In this thesis, I present a non-perturbative approach to the single-band attractive Hubard model which is an extension of previous work by Vilk and Tremblay on the repulsive model. Exact results are derived in the general context of functional derivative approaches to many-body theories. The first step of the approximation is based on a local field type ansatz. All physical quantities can be expressed as a function of double-occupancy (in addition to temperature and filling). Double-occupancy is determined without adjustable parameter by imposing the Pauli principle and a crucial sum-rule, making the first step of the approximation Two-Particle Self-Consistent. The final expression for the self-energy is obtained by calculating the low-frequency part of the exact expression with the two-particle correlation, Green function and renormalized vertex obtained in the first step of the approximation. The Mermin-Wagner theorem in two dimensions is automatically satisfied. Application of this non-perturbative many-body approach to the intermediate coupling regime shows quantitative agreement with quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Both approaches predict the existence of a pseudogap in the single-particle spectral weight. I present some physical properties, such as correlation lengths, superfluid density, and characteristic pair fluctuation energy, to highlight the origin of the pseudogap in the weak to intermediate coupling regime. These results suggest that two-dimensional systems that are described by a symmetry group larger than SO(2) could have a larger region of pseudogap behavior. High-temperature superconductors may belong to that category of systems.
In this thesis, I present a non-perturbative approach to the single-band attractive Hubard model which is an extension of previous work by Vilk and Tremblay on the repulsive model. Exact results are derived in the general context of functional derivative approaches to many-body theories. The first step of the approximation is based on a local field type ansatz. All physical quantities can be expressed as a function of double-occupancy (in addition to temperature and filling). Double-occupancy is determined without adjustable parameter by imposing the Pauli principle and a crucial sum-rule, making the first step of the approximation Two-Particle Self-Consistent. The final expression for the self-energy is obtained by calculating the low-frequency part of the exact expression with the two-particle correlation, Green function and renormalized vertex obtained in the first step of the approximation. The Mermin-Wagner theorem in two dimensions is automatically satisfied. Application of this non-perturbative many-body approach to the intermediate coupling regime shows quantitative agreement with quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Both approaches predict the existence of a pseudogap in the single-particle spectral weight. I present some physical properties, such as correlation lengths, superfluid density, and characteristic pair fluctuation energy, to highlight the origin of the pseudogap in the weak to intermediate coupling regime. These results suggest that two-dimensional systems that are described by a symmetry group larger than SO(2) could have a larger region of pseudogap behavior. High-temperature superconductors may belong to that category of systems.
A nonperturbative approach to the single-band attractive Hubbard model is presented in the general context of functional-derivative approaches to many-body theories. As in previous work on the repulsive model, the first step is based on a local-field-type ansatz, on enforcement of the Pauli principle and a number of crucial sumrules. The Mermin-Wagner theorem in two dimensions is automatically satisfied. At this level, two-particle self-consistency has been achieved. In the second step of the approximation, an improved expression for the self-energy is obtained by using the results of the first step in an exact expression for the self-energy, where the high- and low-frequency behaviors appear separately. The result is a cooperon-like formula. The required vertex corrections are included in this self-energy expression, as required by the absence of a Migdal theorem for this problem. Other approaches to the attractive Hubbard model are critically compared. Physical consequences of the present approach and agreement with Monte Carlo simulations are demonstrated in the accompanying paper (following this one).
A new approach to the single-band Hubbard model is described in the general context of many-body theories. It is based on enforcing conservation laws, the Pauli principle and a number of crucial sum-rules. More specifically, spin and charge susceptibilities are expressed, in a conserving approximation, as a function of two constant irreducible vertices whose values are found self-consistently. The Mermin-Wagner theorem in two dimensions is automatically satisfied. The effect of collective modes on single-particle properties is then obtained by a paramagnon-like formula that is consistent with the two-particle properties in the sense that the potential energy obtained from TrΣG is identical to that obtained using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for susceptibilities. The vertex corrections are included through constant irreducible vertices. The theory is in quantitative agreement with Monte Carlo simulations for both single-particle and two-particle properties. In the two-dimensional renormalized classical regime, spin fluctuations lead to precursors of antiferromagnetic bands (shadow bands) and to the destruction of the Fermi-liquid quasiparticles in a wide temperature range above the zero-temperature phase transition. The analogous phenomenon of pairing pseudogap can occur in the attractive model in two dimensions when the pairing fluctuations become critical. Other many-body approaches are critically compared. It is argued that treating the spin fluctuations as if there was a Migdal's theorem can lead to wrong predictions, in particular with regard to the the single-particle pseudogap.
