Strong electronic correlations pose one of the biggest challenges to solid state theory. Recently developed methods that address this problem by starting with the local, eminently important ...correlations of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) are reviewed. In addition, nonlocal correlations on all length scales are generated through Feynman diagrams, with a local two-particle vertex instead of the bare Coulomb interaction as a building block. With these diagrammatic extensions of DMFT long-range charge, magnetic, and superconducting fluctuations as well as (quantum) criticality can be addressed in strongly correlated electron systems. An overview is provided of the successes and results achieved, mainly for model Hamiltonians, and an outline is given of future prospects for realistic material calculations.
Starting from the (Hubbard) model of an atom, we demonstrate that the uniqueness of the mapping from the interacting to the noninteracting Green function, G→G_{0}, is strongly violated, by providing ...numerous explicit examples of different G_{0} leading to the same physical G. We argue that there are indeed infinitely many such G_{0}, with numerous crossings with the physical solution. We show that this rich functional structure is directly related to the divergence of certain classes of (irreducible vertex) diagrams, with important consequences for traditional many-body physics based on diagrammatic expansions. Physically, we ascribe the onset of these highly nonperturbative manifestations to the progressive suppression of the charge susceptibility induced by the formation of local magnetic moments and/or resonating valence bond (RVB) states in strongly correlated electron systems.
We demonstrate how to identify which physical processes dominate the low-energy spectral functions of correlated electron systems. We obtain an unambiguous classification through an analysis of the ...equation of motion for the electron self-energy in its charge, spin, and particle-particle representations. Our procedure is then employed to clarify the controversial physics responsible for the appearance of the pseudogap in correlated systems. We illustrate our method by examining the attractive and repulsive Hubbard model in two dimensions. In the latter, spin fluctuations are identified as the origin of the pseudogap, and we also explain why d-wave pairing fluctuations play a marginal role in suppressing the low-energy spectral weight, independent of their actual strength.
In this paper, we investigate how nonlocal correlations affect, selectively, the physics of correlated electrons over different energy scales, from the Fermi level to the band edges. This goal is ...achieved by applying a diagrammatic extension of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), the dynamical vertex approximation (DΓA), to study several spectral and thermodynamic properties of the unfrustrated Hubbard model in two and three dimensions. Specifically, we focus first on the low-energy regime by computing the electronic scattering rate and the quasiparticle mass renormalization for decreasing temperatures at a fixed interaction strength. This way, we obtain a precise characterization of the several steps through which the Fermi-liquid physics is progressively destroyed by nonlocal correlations. Our study is then extended to a broader energy range, by analyzing the temperature behavior of the kinetic and potential energy, as well as of the corresponding energy distribution functions. Our findings allow us to identify a smooth but definite evolution of the nature of nonlocal correlations by increasing interaction: They either increase or decrease the kinetic energy w.r.t. DMFT depending on the interaction strength being weak or strong, respectively. This reflects the corresponding evolution of the ground state from a nesting-driven (Slater) to a superexchange-driven (Heisenberg) antiferromagnet (AF), whose fingerprints are, thus, recognizable in the spatial correlations of the paramagnetic phase. Finally, a critical analysis of our numerical results of the potential energy at the largest interaction allows us to identify possible procedures to improve the ladder-based algorithms adopted in the dynamical vertex approximation.
Identifying the fingerprints of the Mott-Hubbard metal-insulator transition may be quite elusive in correlated metallic systems if the analysis is limited to the single particle level. However, our ...dynamical mean-field calculations demonstrate that the situation changes completely if the frequency dependence of the two-particle vertex functions is considered: The first nonperturbative precursors of the Mott physics are unambiguously identified well inside the metallic regime by the divergence of the local Bethe-Salpeter equation in the charge channel. In the low-temperature limit this occurs for interaction values where incoherent high-energy features emerge in the spectral function, while at high temperatures it is traceable up to the atomic limit.
