Monte Carlo results for the frequency dependent conductivity ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{1}(\ensuremath{\omega})$, the angular resolved photoemission spectral weight $A(\mathbf{p},\ensuremath{\omega})$, and the electron momentum distribution
〈np〉 are calculated for a half-filled Hubbard model with the on-site Coulomb interaction
U equal to the bandwidth
8t. We find that even for
U=8t, a spin-density-wave approximation provides a sensible description of this data and hence a useful picture of the electronic degrees of freedom in the insulating state.
Quantum Monte Carlo methods are used to study the physical properties of the two-dimensional Hubbard model for various band fillings. Results for the energy, magnetic moment, magnetic structure factor, and integrated optical spectral weight are presented. A comparison of the half-filled (〈n〉=1) and quarter-filled (〈n〉=0.5) bands is made using results for the momentum distribution 〈
nk〉, the compressibility K, and the one-electron self-energy \ensuremath{\Sigma}(k,i${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{n}$), which shows that a gap exists in the one-electron excitations at half-filling but is absent for the one-quarter-filled case. At a filling of 〈n〉=0.87, the locus of k values for which 〈
nk〉=0.5 is found to be close to the free Fermi surface for this filling.