Jastrow-Correlated Wavefunctions for Flat-Band Lattices

TL;DR

This paper introduces Jastrow-correlated wavefunctions to effectively describe the low-energy physics of strongly correlated electrons in flat-band lattices, demonstrated on a honeycomb ribbon model.

Contribution

The authors develop a new class of Jastrow-correlated ansatz wavefunctions specifically for flat-band lattice systems, capturing their complex correlated ground states.

Findings

Accurately models the transition from crystal to quantum liquid

Captures ground state properties of spinless electrons in flat bands

Demonstrates effectiveness in a honeycomb ribbon Coulomb model

Abstract

The electronic band structure of many compounds, e.g., carbon-based structures, can exhibit essentially no dispersion. Models of electrons in flat-band lattices define non-perturbative strongly correlated problems by default. We construct a set of Jastrow-correlated ansatz wavefunctions to capture the low energy physics of interacting particles in flat bands. We test the ansatz in a simple Coulomb model of spinless electrons in a honeycomb ribbon. We find that the wavefunction accurately captures the ground state in a transition from a crystal to a uniform quantum liquid.