In this thesis we apply the functional renormalisation group (fRG) to the two-dimensional Hubbard model (2D-HM). We do this by solving approximate renormalisation group equations for the self energy and the two-particle interaction numerically. The purpose of these calculations is two-fold in the sense that we want to learn about the reliability of the method on the one hand, and about the physics of the 2D-HM on the other. We find that different fRG schemes agree in describing the mutual interplay and the resulting competition between different correlations, but also that the results sometimes differ quantitatively. This sharpens our perception when it comes to interpreting fRG results, and tells us that we have to separate the indicative character from the quantitative aspects of the results. The main line of arguments presented in previous fRG studies is confirmed, that in the weak-coupling region particle-hole correlations feed back into the particle-particle channel, triggering strong superconducting correlations in a non-zero parameter range. Concerning the physics of the 2D-HM show new results for the single-particle spectral functions for the case of a Fermi surface which is not perfectly nested and intersects the Umklapp surface at so-called hot spots. These results are obtained from the Wick-ordered fRG scheme, and the calculations are done directly on the real frequency axis. We find that close to a critical temperature $T_c$ where correlations become strong, a dip appears in the single-particle spectral functions for momenta close to and at the hot spots. Away from the van Hove scale, this is traced back to strong correlations in the particle-hole channel and attributed to antiferromagnetic fluctuations, in agreement with numerous previous studies. For a Fermi surface at or very close to the van Hove scale, there exists a degeneracy in the sense that the strongest correlations are found around a point in coupling space which is relevant for both superconductivity and antiferromagnetism, and we can thus not distinguish between the importance of the respective fluctuations.
In this thesis we apply the functional renormalisation group (fRG) to the two-dimensional Hubbard model (2D-HM). We do this by solving approximate renormalisation group equations for the self energy and the two-particle interaction numerically. The purpose of these calculations is two-fold in the sense that we want to learn about the reliability of the method on the one hand, and about the physics of the 2D-HM on the other. We find that different fRG schemes agree in describing the mutual interplay and the resulting competition between different correlations, but also that the results sometimes differ quantitatively. This sharpens our perception when it comes to interpreting fRG results, and tells us that we have to separate the indicative character from the quantitative aspects of the results. The main line of arguments presented in previous fRG studies is confirmed, that in the weak-coupling region particle-hole correlations feed back into the particle-particle channel, triggering strong superconducting correlations in a non-zero parameter range. Concerning the physics of the 2D-HM show new results for the single-particle spectral functions for the case of a Fermi surface which is not perfectly nested and intersects the Umklapp surface at so-called hot spots. These results are obtained from the Wick-ordered fRG scheme, and the calculations are done directly on the real frequency axis. We find that close to a critical temperature Tc where correlations become strong, a dip appears in the single-particle spectral functions for momenta close to and at the hot spots. Away from the van Hove scale, this is traced back to strong correlations in the particle-hole channel and attributed to antiferromagnetic fluctuations, in agreement with numerous previous studies. For a Fermi surface at or very close to the van Hove scale, there exists a degeneracy in the sense that the strongest correlations are found around a point in coupling space which is relevant for both superconductivity and antiferromagnetism, and we can thus not distinguish between the importance of the respective fluctuations.
