I. Leonov

Electronic Correlations at the α − γ Structural Phase Transition in Paramagnetic Iron

We compute the equilibrium crystal structure and phase stability of iron at the α(bcc)-γ(fcc) phase transition as a function of temperature, by employing a combination of ab initio methods for calculating electronic band structures and dynamical mean-field theory. The magnetic correlation energy is found to be an essential driving force behind the α-γ structural phase transition in paramagnetic iron.

Construction and solution of a Wannier-functions based Hamiltonian in the pseudopotential plane-wave framework for strongly correlated materials

Ab initio determination of model Hamiltonian parameters for strongly correlated materials is a key issue in applying many-particle theoretical tools to real narrow-band materials. We propose a selfcontained calculation scheme to construct, with an ab initio approach, and solve such a Hamiltonian. The scheme uses a Wannier-function-basis set, with the Coulomb interaction parameter U obtained specifically for theseWannier functions via constrained Density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The Hamiltonian is solved by Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT) with the effective impurity problem treated by the Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method. Our scheme is based on the pseudopotential plane-wave method, which makes it suitable for developments addressing the challenging problem of crystal structural relaxations and transformations due to correlation effects. We have applied our scheme to the “charge transfer insulator” material nickel oxide and demonstrate a good agreement with the experimental photoemission spectra.

Calculated phonon spectra of paramagnetic iron at theα-γphase transition

We compute lattice dynamical properties of iron at the bcc-fcc phase transition using dynamical mean-field theory implemented with the frozen-phonon method. Electronic correlations are found to have a strong effect on the lattice stability of paramagnetic iron in the bcc phase. Our results for the structural phase stability and lattice dynamical properties of iron are in good agreement with experiment.

Structural relaxation due to electronic correlations in the paramagnetic insulator KCuF3.

A computational scheme for the investigation of complex materials with strongly interacting electrons is formulated which is able to treat atomic displacements, and hence structural relaxation, caused by electronic correlations. It combines ab initio band structure and dynamical mean-field theory and is implemented in terms of plane-wave pseudopotentials. The equilibrium Jahn-Teller distortion and antiferro-orbital order found for paramagnetic KCuF3 agree well with experiment.

Charge order and spin-singlet pair formation in Ti4O7

Charge ordering in the low-temperature triclinic structure of titanium oxide (Ti4O7) is investigated using the local density approximation (LDA)+U method. Although the total 3d charge separation is rather small, an orbital order parameter defined as the difference between t2g occupancies of Ti3+ and Ti4+ cations is large and gives direct evidence for charge ordering. Strong covalency of O 2p–Ti 3d σ-type bonds, which results in partial occupation of Ti eg states, leads to almost complete loss of the disproportionation between the charges at 3+ and 4+ Ti sites. The occupied t2g states of Ti3+ cations are predominantly of dxy character and form a spin-singlet molecular orbital via strong direct antiferromagnetic exchange coupling between neighbouring Ti(1) and Ti(3) sites, whereas the role of superexchange is found to be negligible.

Magnetism of iron and nickel from rotationally invariant Hirsch-Fye quantum Monte Carlo calculations

We present a rotationally invariant Hirsch-Fye quantum Monte Carlo algorithm in which the spin rotational invariance of Hund’s exchange is approximated by averaging over all possible directions of the spin quantization axis. We employ this technique to perform benchmark calculations for the two- and three-band Hubbard models on the infinite-dimensional Bethe lattice. Our results agree quantitatively well with those obtained using the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo method with rotationally invariant Coulomb interaction. The proposed approach is employed to compute the electronic and magnetic properties of paramagnetic α iron and nickel. The obtained Curie temperatures agree well with experiment. Our results indicate that the magnetic transition temperature is significantly overestimated by using the density-density type of Coulomb interaction.

Computation of correlation-induced atomic displacements and structural transformations in paramagnetic KCuF3 and LaMnO3

We present a computational scheme for ab initio total-energy calculations of materials with strongly interacting electrons using a plane-wave basis set. It combines ab initio band structure and dynamical mean-field theory and is implemented in terms of plane-wave pseudopotentials. The present approach allows us to investigate complex materials with strongly interacting electrons and is able to treat atomic displacements, and hence structural transformations, caused by electronic correlations. Here it is employed to investigate two prototypical Jahn-Teller materials,

First-principles calculation of atomic forces and structural distortions in strongly correlated materials.

{\text{KCuF}}_{3}

Metal-insulator transition and lattice instability of paramagneticV2O3

and

Dynamical mean-field approach to materials with strong electronic correlations

{\text{LaMnO}}_{3}