Lattice density-functional theory of the attractive Hubbard model

Abstract

The attractive Hubbard model is investigated in the framework of lattice density-functional theory (LDFT). The ground-state energy $E=T+W$ is regarded as a functional of the single-particle density matrix ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{ij}$ with respect to the lattice sites, where $T[\ensuremath{\gamma}]$ represents the kinetic and crystal-field energies and $W[\ensuremath{\gamma}]$ the interaction energy. Aside from the exactly known functional $T[\ensuremath{\gamma}]$, we propose a simple scaling approximation to $W[\ensuremath{\gamma}]$, which is based on exact analytic results for the attractive Hubbard dimer and on a scaling hypothesis within the domain of representability of $\ensuremath{\gamma}$. As applications, we consider one-, two-, and three-dimensional finite and extended bipartite lattices having homogeneous or alternating onsite energy levels. In addition, the Bethe lattice is investigated as a function of coordination number. Results are given for the kinetic, Coulomb, and total energies, as well as for the density distribution ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{ii}$, nearest-neighbor bond order ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{ij}$, and pairing energy $\ensuremath{\Delta}{E}_{p}$, as a function of the interaction strength $|U|/t$, onsite potential $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}/t$, and band filling $n={N}_{e}/{N}_{a}$. Remarkable even-odd and super-even oscillations of $\ensuremath{\Delta}{E}_{p}$ are observed in finite rings as a function of band filling. Comparison with exact Lanczos diagonalizations and density-matrix renormalization-group calculations shows that LDFT yields a very good quantitative description of the properties of the model in the complete parameter range, thus providing a significant improvement over the mean-field approaches. Goals and limitations of the method are discussed.