Spectral function of highly-correlated electron systems

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Alexander Lichtenstein
• Subject Area: Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2005 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 18060102

The frontier of modern solid state physics lies today in understanding the electronic properties of materials with strongly correlated electron systems. The valence electrons in these systems self-organize into novel ground states which are substantially different from conventional metals and insulators. Strong electron correlation in d- and f-metal systems depends sensitively on the structure, dimensionality, and chemical or magnetic ordering. It gives rise to a large variety of spectacular phenomena, including heavy-fermion behavior, high-temperature superconductivity, Peierls instabilities, and metal-insulator transitions. We will develop a microscopic quantum theoretical approach to correlated materials in order to investigate anomalies in the frequency and momentum dependent spectral functions. We will use dynamical mean-field theory combined with first-principles electronic structure methods to analyze the influence of electron correlations, structural disorder, and surface effects on the spectral function of transition metal and rare-earth compounds.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants