Dynamical Mean Field Studies of Infinite Layer Nickelates: Physics Results and Methodological Implications

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent dynamical mean field theory studies of layered nickelates, comparing their electronic properties to cuprates, and discusses implications for understanding high-temperature superconductivity and electronic structure modeling.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of many-body electronic structure analysis of nickelates and explores methodological implications for low-energy effective theories.

Findings

Nickelates exhibit complex many-body physics similar to cuprates.

Analysis helps in understanding superconductivity and density wave phases.

Methodological insights for downfolding high-energy physics into low-energy models.

Abstract

This article summarizes recent work on the many-body (beyond density functional theory) electronic structure of layered rare-earth nickelates, both in the context of the materials themselves and in comparison to the high-temperature superconducting (high-$T_c$) layered copper-oxide compounds. It aims to outline the current state of our understanding of layered nickelates and to show how the analysis of these fascinating materials can shed light on fundamental questions in modern electronic structure theory. A prime focus is determining how the interacting physics defined over a wide energy range can be estimated and "downfolded" into a low energy theory that would describe the relevant degrees of freedom on the $\sim 0.5$ eV scale and that could be solved to determine superconducting and spin and charge density wave phase boundaries, temperature-dependent resistivities, and dynamical susceptibilities.