Gutzwiller correlated wave functions in finite dimensionsd: A systematic expansion in 1/d

Abstract

We present a systematic formalism for the variational evaluation of ground-state properties of Hubbard-type models in finite dimensions d. The formalism starts from generalized Gutzwiller correlated wave functions, which are then studied in a systematic (1/d) expansion around the limit of high dimensions (d=∞). The limit of d→∞ has recently been introduced by Metzner and Vollhardt (MV) for itinerant lattice fermion systems. The approach, presented in this paper, is particularly efficient since results in d=∞ are obtained without having to calculate a single graph. Our results confirm the finding of MV that counting approximations in the spirit of the Gutzwiller approximation become exact in d=∞ for translationally invariant wave functions. This type of approximation is no longer exact for more complicated (e.g., antiferromagnetic) wave functions. In addition, we completely reproduce the results of the Kotliar-Ruckenstein path-integral approach to the Hubbard model. Performing a (1/d) expansion for the Gutzwiller wave function, we show that the lowest orders in (1/d) are sufficient to reproduce all numerical findings in d=2,3 quantitatively. We therefore conclude that the limit of d=∞ is a very fruitful starting point for the study of finite-dimensional systems. On the basis of our study we propose new variational wave functions for the numerical investigation of antiferromagnetism in the Hubbard, the t-J, and the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model. For the first two models we calculate in d=∞ only, for the Heisenberg model we also derive corrections up to order (1/d). To this order we obtain complete agreement with linear spin-wave theory. Since our trial state is based on a fermionic description of the Heisenberg model, we interpret this analytically determined wave function as Fermi sea of spin-1/2 quasiparticles (‘‘spinons’’).