We present a novel scheme for an unbiased, nonperturbative treatment of strongly correlated fermions. The proposed approach combines two of the most successful many-body methods, the dynamical mean ...field theory and the functional renormalization group. Physically, this allows for a systematic inclusion of nonlocal correlations via the functional renormalization group flow equations, after the local correlations are taken into account nonperturbatively by the dynamical mean field theory. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, we present numerical results for the two-dimensional Hubbard model at half filling.
By means of the dynamical vertex approximation (DΓA) we include spatial correlations on all length scales beyond the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) for the half-filled Hubbard model in three ...dimensions. The most relevant changes due to nonlocal fluctuations are (i) a deviation from the mean-field critical behavior with the same critical exponents as for the three dimensional Heisenberg (anti)ferromagnet and (ii) a sizable reduction of the Néel temperature (T(N)) by ~30% for the onset of antiferromagnetic order. Finally, we give a quantitative estimate of the deviation of the spectra between DΓA and DMFT in different regions of the phase diagram.
Two-particle generalized susceptibilities and their irreducible vertex functions play a prominent role in the quantum many-body theory for correlated electron systems. They act as basic building ...blocks in the parquet formalism which provides a flexible scheme for the calculation of spectral and response functions. The irreducible vertices themselves have recently attracted increased attention as unexpected divergences in these functions have been identified. Remarkably, such singularities appear already for one of the simplest strongly interacting systems: the atomic limit of the half-filled Hubbard model (Hubbard atom). In this paper, we calculate the analytical expressions for all two-particle irreducible vertex functions of the Hubbard atom in all scattering channels as well as the fully irreducible two-particle vertices. We discuss their divergences and classify them by the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the corresponding generalized susceptibilities. In order to establish a connection to the recently found multivaluedness of the exact self-energy functional ΣG, we show that already an approximation akin to iterated perturbation theory is sufficient to capture, qualitatively, the divergent structure of the vertex functions. Finally, we show that the localized divergences in the disordered binary mixture model are directly linked to a minimum in the single-particle Matsubara Green's function.
Local n-particle vertex functions represent the crucial ingredient for diagrammatic extensions of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). Hitherto their application has been restricted-with a few ...exceptions-to the n=2-particle vertex while higher-order vertices have been neglected. In this paper we derive a general analytical expression for the local n-particle (one-particle-reducible) vertex of the Falicov-Kimball model (FKM). We observe that the magnitude of such vertex functions itself strongly increases with the number of particles n. On the other hand, their effect on generic Feynman diagrams remains rather moderate due to the damping effect of the Green's functions present in such diagrams. Nevertheless, they yield important contributions to the self-energy corrections calculated in diagrammatic extensions of DMFT as we explicitly demonstrate using the example of dual-fermion calculations for the two-dimensional FKM at quarter filling of the stationary f electrons. Here corrections to the self-energy obtained from the three-particle vertex are indeed comparable in magnitude to corresponding corrections stemming from the two-particle vertex.
We analyze the highly nonperturbative regime surrounding the Mott-Hubbard metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) by means of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) calculations at the two-particle level. By ...extending the results of Schäfer et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 246405 (2013) we show the existence of infinitely many lines in the phase diagram of the Hubbard model where the local Bethe-Salpeter equations, and the related irreducible vertex functions, become singular in the charge as well as the particle-particle channel. By comparing our numerical data for the Hubbard model with analytical calculations for exactly solvable systems of increasing complexity disordered binary mixture (BM), Falicov-Kimball (FK), and atomic limit (AL), we have (i) identified two different kinds of divergence lines; (ii) classified them in terms of the frequency structure of the associated singular eigenvectors; and (iii) investigated their relation to the emergence of multiple branches in the Luttinger-Ward functional. In this way, we could distinguish the situations where the multiple divergences simply reflect the emergence of an underlying, single energy scale ν* below which perturbation theory is no longer applicable, from those where the breakdown of perturbation theory affects, not trivially, different energy regimes. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results on the theoretical understanding of the nonperturbative physics around the MIT and for future developments of many-body algorithms applicable in this regime.
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