© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

The Philosophical Magazine A Journal of Theoretical Experimental and Applied Physics

Gutzwiller wave functions for correlated electrons: theory and applications

Florian Gebhard

Published Apr 28, 2006• 0 citations

Abstract

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.

DOI: 10.1080/14786430500070438

Related papers

The Out-of-Equilibrium Time-Dependent Gutzwiller Approximation

Michele Fabrizio

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 $Z_2$ symmetry breaking that can be identified as the Mott insulator-to-metal transition.

•Aug 16, 2016•8 citations

Multiband Gutzwiller wave functions for general on-site interactions

Jörg Bünemann, W. Weber, Florian Gebhard

We introduce Gutzwiller wave functions for multiband models with general on-site Coulomb interactions. As these wave functions employ correlators for the exact atomic eigenstates, they are exact both in the noninteracting and atomic limits. We evaluate them in infinite lattice dimensions for all interaction strengths without any restrictions on the structure of the Hamiltonian or the symmetry of the ground state. The results for the ground-state energy allow us to derive an effective one-electron Hamiltonian for Landau quasiparticles, applicable for finite temperatures and frequencies within the Fermi-liquid regime. As applications for a two-band model we study the Brinkman-Rice metal-to-insulator transition at half-band-filling, and the transition to itinerant ferromagnetism for two specific fillings, at and close to a peak in the density of states of the noninteracting system. Our results significantly differ from those for earlier Gutzwiller wave functions where only density-type interactions were included. When the correct spin symmetries for the two-electron states are taken into account, the importance of the Hund's-rule exchange interaction is even more pronounced, and leads to paramagnetic metallic ground states with large local magnetic moments. Ferromagnetism requires fairly large interaction strengths, and the resulting ferromagnetic state is a strongly correlated metal.

arXiv:cond-mat/9712240•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Mar 15, 1998•245 citations

Gutzwiller variational wave function for multiorbital Hubbard models in finite dimensions

Kevin zu Münster, Jörg Bünemann

We develop a diagrammatic method for the evaluation of general multiband Gutzwiller wave functions in finite dimensions. Our approach provides a systematic improvement of the widely used Gutzwiller approximation. As a first application, we investigate itinerant ferromagnetism and correlation-induced deformations of the Fermi surface for a two-band Hubbard model on a square lattice.

arXiv:1510.07896•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jul 26, 2016•13 citations

Correlated hopping of electrons: Effect on the Brinkman-Rice transition and the stability of metallic ferromagnetism

Marcus Kollar, D. Vollhardt

We study the Hubbard model with bond-charge interaction (``correlated hopping'') in terms of the Gutzwiller wave function. We show how to express the Gutzwiller expectation value of the bond-charge interaction in terms of the correlated momentum-space occupation. This relation is valid in all spatial dimensions. We find that in infinite dimensions, where the Gutzwiller approximation becomes exact, the bond-charge interaction lowers the critical Hubbard interaction for the Brinkman-Rice metal-insulator transition. The bond-charge interaction also favors ferromagnetic transitions, especially if the density of states is not symmetric and has a large spectral weight below the Fermi energy.

arXiv:cond-mat/0008015•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Jan 8, 2001•36 citations

Gutzwiller-correlated wave functions for degenerate bands: exact results in infinite dimensions

Jörg Bünemann, Florian Gebhard, W Weber

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.

arXiv:cond-mat/9704037•Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Sep 1, 1997•34 citations

Approximate solution of variational wave functions for strongly correlated systems: Description of bound excitons in metals and insulators

Balázs Hetényi

An approximate solution scheme, similar to the Gutzwiller approximation, is presented for the Baeriswyl and the Baeriswyl-Gutzwiller variational wave functions. The phase diagram of the one-dimensional Hubbard model as a function of interaction strength and particle density is determined. For the Baeriswyl wave function a metal-insulator transition is found at half filling, where the metallic phase $(U<{U}_{c})$ corresponds to the Hartree-Fock solution, the insulating phase is one with finite double occupations arising from bound excitons. This transition can be viewed as the ``inverse'' of the Brinkman-Rice transition. Close to but away from half filling, the $U>{U}_{c}$ phase displays a finite Fermi step, as well as double occupations originating from bound excitons. As the filling is changed away from half-filling bound excitons are suppressed. For the Baeriswyl-Gutzwiller wave function at half filling a metal-insulator transition between the correlated metallic and excitonic insulating state is found. Away from half-filling bound excitons are suppressed quicker than for the Baeriswyl wave function.

arXiv:1008.1272•Physical Review B•Sep 3, 2010•21 citations

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.

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

Z_2

symmetry breaking that can be identified as the Mott insulator-to-metal transition.

We introduce Gutzwiller wave functions for multiband models with general on-site Coulomb interactions. As these wave functions employ correlators for the exact atomic eigenstates, they are exact both in the noninteracting and atomic limits. We evaluate them in infinite lattice dimensions for all interaction strengths without any restrictions on the structure of the Hamiltonian or the symmetry of the ground state. The results for the ground-state energy allow us to derive an effective one-electron Hamiltonian for Landau quasiparticles, applicable for finite temperatures and frequencies within the Fermi-liquid regime. As applications for a two-band model we study the Brinkman-Rice metal-to-insulator transition at half-band-filling, and the transition to itinerant ferromagnetism for two specific fillings, at and close to a peak in the density of states of the noninteracting system. Our results significantly differ from those for earlier Gutzwiller wave functions where only density-type interactions were included. When the correct spin symmetries for the two-electron states are taken into account, the importance of the Hund's-rule exchange interaction is even more pronounced, and leads to paramagnetic metallic ground states with large local magnetic moments. Ferromagnetism requires fairly large interaction strengths, and the resulting ferromagnetic state is a strongly correlated metal.

We study the Hubbard model with bond-charge interaction (``correlated hopping'') in terms of the Gutzwiller wave function. We show how to express the Gutzwiller expectation value of the bond-charge interaction in terms of the correlated momentum-space occupation. This relation is valid in all spatial dimensions. We find that in infinite dimensions, where the Gutzwiller approximation becomes exact, the bond-charge interaction lowers the critical Hubbard interaction for the Brinkman-Rice metal-insulator transition. The bond-charge interaction also favors ferromagnetic transitions, especially if the density of states is not symmetric and has a large spectral weight below the Fermi energy.

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.

An approximate solution scheme, similar to the Gutzwiller approximation, is presented for the Baeriswyl and the Baeriswyl-Gutzwiller variational wave functions. The phase diagram of the one-dimensional Hubbard model as a function of interaction strength and particle density is determined. For the Baeriswyl wave function a metal-insulator transition is found at half filling, where the metallic phase

(U<{U}_{c})

corresponds to the Hartree-Fock solution, the insulating phase is one with finite double occupations arising from bound excitons. This transition can be viewed as the ``inverse'' of the Brinkman-Rice transition. Close to but away from half filling, the

U>{U}_{c}

phase displays a finite Fermi step, as well as double occupations originating from bound excitons. As the filling is changed away from half-filling bound excitons are suppressed. For the Baeriswyl-Gutzwiller wave function at half filling a metal-insulator transition between the correlated metallic and excitonic insulating state is found. Away from half-filling bound excitons are suppressed quicker than for the Baeriswyl wave function.