The Hubbard Model

Book excerpt: In the slightly more than thirty years since its formulation, the Hubbard model has become a central component of modern many-body physics. It provides a paradigm for strongly correlated, interacting electronic systems and offers insights not only into the general underlying mathematical structure of many-body systems but also into the experimental behavior of many novel electronic materials. In condensed matter physics, the Hubbard model represents the simplest theoret ical framework for describing interacting electrons in a crystal lattice. Containing only two explicit parameters - the ratio ("Ujt") between the Coulomb repulsion and the kinetic energy of the electrons, and the filling (p) of the available electronic band - and one implicit parameter - the structure of the underlying lattice - it appears nonetheless capable of capturing behavior ranging from metallic to insulating and from magnetism to superconductivity. Introduced originally as a model of magnetism of transition met als, the Hubbard model has seen a spectacular recent renaissance in connection with possible applications to high-Tc superconductivity, for which particular emphasis has been placed on the phase diagram of the two-dimensional variant of the model. In mathematical physics, the Hubbard model has also had an essential role. The solution by Lieb and Wu of the one-dimensional Hubbard model by Bethe Ansatz provided the stimulus for a broad and continuing effort to study "solvable" many-body models. In higher dimensions, there have been important but isolated exact results (e. g. , N agoaka's Theorem).