Approximation schemes for the study of multi‐band Gutzwiller wave functions

Abstract

AbstractThe minimum of the Gutzwiller energy functional depends on the number of parameters considered in the variational state. For a three‐orbital Hubbard model, we find that the frequently used diagonal Ansatz is very accurate in high‐symmetry situations. For lower symmetry, induced by a crystal‐field splitting or the spin–orbit coupling, the discrepancies in energy between the most general and a diagonal Gutzwiller Ansatz can be quite significant. We discuss approximate schemes that may be employed in multi‐band cases where a minimization of the general Gutzwiller energy functional is too demanding numerically.