Electronic dynamic Hubbard model: exact diagonalization study

TL;DR

This study introduces an extended Hubbard model to analyze electronic correlations, revealing how band filling affects quasiparticle properties, effective interactions, and potential implications for superconductivity.

Contribution

The paper presents an exact diagonalization of a generalized Hubbard model, highlighting electron-hole asymmetry and its impact on quasiparticle behavior and interactions in energy bands.

Findings

Quasiparticle weight decreases with band filling

Effective mass increases as band fills

Effective interaction becomes less repulsive and can turn attractive near band top

Abstract

A model to describe electronic correlations in energy bands is considered. The model is a generalization of the conventional Hubbard model that allows for the fact that the wavefunction for two electrons occupying the same Wannier orbital is different from the product of single electron wavefunctions. We diagonalize the Hamiltonian exactly on a four-site cluster and study its properties as function of band filling. The quasiparticle weight is found to decrease and the quasiparticle effective mass to increase as the electronic band filling increases, and spectral weight in one- and two-particle spectral functions is transfered from low to high frequencies as the band filling increases. Quasiparticles at the Fermi energy are found to be more 'dressed' when the Fermi level is in the upper half of the band (hole carriers) than when it is in the lower half of the band (electron carriers). The effective interaction between carriers is found to be strongly dependent on band filling becoming less repulsive as the band filling increases, and attractive near the top of the band in certain parameter ranges. The effective interaction is most attractive when the single hole carriers are most heavily dressed, and in the parameter regime where the effective interaction is attractive, hole carriers are found to 'undress', hence become more like electrons, when they pair. It is proposed that these are generic properties of electronic energy bands in solids that reflect a fundamental electron-hole asymmetry of condensed matter. The relation of these results to the understanding of superconductivity in solids is discussed.