8.

4 Instability of the Nagaoka State 461

favourable for FM. The HF width of the FM area is almost three times
as large as in QMC, and the maximum TC exceeds its true value by
a factor of 15. This latter feature can be analyzed in the plot of
N

Tc vs U for n = 0.4 and a = 0.98 (Fig. 8.9, right). As shown by

the inset, the HF Tc is unbounded, rising linearly with large U. It is
easy to find, where this comes from: assuming that Tc is large, we re-
place the Curie susceptibility xo = Cn(2-n)/2T in the Stoner criterion
(the number of uncompensated S = 1 / 2 spins being 2+n(2 - n)/4);this
leads to TgF0: U/n(2- n). In contrast, the QMC result saturates at
-
Tc O(W).This is in accordance with Kanamori’s idea that at a large
(bare) U,the effective interaction strength saturates at O ( W ) .

0.6

T 0.4 T

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
n
Figure 8.9: A comparison between Hartree-Fock and QMC results shows that
mean field theory vastly overestimates the extent of the ordered phase. Left: the
Curie temperature versus n, for a = 0.98 and U = 4. Right: the Curie temperature
versus U,for a = 0.98 and n = 0.4. Inset the Stoner criterion gives TCoc U at large
U , while the true TC saturates (after [437]).

Hartree-Fock theory cannot be trusted in its predictions for ferro-

magnetism in the Hubbard model. We stress that this holds even for
D = 00 where all fluctuations resulting from finite dimensionality have
ceased. The basic reason is that here FM cannot be ascribed to an effec-
tive intersite interaction but remains a truly itinerant (kinetic-energy-
driven) feature. By the way, we have no reason for a similar distrust

-
of mean field results for AFM which can be traced to antiferromagnetic
intersite interactions J t 2 / U .