The two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model is studied in the weak-to-intermediate-coupling regime by employing a nonperturbative approach. It is shown that this approach is in quantitative agreement with Monte Carlo calculations for both single-particle and two-particle quantities. Both the density of states and the single-particle spectral weight show a pseudogap at the Fermi energy below some characteristic temperature T∗, also in good agreement with quantum Monte Carlo calculations. The pseudogap is caused by critical pairing fluctuations in the low-temperature renormalized classical regime $(\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega}<{k}_{B}T)$ of the two-dimensional system. With increasing temperature the spectral weight fills in the pseudogap instead of closing it, and the pseudogap appears earlier in the density of states than in the spectral function. Small temperature changes around T∗ can modify the spectral weight over frequency scales much larger than temperature. Several qualitative results for the s-wave case should remain true for d-wave superconductors.
The opening of a critical-fluctuation-induced pseudogap (or precursor pseudogap) in the one-particle spectral weight of the half-filled two-dimensional Hubbard model is discussed. This pseudogap, appearing in our Monte Carlo simulations, may be obtained from many-body techniques that use Green functions and vertex corrections that are at the same level of approximation. Self-consistent theories of the Eliashberg type (such as the fluctuation exchange approximation) use renormalized Green functions and bare vertices in a context where there is no Migdal theorem. They do not find the pseudogap, in quantitative and qualitative disagreement with simulations, suggesting these methods are inadequate for this problem. Differences between precursor pseudogaps and strong-coupling pseudogaps are also discussed.
In theoretical studies of two-dimensional (2D) systems, the Mermin-Wagner theorem prevents continuous symmetry breaking at any finite temperature, thus forbidding a Landau phase transition at a critical temperature T_c T c . The difficulty arises when many-body theoretical studies predict a Landau phase transition at finite temperatures, which contradicts the Mermin-Wagner theorem and is termed a pseudo phase transition. To tackle this problem, we systematically develop a symmetrization scheme, defined as averaging physical quantities over all symmetry-breaking states, thus ensuring that it preserves the Mermin-Wagner theorem. We apply the symmetrization scheme to the GW-covariance calculation for the 2D repulsive Hubbard model at half-filling in the intermediate-to-strong coupling regime and at low temperatures, obtaining the one-body Green’s function and spin-spin correlation function, and benchmark them against Determinant Quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) with good agreement. The spin-spin correlation functions are approached within the covariance theory, a general method for calculating two-body correlation functions from a one-particle starting point, such as the GW formalism used here, which ensures the preservation of the fundamental fluctuation-dissipation relation (FDR) and Ward-Takahashi identities (WTI). With the FDR and WTI satisfied, we conjecture that the \chi χ -sum rule, a fundamental relation from the Pauli exclusion principle, can be used to probe the reliability of many-body methods, and demonstrate this by comparing the GW-covariance and mean-field-covariance approaches. This work provides a novel framework to investigate the strong-coupling and doped regime of the 2D Hubbard model, which is believed to be applicable to real high- T_c T c cuprate superconductors.
Using the Dyson equation of motion for both the diagonal one-particle Green function, G(k,ω) and off--diagonal Green function, F(k,ω), at the level of the Hubbard--I decoupling scheme, we have found that they have four poles symmetric in pairs, justifying a more elaborated calculation done by the Zürich group by means of the T-Matrix approach (Pedersen et al, Z. Physik B {\bf 103}, 21 (1997)) and the moment approach of Nolting (Z. Physik {\bf 255}, 25 (1972)). We find that the energy spectra and the weights of G(k,ω) and F(k,ω) have to be calculated self-consistently. G(k,ω) satisfies the first two moments while F(k,ω) the first sum rule. Our {\it order parameter} α(T) is given by 1/Ns∑kε(k)Δ(k). Due to the fact that we have a purely local attractive interaction Δ(k) can be of {\it any} s--type wave. However, for a {\it pure s--wave}, for which α(T)=0, we go back to the mean--field BCS results, with a renormalized chemical potential. In this case, the off--diagonal Green function, F(k,ω), satisfies the first two off--diagonal sum rules. We explicitly state the range of validity of our approximation.