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Dynamical Mean Field Theory of inhomogeneous correlated systems

R. W. Helmes

Published Jan 1, 2008• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

In the last one and a half decade, the Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) allowed to get insight into the Mott metal-insulator transition (MMIT) and many long-standing questions about the nature of the transition could be answered, at least in the limit of infinite dimensions. In this thesis, the adaption of the DMFT to inhomogeneous systems is studied, opening the possibility to study a rich variety of systems and challenging physical questions. Firstly, the basic problem is studied, how a metal penetrates into a Mott insulator, where analytically found power-laws at the critical point can be confirmed with numerics. Secondly, the phase separation between metal and insulator is investigated, which can occur since the MMIT is a first order transition. The spontaneous build up of domains is observed in numerical simulations and the domain walls are examined. Finally, the MMIT of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice is studied.

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In the last one and a half decade, the Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) allowed to get insight into the Mott metal-insulator transition (MMIT) and many long-standing questions about the nature of the transition could be answered, at least in the limit of infinite dimensions. In this thesis, the adaption of the DMFT to inhomogeneous systems is studied, opening the possibility to study a rich variety of systems and challenging physical questions. Firstly, the basic problem is studied, how a metal penetrates into a Mott insulator, where analytically found power-laws at the critical point can be confirmed with numerics. Secondly, the phase separation between metal and insulator is investigated, which can occur since the MMIT is a first order transition. The spontaneous build up of domains is observed in numerical simulations and the domain walls are examined. Finally, the MMIT of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice is studied.
The study of nonequilibrium phenomena in correlated lattice systems has developed into one of the most active and exciting branches of condensed matter physics. This research field provides rich new insights that could not be obtained from the study of equilibrium situations, and the theoretical understanding of the physics often requires the development of new concepts and methods. On the experimental side, ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopies enable studies of excitation and relaxation phenomena in correlated electron systems, while ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide a new way to control and measure the time evolution of interacting lattice systems with a vastly different characteristic time scale compared to electron systems. A theoretical description of these phenomena is challenging because, first, the quantum-mechanical time evolution of many-body systems out of equilibrium must be computed and second, strong-correlation effects which can be of a nonperturbative nature must be addressed. This review discusses the nonequilibrium extension of the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), which treats quantum fluctuations in the time domain and works directly in the thermodynamic limit. The method reduces the complexity of the calculation via a mapping to a self-consistent impurity problem, which becomes exact in infinite dimensions. Particular emphasis is placed on a detailed derivation of the formalism, and on a discussion of numerical techniques, which enable solutions of the effective nonequilibrium DMFT impurity problem. Insights gained into the properties of the infinite-dimensional Hubbard model under strong nonequilibrium conditions are summarized. These examples illustrate the current ability of the theoretical framework to reproduce and understand fundamental nonequilibrium phenomena, such as the dielectric breakdown of Mott insulators, photodoping, and collapse-and-revival oscillations in quenched systems. Furthermore, remarkable novel phenomena have been predicted by the nonequilibrium DMFT simulations of correlated lattice systems, including dynamical phase transitions and field-induced repulsion-to-attraction conversions.
Dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is a successful method to investigate interacting lattice fermions. In these lecture notes we present an introduction into the DMFT for lattice fermions with interaction, disorder and external inhomogeneous potentials. This formulation is applicable to electrons in solids and to cold fermionic atoms in optical lattices. We review here our investigations of the Mott-Hubbard and Anderson metal-insulator transitions in correlated, disordered systems by presenting selected surprising results. 1.
We review the dynamical mean-field theory of strongly correlated electron systems which is based on a mapping of lattice models onto quantum impurity models subject to a self-consistency condition. This mapping is exact for models of correlated electrons in the limit of large lattice coordination (or infinite spatial dimensions). It extends the standard mean-field construction from classical statistical mechanics to quantum problems. We discuss the physical ideas underlying this theory and its mathematical derivation. Various analytic and numerical techniques that have been developed recently in order to analyze and solve the dynamical mean-field equations are reviewed and compared to each other. The method can be used for the determination of phase diagrams (by comparing the stability of various types of long-range order), and the calculation of thermodynamic properties, one-particle Green's functions, and response functions. We review in detail the recent progress in understanding the Hubbard model and the Mott metal-insulator transition within this approach, including some comparison to experiments on three-dimensional transition-metal oxides. We present an overview of the rapidly developing field of applications of this method to other systems. The present limitations of the approach, and possible extensions of the formalism are finally discussed. Computer programs for the numerical implementation of this method are also provided with this article.
We consider a heterostructure of a metal and a paramagnetic Mott insulator using an adaptation of dynamical mean-field theory to describe inhomogeneous systems. The metal can penetrate into the insulator via the Kondo effect. We investigate the scaling properties of the metal-insulator interface close to the critical point of the Mott insulator. At criticality, the quasiparticle weight decays as 1/x;{2} with distance x from the metal within our mean-field theory. Our numerical results (using the numerical renormalization group as an impurity solver) show that the prefactor of this power law is extremely small.
The concept of electronic correlations plays an important role in modern condensed matter physics. It refers to interaction effects which cannot be explained within a static mean‐field picture as provided by Hartree‐Fock theory. Electronic correlations can have a very strong influence on the properties of materials. For example, they may turn a metal into an insulator (Mott‐Hubbard metal‐insulator transition). In these lecture notes I (i) introduce basic notions of the physics of correlated electronic systems, (ii) discuss the construction of mean‐field theories by taking the limit of high lattice dimensions, (iii) explain the simplifications of the many‐body perturbation theory in this limit which provide the basis for the formulation of a comprehensive mean‐field theory for correlated fermions, the dynamical mean‐field theory (DMFT), (v) derive the DMFT self‐consistency equations, and (vi) apply the DMFT to investigate electronic correlations in models and materials.
The DOS, the dynamic (optical) conductivity, and the phase diagram of a strongly correlated and strongly disordered paramagnetic Anderson-Hubbard model are analyzed within the generalized dynamical mean field theory (DMFT + Σ approximation). Strong correlations are taken into account by the DMFT, and disorder is taken into account via an appropriate generalization of the self-consistent theory of localization. The DMFT effective single-impurity problem is solved by a numerical renormalization group (NRG); we consider the three-dimensional system with a semielliptic DOS. The correlated metal, Mott insulator, and correlated Anderson insulator phases are identified via the evolution of the DOS and dynamic conductivity, demonstrating both the Mott-Hubbard and Anderson metal-insulator transition and allowing the construction of the complete zero-temperature phase diagram of the Anderson-Hubbard model. Rather unusual is the possibility of a disorder-induced Mott insulator-to-metal transition.