In this thesis a novel computational approach for functional Renormalization Group (fRG) investigations regarding interacting fermions on two-dimensional lattices is derived. The approach is based on the exchange-parametrization fRG [C. Husemann and M. Salmhofer. Phys. Rev. B, 79:195125.] concerning the two-fermion interaction, with additional insertions of truncated partitions of unity that are inspired by the singular-mode fRG [W.-S. Wang, Y.-Y. Xiang, Q.-H. Wang, et al.. Phys. Rev. B, 85:035414.]. These insertions decouple the fermionic propagators from the exchange propagators and thereby lead to a separation of the underlying equations. It is argued that this separation is numerically advantageous and may pave the way for refined, large-scale computational fRG investigations. Furthermore, on the basis of speedup data gained from an implementation of the novel scheme, it is shown that the new equation structure facilitates efficient calculations on a large number of multi-core CPUs. Utilizing the methodical development, two applications are presented afterwards: Firstly, the scheme is applied to the t-t' Hubbard model on a square lattice. In order to test the method, the convergence of the results with respect to increasing truncation length of the partition of unity is analyzed and a comparison to findings from previous fRG studies is drawn. The test yields a fast convergence in most parts of the investigated parameter range. Moreover, it was found that the older findings are approximately reproduced using a short truncation length, while quantitative corrections to the previous results are obtained using longer truncation lengths. In addition to these method focused investigations, the high momentum-space resolution of the implementation was utilized to study ordering vectors of antiferromagnetic phases. A comparison to calculations solely based on the magnetic channel revealed that the inter-channel feedback, as contained in the fRG, generates support for commensurate antiferromagnetic orderings. The second application addresses a modified version of the previous model, in which a Coulomb-like long-range interaction term is added to the local Hubbard interaction. In this work a solution is presented on how the long-range interaction can be implemented in a momentum-space fRG scheme without encountering singularities. Afterwards, phase diagrams are given that compare the results of calculations using short- and long-ranged interactions, showing significantly lower critical scales in the long-range scenario. Finally, screening lengths are extracted from the fRG outcome and are compared to those calculated in a 'random phase approximation'. The comparison reveals quantitative differences between both values. However, the results indicate that the charge screening is not changed qualitatively by the feedback from other channels, i.e., at van Hove filling the screening length tends to zero in both cases.
The treatment of strongly interacting two-dimensional Fermi systems constitutes one of the most challenging problems in the field of condensed matter physics. Many theoretical works focused on the strongly coupled Hubbard model, since it is expected to capture the most important physics of cuprate superconductors. Due to our methodological improvements and understanding of the frequency dependence of the two-particle vertex function, the functional renormalization group combined with the dynamical mean field theory can now be used to study competing correlations in the strongly interacting regime. While limited to moderate interaction strengths, the functional renormalization group describes efficiently systems with a hierarchy of different energy scales and competing correlations. For instance, it provides definite evidence for d-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional Hubbard model at moderate coupling. In a first project, we study the frequency dependence of the one-particle irreducible vertex function generated by the functional renormalization group flow. The frequency dependence, which becomes singular for strong interactions, appears to be important already for moderate couplings, and it cannot be represented by separate channels each depending on a single linear combination of frequencies. For strongly interacting systems, the dynamical mean field theory captures strong local correlation effects nonperturbatively. With this approximation, we study the impact of local correlations on the magnetic susceptibility. The local dynamics strongly affects the spin response function and its momentum dependence. In contrast to the widely used random-phase approximation with self-energy corrections that predicts Néel antiferromagnetic order, the local vertex corrections favor an incommensurate order similar to the ordering instability predicted by the Fermi surface geometry, as for weakly interacting systems. The dynamical mean field theory is also used as starting point for the functional renormalization group flow. We demonstrate that, due to our improvements for the parametrization of the vertex function, this approach is actually able to access the strong coupling physics. Moreover, we derive a flow scheme that conserves the local contributions and reduces the truncation error of the flow equations. In the strongly interacting regime, we capture strong d-wave pairing correlations driven by magnetic fluctuations with a mechanism similar to the one observed in the weakly interacting system.
We consider the application of the two-loop functional renormalization group (fRG) approach to study the low-dimensional Hubbard model. This approach accounts for both the universal and nonuniversal contributions to the RG flow. While the universal contributions were studied previously within the field-theoretical RG for the one-dimensional Hubbard model with linearized electronic dispersion and the two-dimensional Hubbard model with flat Fermi surface, the nonuniversal contributions to the flow of the vertices and susceptibilities appear to be important at large momenta scales. The two-loop fRG approach is also applied to the two-dimensional Hubbard model with a curved Fermi surface and the van Hove singularities near the Fermi level. The vertices and susceptibilities in the end of the flow of the two-loop approach are suppressed in comparison with both the one-loop approach with vertex projection and the modified one-loop approach with corrected vertex projection errors. The results of the two-loop approach are closer to the results of one-loop approach with the projected vertices, the difference of the results of one- and two-loop fRG approaches decreases when going away from the van Hove band filling. The quasiparticle weight remains finite in two dimensions at not too low temperatures above the paramagnetic ground state.
