Microscopic conditions favoring itinerant ferromagnetism: Hund's rule coupling and orbital degeneracy

The importance of Hund's rule coupling for the stabilization of itinerant ferromagnetism is investigated within a two-band Hubbard model. The magnetic phase diagram is calculated by finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations within the dynamical mean-field theory. Ferromagnetism is found in a broad range of electron fillings whereas antiferromagnetism exists only near half filling. The possibility of orbital ordering at quarter filling is also analyzed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, RevTeX, final version contains an additional phase diagram for smaller Hund's rule coupling. to appear in Eur. Phys. J. B (1998

Correlated-Electron Theory of Strongly Anisotropic Metamagnets

We present the first correlated-electron theory of metamagnetism in strongly anisotropic antiferromagnets. Quantum-Monte-Carlo techniques are used to calculate the field vs. temperature phase diagram of the infinite-dimensional Hubbard model with easy axis. A metamagnetic transition scenario with 1.~order and 2.~order phase transitions is found. The apparent similarities to the phase diagram of FeBr$_2$ and to mean-field results for the Ising model with competing interactions are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX + one uuencoded ps-file including 3 figure

Double Exchange model for nanoscopic clusters

We solve the double exchange model on nanoscopic clusters exactly, and specifically consider a six-site benzene-like nanocluster. This simple model is an ideal testbed for studying magnetism in nanoclusters and for validating approximations such as the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). Non-local correlations arise between neighboring localized spins due to the Hund's rule coupling, favoring a short-range magnetic order of ferro- or antiferromagnetic type. For a geometry with more neighboring sites or a sufficiently strong hybridization between leads and the nanocluster, these non-local correlations are less relevant, and DMFT can be applied reliably.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Two Aspects of the Mott-Hubbard Transition in Cr-doped V_2O_3

The combination of bandstructure theory in the local density approximation with dynamical mean field theory was recently successfully applied to V$_2$O$_3$ -- a material which undergoes the f amous Mott-Hubbard metal-insulator transition upon Cr doping. The aim of this sh ort paper is to emphasize two aspects of our recent results: (i) the filling of the Mott-Hubbard gap with increasing temperature, and (ii) the peculiarities of the Mott-Hubbard transition in this system which is not characterized by a diver gence of the effective mass for the $a_{1g}$-orbital.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, SCES'04 conference proceeding

Non-perturbative approaches to magnetism in strongly correlated electron systems

The microscopic basis for the stability of itinerant ferromagnetism in correlated electron systems is examined. To this end several routes to ferromagnetism are explored, using both rigorous methods valid in arbitrary spatial dimensions, as well as Quantum Monte Carlo investigations in the limit of infinite dimensions (dynamical mean-field theory). In particular we discuss the qualitative and quantitative importance of (i) the direct Heisenberg exchange coupling, (ii) band degeneracy plus Hund's rule coupling, and (iii) a high spectral density near the band edges caused by an appropriate lattice structure and/or kinetic energy of the electrons. We furnish evidence of the stability of itinerant ferromagnetism in the pure Hubbard model for appropriate lattices at electronic densities not too close to half-filling and large enough $U$. Already a weak direct exchange interaction, as well as band degeneracy, is found to reduce the critical value of $U$ above which ferromagnetism becomes stable considerably. Using similar numerical techniques the Hubbard model with an easy axis is studied to explain metamagnetism in strongly anisotropic antiferromagnets from a unifying microscopic point of view.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, and 6 postscript figures; Z. Phys. B, in pres

Dynamical Mean-Field Theory for Molecular Electronics: Electronic Structure and Transport Properties

We present an approach for calculating the electronic structure and transport properties of nanoscopic conductors that takes into account the dynamical correlations of strongly interacting d- or f-electrons by combining density functional theory calculations with the dynamical mean-field theory. While the density functional calculation yields a static mean-field description of the weakly interacting electrons, the dynamical mean-field theory explicitly takes into account the dynamical correlations of the strongly interacting d- or f-electrons of transition metal atoms. As an example we calculate the electronic structure and conductance of Ni nanocontacts between Cu electrodes. We find that the dynamical correlations of the Ni 3d-electrons give rise to quasi-particle resonances at the Fermi-level in the spectral density. The quasi-particle resonances in turn lead to Fano lineshapes in the conductance characteristics of the nanocontacts similar to those measured in recent experiments of magnetic nanocontacts.Comment: replaced with revised version; 11 pages; 9 figure

Absence of orbital-selective Mott transition in Ca_2-xSr_xRuO4

Quasi-particle spectra of the layer perovskite Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ are calculated within Dynamical Mean Field Theory for increasing values of the on-site Coulomb energy $U$. At small $U$ the planar geometry splits the $t_{2g}$ bands near $E_F$ into a wide, two-dimensional $d_{xy}$ band and two narrow, nearly one-dimensional $d_{xz,yz}$ bands. At larger $U$, however, the spectral distribution of these states exhibit similar correlation features, suggesting a common metal-insulator transition for all $t_{2g}$ bands at the same critical $U$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Critical properties of the half-filled Hubbard model in three dimensions

By means of the dynamical vertex approximation (D$\Gamma$A) we include spatial correlations on all length scales beyond the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) for the half-filled Hubbard model in three dimensions. The most relevant changes due to non-local fluctuations are: (i) a deviation from the mean-field critical behavior with the same critical exponents as for the three dimensional Heisenberg (anti)-ferromagnet and (ii) a sizable reduction of the N\'eel temperature ($T_N$) by $\sim 30$ for the onset of antiferromagnetic order. Finally, we give a quantitative estimate of the deviation of the spectra between D$\Gamma$A and DMFT in different regions of the phase-diagram.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Comparative study of correlation effects in CaVO3 and SrVO3

We present parameter-free LDA+DMFT (local density approximation + dynamical mean field theory) results for the many-body spectra of cubic SrVO3 and orthorhombic CaVO3. Both systems are found to be strongly correlated metals, but not on the verge of a metal-insulator transition. In spite of the considerably smaller V-O-V bond angle in CaVO3 the LDA+DMFT spectra of the two systems for energies E<E_F are very similar, their quasiparticle parts being almost identical. The calculated spectrum for E>E_F shows more pronounced, albeit still small, differences. This is in contrast to earlier theoretical and experimental conclusions, but in good agreement with recent bulk-sensitive photoemission and x-ray absorption experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Surface vs. bulk Coulomb correlations in photoemission spectra of perovskites

Recent photoemission spectra of the perovskite series Sr$_x$Ca$_{1-x}$VO$_3$ revealed strong modifications associated with surface contributions. To study the effect of Coulomb correlations in the bulk and at the surface the quasi-particle spectra are evaluated using the dynamical mean field theory. It is shown that as a result of the reduced coordination number of surface atoms correlation effects are stronger at the surface than in the bulk, in agreement with experiment.Comment: 4 pages 3 figure