First-principle Wannier functions and effective lattice fermion models for narrow-band compounds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a systematic first-principles method to construct effective lattice fermion models for narrow-band compounds, combining downfolding, Wannier functions, and screened Coulomb interactions, demonstrated on transition-metal oxides.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive procedure for deriving effective models from first-principles calculations, including a hybrid screening scheme and detailed treatment of Coulomb interactions.

Findings

Effective Coulomb interactions are significantly reduced by hybridization screening.

The method accurately captures band-filling, frequency dependence, and lattice effects.

The approach is demonstrated on several transition-metal oxides.

Abstract

We propose a systematic procedure for constructing effective lattice fermion models for narrow-band compounds on the basis of first-principles electronic structure calculations. The method is illustrated for the series of transition-metal (TM) oxides: SrVO$_3$, YTiO$_3$, V$_2$O$_3$, and Y$_2$Mo$_2$O$_7$. It consists of three parts, starting from LDA. (i) construction of the kinetic energy Hamiltonian using downfolding method. (ii) solution of an inverse problem and construction of the Wannier functions (WFs) for the given kinetic energy Hamiltonian. (iii) calculation of screened Coulomb interactions in the basis of \textit{auxiliary} WFs, for which the kinetic-energy term is set to be zero. The last step is necessary in order to avoid the double counting of the kinetic-energy term, which is included explicitly into the model. The screened Coulomb interactions are calculated in a hybrid scheme. First, we evaluate the screening caused by the change of occupation numbers and the relaxation of the LMTO basis functions, using the conventional constraint-LDA approach, where all matrix elements of hybridization involving the TM $d$ orbitals are set to be zero. Then, we switch on the hybridization and evaluate the screening associated with the change of this hybridization in RPA. The second channel of screening is very important, and results in a relatively small value of the effective Coulomb interaction for isolated $t_{2g}$ bands. We discuss details of this screening and consider its band-filling dependence, frequency dependence, influence of the lattice distortion, proximity of other bands, and the dimensionality of the model Hamiltonian.