We analyze the interaction-induced renormalization of single-particle excitations in the two-dimensional Hubbard model at weak coupling using the Wick-ordered version of the functional renormalization group. The self-energy is computed for real frequencies by integrating a flow equation with renormalized two-particle interactions. In the vicinity of hot spots, that is, points where the Fermi surface intersects the umklapp surface, self-energy effects beyond the usual quasiparticle renormalizations and damping occur near instabilities of the normal, metallic phase. Strongly enhanced renormalized interactions between particles at different hot spots generate a pronounced low-energy peak in the imaginary part of the self-energy, leading to a pseudogaplike double-peak structure in the spectral function for single-particle excitations.
We complement previous functional renormalization group (fRG) studies of the two-dimensional Hubbard model by mean-field calculations. The focus falls on Van Hove filling and the hopping amplitude ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t=0.341$. The fRG data suggest a quantum critical point (QCP) in this region and in its vicinity a singular fermionic self-energy $\mathrm{Im}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}(\ensuremath{\omega})/\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\sim}\ensuremath{-}{\left|\ensuremath{\omega}\right|}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ with $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\approx}0.26$ [K-U. Giering and M. Salmhofer, Self-energy flows in the two-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model, Phys. Rev. B 86, 245122 (2012)]. Here we start a more detailed investigation of this QCP using a bosonic formulation for the effective action, where the bosons couple to the order parameter fields. To this end, we use the channel decomposition of the fermionic effective action developed in C. Husemann and M. Salmhofer, Efficient Parametrization of the Vertex Function, Omega-Scheme, and the (t, t')-Hubbard Model at Van Hove Filling, Phys. Rev. B 79, 195125 (2009), which allows us to perform Hubbard-Stratonovich transformations for all relevant order parameter fields at any given energy scale $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}$. We stop the flow at a scale $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}$ where the correlations of the order parameter field are already pronounced, but the flow is still regular, and derive the effective boson theory. It contains d-wave superconducting, magnetic, and density-density interactions. We analyze the resulting phase diagram in the mean-field approximation. We show that the singular fermionic self-energy suppresses gap formation both in the superconducting and magnetic channel already at the mean-field level, thus rounding a first-order transition (without self-energy) to a quantum phase transition (with self-energy). We give a simple effective model that shows the generality of this effect. In the two-dimensional Hubbard model, the effective density-density interaction is peaked at a nonzero frequency, so that solving the mean-field equations already involves a functional equation instead of simply a matrix equation (on a technical level, similar to incommensurate phases). Within a certain approximation, we show that such an interaction leads to a short quasiparticle lifetime.
Using a leading algorithmic implementation of the functional renormalization group (fRG) for interacting fermions on two-dimensional lattices, we provide a detailed analysis of its quantitative reliability for the Hubbard model. In particular, we show that the recently introduced multiloop extension of the fRG flow equations for the self-energy and two-particle vertex allows for a precise match with the parquet approximation also for two-dimensional lattice problems. The refinement with respect to previous fRG-based computation schemes relies on an accurate treatment of the frequency and momentum dependences of the two-particle vertex, which combines a proper inclusion of the high-frequency asymptotics with the so-called truncated unity fRG for the momentum dependence. The adoption of the latter scheme requires, as an essential step, a consistent modification of the flow equation of the self-energy. We quantitatively compare our fRG results for the self-energy and momentum-dependent susceptibilities and the corresponding solution of the parquet approximation to determinant quantum Monte Carlo data, demonstrating that the fRG is remarkably accurate up to moderate interaction strengths. The presented methodological improvements illustrate how fRG flows can be brought to a quantitative level for two-dimensional problems, providing a solid basis for the application to more general systems.