The dimerization of polyacetylene is studied using a distance-dependent Hubbard Hamiltonian for the valence $\ensuremath{\pi}$ electrons and approximating $\ensuremath{\sigma}$-electron contributions by a sum of pair interactions ${E}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}{(r}_{\mathrm{ij}})$. The $\ensuremath{\pi}$-electron Coulomb repulsion
U is taken to be independent of the C-C distances
rij and is varied systematically from the uncorrelated or H\"uckel limit all over to the strongly correlated or Heisenberg regime. For each value of
U, ${E}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}{(r}_{\mathrm{ij}})$, and the $\ensuremath{\pi}$-electron hopping integral
t(rij) are fitted to reproduce ab initio results on the ground-state and first-excited-state energy of the ethylene molecule. The one-dimensional many-body problem is solved numerically by means of the density-matrix renormalization-group (DMRG) method. The ground-state energy
E of the infinite open polymer is obtained by extrapolation considering chains of up to 300 atoms. The dimerization $\ensuremath{\delta}{=(r}_{i,i+1}\ensuremath{-}{r}_{i\ensuremath{-}1,i})/2$ and the average bond length ${R=(r}_{i,i+1}{+r}_{i\ensuremath{-}1,i})/2$ are determined by minimizing
E. While
R is not significantly affected by the value of
U, $\ensuremath{\delta}$ shows a remarkable nonmonotonic behavior. The differences between the delocalized regime, small
U/t, and spin-Peierls behavior, large
U/t, are discussed. The convergence properties of the DMRG algorithm are analyzed as a function of
U, $\ensuremath{\delta}$, and the number states kept at each RG step. Criteria are examined in order to control the accuracy of the DMRG calculations in both weakly and strongly correlated situations.
We have carried out density-matrix renormalization group calculations on the ground state of long polyacene oligomers within a Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) Hamiltonian. The PPP model includes long-range electron correlations which are required for physically realistic modeling of conjugated polymers. We have obtained the ground-state energy as a function of the dimerization $\ensuremath{\delta}$ and various correlation functions and structure factors for $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$. From energetics, we find that the nature of the Peierls' instability in polyacene is conditional and strong electron correlations enhance the dimerization. The cis form of the distortion is favored over the trans form. However, from the analysis of correlation functions and associated structure factors, we find that polyacene is not susceptible to the formation of a bond order wave, spin-density wave, or a charge-density wave in the ground state.
We investigate the effect of static electron-phonon coupling on real-time dynamics of spin and charge transport in $\ensuremath{\pi}$-conjugated polyene chains. The polyene chain is modeled by the Pariser-Parr-Pople Hamiltonian with dimerized nearest-neighbor parameter ${t}_{0}(1+\ensuremath{\delta})$ for short bonds and ${t}_{0}(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta})$ for long bonds, and long-range electron-electron interactions. We follow the time evolution of the spin and charge using time-dependent density matrix renormalization group technique when a hole is injected at one end of the chain in its ground state. We find that spin and charge dynamics followed through spin and charge velocities depend both on chain length and extent of dimerization $\ensuremath{\delta}$. Analysis of the results requires focusing on physical quantities such as average spin and charge polarizations, particularly in the large dimerization limit. In the dimerization range 0.0 $\ensuremath{\le}$ $\ensuremath{\delta}$ $\ensuremath{\le}$ 0.15, spin-charge dynamics is found to have a well-defined behavior, with spin-charge separation (measured as the ratio of charge velocity to spin velocity) as well as the total amount of charge and spin transported in a given time along the chain decreasing as dimerization increases. However, in the range 0.3 $\ensuremath{\le}$ $\ensuremath{\delta}$ $\ensuremath{\le}$ 0.5, it is observed that the dynamics of spin and charge transport becomes complicated. It is observed that, for large $\ensuremath{\delta}$ values, spin-charge separation is suppressed and the injected hole fails to travel the entire length of the chain.
The density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method introduced by White for the study of strongly interacting electron systems is reviewed; the method is variational and considers a system of localized electrons as the union of two adjacent fragments A,B. A density matrix ρ is introduced, whose eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues are the most significant, the most probable states of A in the presence of B; these states are retained, while states corresponding to small eigenvalues of ρ are neglected. It is conjectured that the decreasing behavior of the eigenvalues is Gaussian. The DMRG method is tested on the Pariser-Parr-Pople Hamiltonian of a cyclic polyene (CH)N up to N=34. A Hilbert space of dimension 5.×1018 is explored. The ground state energy is 10−3 eV within the full CI value in the case N=18. The DMRG method compares favorably also with coupled cluster approximations. The unrestricted Hartree-Fock solution (which presents spin density waves) is briefly reviewed, and a comparison is made with the DMRG energy values. Finally, the spin-spin and density-density correlation functions are computed; the results suggest that the antiferromagnetic order of the exact solution does not extend up to large distances but exists locally. No charge density waves are present.
The matrix product method (MPM) has been used in the past to generate variational Ans\"atze of the ground state (GS) of spin chains and ladders. In this paper we apply the MPM to study the GS of conjugated polymers in the valence bond basis, exploiting the charge and spin conservation as well as the electron-hole and spin-parity symmetries. We employ the U-
V-$\ensuremath{\delta}$ Hamiltonian, which is a simplified version of the Pariser-Parr-Pople Hamiltonian. For several coupling constants U and V and dimerizations $\ensuremath{\delta},$ we compute the GS energy per monomer, which agrees within a 2--4 % accuracy with the density-matrix renormalization group results. We also show the evolution of the MP-variational parameters in the weak and strong dimerization regimes.
We present density-matrix renormalization-group calculations of the Pariser-Parr-Pople-Peierls model of linear polyenes within the adiabatic approximation. We calculate the vertical and relaxed transition energies, and relaxed geometries for various excitations on long chains. The triplet
(13Bu+) and even-parity singlet
(21Ag+) states have a 2-soliton and 4-soliton forms, respectively, both with large relaxation energies. The dipole-allowed $(1{}^{1}{B}_{u}^{\ensuremath{-}})$ state forms an exciton-polaron, and has a very small relaxation energy. The relaxed energy of the
21Ag+ state lies below that of the $1{}^{1}{B}_{u}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state. We observe an attraction between the soliton-antisoliton pairs in the
21Ag+ state. The calculated excitation energies agree well with the observed values for polyene oligomers; the agreement with polyacetylene thin films is less good, and we comment on the possible sources of the discrepancies. The photoinduced absorption is interpreted. The spin-spin correlation function shows that the unpaired spins coincide with the geometrical soliton positions. We study the roles of electron-electron interactions and electron-lattice coupling in determining the excitation energies and soliton structures. Electronic interactions play the key role in determining the ground-state dimerization and the excited-state transition energies.