We investigate metal-insulator transitions in the half-filled Holstein-Hubbard model as a function of the on-site electron-electron interaction U and the electron-phonon coupling g . We use several different numerical methods to calculate the phase diagram, the results of which are in excellent agreement. When the electron-electron interaction U is dominant, the transition is to a Mott insulator; when the electron-phonon interaction dominates, the transition is to a localized bipolaronic state. In the former case, the transition is always found to be second order. This is in contrast to the transition to the bipolaronic state, which is clearly first order for larger values of U . We also present results for the quasiparticle weight and the double occupancy as functions of U and g .
We study the Hubbard-Holstein model which includes both the electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions, characterized by
U and
g, respectively. The model is solved with
U and
g on an equal footing in the infinite dimensions by employing the dynamical mean-field theory in combination with Wilson's numerical renormalization group. A zero temperature phase diagram of symmetry unbroken states at half filling is mapped out which exhibits the interplay between the two kinds of interactions and combines the two separately studied interaction-driven metal-insulator transitions of the Hubbard and Holstein models within a single frame. The ground state is metallic when both
U and
g are small, but is insulating when
U or
g is large, referred to as, respectively, Mott-Hubbard insulator (MHI) and bipolaron insulator (BPI). As the phase boundary between the metallic and MHI (BPI) states is approached from the metallic region, the quasiparticle weight
z goes to 0 continuously (discontinuously). Moreover, the two insulating states are distinct and cannot be adiabatically connected, and there is a first order phase transition between them.
The Hubbard-Holstein model is one of the simplest to incorporate both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions. In one dimension at half filling, the Holstein electron-phonon coupling promotes on-site pairs of electrons and a Peierls charge-density wave, while the Hubbard on-site Coulomb repulsion
U promotes antiferromagnetic correlations and a Mott insulating state. Recent numerical studies have found a possible third intermediate phase between Peierls and Mott states. From direct calculations of charge and spin susceptibilities, we show that (i) as the electron-phonon coupling is increased, first a spin gap opens, followed by the Peierls transition. Between these two transitions, the metallic intermediate phase has a spin gap, no charge gap, and properties similar to the negative-
U Hubbard model. (ii) The transitions between Mott/intermediate and intermediate/Peierls states are of the Kosterlitz-Thouless form. (iii) For larger
U, the two transitions merge at a tricritical point into a single first-order Mott/Peierls transition. In addition, we show that an intermediate phase also occurs in the quarter-filled model.
We present a numerical study of the Hubbard-Holstein model in one dimension at half filling, including finite-frequency quantum phonons. At half filling, the effects of the electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions compete with the Holstein phonon coupling acting as an effective negative Hubbard on-site interaction U that promotes on-site electron pairs and a Peierls charge-density wave state. Most previous work on this model has assumed that only Peierls or Mott phases are possible at half filling. However, there has been speculation that a third metallic phase exists between the Peierls and Mott phases. We confirm the intermediate phase, and show that the Luttinger liquid correlation exponent K(rho) >1 in this region, indicating dominant superconducting pair correlations. We explore the full phase diagram as a function of Hubbard U, phonon coupling constant, and phonon frequency.
We re-examine the Peierls insulator to Mott insulator transition scenario in the one-dimensional Holstein-Hubbard model where, at half-filling, electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions compete for establishing charge- and spin-density-wave states, respectively. By means of large-scale density-matrix renormalization group calculations we determine the spin, single-particle and two-particle excitation gaps and prove —in the course of a careful finite-size scaling analysis— recent claims for an intervening metallic phase in the weak-coupling regime. We show that for large phonon frequencies the metallic region is even more extended than previously expected, and subdivided into ordinary Luttinger-liquid and bipolaronic-liquid phases.
By using variational wave functions and quantum Monte Carlo techniques, we investigate the interplay between electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions in the two-dimensional Hubbard-Holstein model. Here, the ground-state phase diagram is triggered by several energy scales, i.e., the electron hopping
t, the on-site electron-electron interaction
U, the phonon energy ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, and the electron-phonon coupling
g. At half filling, the ground state is an antiferromagnetic insulator for $U\ensuremath{\gtrsim}2{g}^{2}/{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, while it is a charge-density-wave (or bipolaronic) insulator for $U\ensuremath{\lesssim}2{g}^{2}/{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$. In addition to these phases, we find a superconducting phase that intrudes between them. For ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}/t=1$, superconductivity emerges when both
U/t and $2{g}^{2}/t{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$ are small; then, by increasing the value of the phonon energy ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, it extends along the transition line between antiferromagnetic and charge-density-wave insulators. Away from half filling, phase separation occurs when doping the charge-density-wave insulator, while a uniform (superconducting) ground state is found when doping the superconducting phase. In the analysis of finite-size effects, it is extremely important to average over twisted boundary conditions, especially in the weak-coupling limit and in the doped case.