Screening of long-range Coulomb interactions in the quasi two-dimensional extended Hubbard model: A combined quantum Monte Carlo and Feynman diagram study

Abstract

By combining fermion Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations with diagrammatic theory, we have calculated the dielectric screening and the screened potential, in a quasi 2D Hubbard model for cuprate superconductors with and without 1/r Coulomb potential. At half filling, we find that the Hubbard electrons contribute only a minor fraction, Delta(epsilon) ~0.9 of the observed in-plane dielectric constant of the cuprates, epsilon ~4.7. With increasing doping x, the 1/r interaction is rapidly suppressed by metallic screening. Surprisingly, near x ~5%, the low-frequency part of the screened potential V_S becomes attractive, at distances r \ge 1. At r=1, it reaches maximum attraction strength for dopings x ~13-15% and becomes repulsive again for for x ~23-25%. Similar results are found for the pure 2D Hubbard model. The 1/r interaction enhances the on-site and 1st neighbor overscreening attraction already present in the pure model at finite doping. Our results are potentially relevant for the d-wave pairing mechanism in the cuprates, suggesting that the screened 1/r potential could actually increase the d-wave attraction, in the 5-25% doping regime. They may also have implications for the isotope effect and its doping dependence. At larger dopings, x>15%, the screened potential becomes attractive even on-site, suggesting that it could support or enhance s-wave pairing. We also give a rigorous analytical proof that the screened on-site interaction must become attractive near half-filling in the repulsive large-U-limit, with and without 1/r interaction. We present a simple physical interpretation of this result in terms of retardation effects. We also point out that on-site overscreening implies singularities in the imaginary frequency dependence of the irreducible polarization insertion and its 3-point vertex function.