We analyze the dynamical nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor spin correlations in the 4-site and 8-site dynamical cluster approximation to the two-dimensional Hubbard model. Focusing on the robustness of these correlations at long imaginary times, we reveal enhanced ferromagnetic correlations on the lattice diagonal, consistent with the emergence of composite spin-1 moments at a temperature scale that essentially coincides with the pseudo-gap temperature $T^*$. We discuss these results in the context of the spin-freezing theory of unconventional superconductivity.
The repulsive Fermi Hubbard model on the square lattice has a rich phase diagram near half-filling (corresponding to the particle density per lattice site $n=1$): for $n=1$ the ground state is an antiferromagnetic insulator, at $0.6 < n lesssim 0.8$, it is a $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superfluid (at least for moderately strong interactions $U lesssim 4t$ in terms of the hopping $t$), and the region $1-n ll 1$ is most likely subject to phase separation. Much of this physics is preempted at finite temperatures and to an extent driven by strong magnetic fluctuations, their quantitative characteristics and how they change with the doping level being much less understood. Experiments on ultra-cold atoms have recently gained access to this interesting fluctuation regime, which is now under extensive investigation. In this work we employ a self-consistent skeleton diagrammatic approach to quantify the characteristic temperature scale $T_{M}(n)$ for the onset of magnetic fluctuations with a large correlation length and identify their nature. Our results suggest that the strongest fluctuations---and hence highest $T_{M}$ and easiest experimental access to this regime---are observed at $U/t approx 4-6$.
Cluster perturbation theory is applied to the two-dimensional Hubbard $t-t-t-U$ model to obtain doping and temperature dependent electronic spectral function with $4 times 4$ and 12-site clusters. It is shown that evolution of the pseudogap and electronic dispersion with doping and temperature is similar and in both cases it is significantly influenced by spin-spin short-range correlations. When short-range magnetic order is weakened by doping or temperature and Hubbard-I like electronic dispersion becomes more pronounced, the Fermi arc turns into large Fermi surface and the pseudogap closes. It is demonstrated how static spin correlations impact the overall dispersions shape and how accounting for dynamic contributions leads to momentum-dependent spectral weight at the Fermi surface and broadening effects.
Tools of quantum information theory offer a new perspective to characterize phases and phase transitions in interacting many-body quantum systems. The Hubbard model is the archetypal model of such systems and can explain rich phenomena of quantum matter with minimal assumptions. Recent measurements of entanglement-related properties of this model using ultracold atoms in optical lattices hint that entanglement could provide the key to understanding open questions of the doped Hubbard model, including the remarkable properties of the pseudogap phase. These experimental findings call for a theoretical framework and new predictions. Here we approach the doped Hubbard model in two dimensions from the perspective of quantum information theory. We study the local entropy and the total mutual information across the doping-driven Mott transition within plaquette cellular dynamical mean-field theory. We find that upon varying doping these two entanglement-related properties detect the Mott insulating phase, the strongly correlated pseudogap phase, and the metallic phase. Imprinted in the entanglement-related properties we also find the pseudogap to correlated metal first-order transition, its finite temperature critical endpoint, and its supercritical crossovers. Through this footprint we reveal an unexpected interplay of quantum and classical correlations. Our work shows that sharp variation in the entanglement-related properties and not broken symmetry phases characterizes the onset of the pseudogap phase at finite temperature.
We investigate the phases of the ionic Hubbard model in a two-dimensional square lattice using determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC). At half-filling, when the interaction strength or the staggered potential dominate we find Mott and band insulators, respectively. When these two energies are of the same order we find a metallic region. Charge and magnetic structure factors demonstrate the presence of antiferromagnetism only in the Mott region, although the externally imposed density modulation is present everywhere in the phase diagram. Away from half-filling, other insulating phases are found. Kinetic energy correlations do not give clear signals for the existence of a bond-ordered phase.
The high-temperature superconducting cuprates are governed by intertwined spin, charge, and superconducting orders. While various state-of-the-art numerical methods have demonstrated that these phases also manifest themselves in doped Hubbard models, they differ on which is the actual ground state. Finite cluster methods typically indicate that stripe order dominates while embedded quantum cluster methods, which access the thermodynamic limit by treating long-range correlations with a dynamical mean field, conclude that superconductivity does. Here, we report the observation of fluctuating spin and charge stripes in the doped single-band Hubbard model using a quantum Monte Carlo dynamical cluster approximation (DCA) method. By resolving both the fluctuating spin and charge orders using DCA, we demonstrate for the first time that they survive in the doped Hubbard model in the thermodynamic limit. This discovery also provides a new opportunity to study the influence of fluctuating stripe correlations on the models pairing correlations within a unified numerical framework.