The Hubbard model on a two-leg ladder structure has been studied by a combination of series expansions at T = 0 and the density-matrix renormalization group. We report results for the ground-state energy E 0 and spin gap Δ s at half-filling, as well as dispersion curves for one- and two-hole excitations. For small U both E 0 and Δ s show a dramatic drop near t / t ⊥ ~0.5, which becomes more gradual for larger U . This represents a crossover from a `band insulator' phase to a strongly correlated spin liquid. The various features are collected in a `phase diagram' for the model.
The Hubbard model on a two-leg ladder structure has been studied by a combination of series expansions at T = 0 and the density-matrix renormalization group. We report results for the ground-state energy E 0 and spin gap Δ s at half-filling, as well as dispersion curves for one- and two-hole excitations. For small U both E 0 and Δ s show a dramatic drop near t / t ⊥ ~0.5, which becomes more gradual for larger U . This represents a crossover from a band insulator' phase to a strongly correlated spin liquid. The various features are collected in a phase diagram' for the model.
We study the dimensional crossover from one to two dimensions in half-filled and lightly doped, weakly interacting N-leg Hubbard ladders. In this case, the Hubbard ladders are equivalent to an N-band model. Using renormalization-group techniques, we find that the half-filled ladders exhibit (in the spin sector) an odd-even effect only below a crossover energy ${E}_{c}\ensuremath{\propto}\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{\gamma}N)]$ $(\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\sim}1$ depend on the interaction strength and on the hopping matrix elements): Below Ec, the dominant interactions take place within band pairs $(j,N+1\ensuremath{-}j)$ [and within the band (N+1)/2 for N odd], such that even-leg ladders are an insulating spin liquid, while odd-leg ladders have one gapless spinon mode. In contrast, above the energy scale Ec, all bands are interacting with each other and the system is a two-dimensional- (2D)-like (insulating) antiferromagnet; we obtain an analytical expression for the Hamiltonian which is similar to the 2D Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Bosonization techniques show that in the charge sector the Mott insulator is as well below and above Ec of the same type as in N/2 half-filled two-leg ladders. Doping away from half-filling, we find that the effect of an increasing doping $\ensuremath{\delta}$ is very similar to decreasing the number of legs N: In both cases interactions between unpaired bands are suppressed and thereby the antiferromagnetic correlations reduced. The resulting band pairs form then insulating spin liquids and when doped, there is a spin gap, but phase coherence exists only within the band pairs. At higher doping levels ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{c}={\ensuremath{\delta}}_{c}(N),$ phase coherence between all band pairs sets in and the system becomes a 2D-like d-wave superconductor $[{\ensuremath{\delta}}_{c}(N)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ for $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{N}\ensuremath{\infty}].$
The phase diagram of the two-leg $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{z}$ ladder is explored, using the density-matrix renormalization group method. Results are obtained for energy gaps, electron density profiles, and correlation functions for the half filled and quarter filled cases. The effective Lagrangian velocity parameter ${v}_{\ensuremath{\rho}}$ is shown to vanish at half filling. The behavior of the one-hole gap in the Nagaoka limit is investigated, and found to disagree with theoretical predictions. A tentative phase diagram is presented, which is quite similar to the full $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ ladder, but scaled up by a factor of about 2 in coupling. Near half filling a Luther-Emery phase is found, which may be expected to show superconducting correlations, while near quarter filling the system appears to be in a Tomonaga-Luttinger phase.
We re-examine the zero-temperature phase diagram of the two-leg Hubbard ladder in the small U limit, both analytically and using density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We find a ubiquitous Luther-Emery phase, but with a crossover in behavior at a characteristic interaction strength, U★; for $U\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{U}^{★}$, there is a single emergent correlation length $ln[\ensuremath{\xi}]\ensuremath{\sim}1/U$, characterizing the gapped modes of the system, but for $U\ensuremath{\lesssim}{U}^{★}$, there is a hierarchy of length scales, differing parametrically in powers of U, reflecting a two-step renormalization group flow to the ultimate fixed point. Finally, to illustrate the versatility of the approach developed here, we sketch its implications for a half-filled triangular lattice Hubbard model on a cylinder and find results in conflict with inferences concerning the small U phase from recent DMRG studies of the same problem.
We investigate a ladder system with two inequivalent legs, namely, a Hubbard chain and a one-dimensional electron gas. Analytical approximations, the density-matrix renormalization group method, and continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine ground-state properties, gaps, and spectral functions of this system at half-filling. Evidence for the existence of four different phases as a function of the Hubbard interaction and the rung hopping is presented. First, a Luttinger liquid exists at very weak interchain hopping. Second, a Kondo-Mott insulator with spin and charge gaps induced by an effective rung exchange coupling is found at moderate interchain hopping or strong Hubbard interaction. Third, a spin-gapped paramagnetic Mott insulator with incommensurate excitations and pairing of doped charges is observed at intermediate values of the rung hopping and the interaction. Fourth, the usual correlated band insulator is recovered for large rung hopping. We show that the wave numbers of the lowest single-particle excitations are different in each insulating phase. In particular, the three gapped phases exhibit markedly different spectral functions. We discuss the relevance of asymmetric two-leg ladder systems as models for atomic wires deposited on a substrate.
We investigate the ground-state phase diagram of the quarter-filled Hubbard ladder with nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion V using the density matrix renormalization-group technique. The ground state is homogeneous at small V, a ``checkerboard'' charge-ordered insulator at large V and not too small on site Coulomb repulsion U, and is phase separated for moderate or large V and small U. The zero-temperature transition between the homogeneous and the charge-ordered phase is found to be second order. In both the homogeneous and the charge-ordered phases the existence of a spin gap mainly depends on the ratio of interchain to intrachain hopping. In the second part of the paper we construct an effective Hamiltonian for the spin degrees of freedom in the strong-coupling, charge-ordered regime that maps the system onto a frustrated spin chain. The opening of a spin gap is thus connected with spontaneous dimerization.
We use exact diagonalization to determine the spectrum of reduced Hamiltonians based on renormalization group flows to strong coupling. For the half-filled two-leg Hubbard ladder we reproduce the known insulating d-Mott ground state with spin and charge gaps. For the saddle point regions of the two-dimensional Hubbard model near half filling we find a crossover to a similar strong coupling state, which truncates the Fermi surface near the saddle points. At lower scales d-wave superconductivity appears on the remaining Fermi surface.