnets.
The linked-cluster series expansion is developed fur use on models of quantum spin systems with single-ion potentials. The linked-cluster series is defined as a statistical mechanical perturbation series in which the mean-field Hamiltonian and the single-ion potential are treated exactly with the perturbation representing the effects of fluctuation correlations. All terms of the free energy up to a given finite order are calculated, and estimates of thermodynamic functions are made based on extrapolation methods including the ratio method and Pade approximants.