Antiferromagnetism in the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice: a Two-Particle Self-Consistent study

Abstract: The semimetal to antiferromagnet quantum phase transition of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice has come to the forefront in the context of the proposal that a semimetal to spin liquid transition can occur before the transition to the antiferromagnetic phase. To study the semimetal to antiferromagnet transition, we generalize the two-particle self-consistent (TPSC) approach to the honeycomb lattice (a structure that can be realized in graphene for example). We show that the critical interaction strength where the transition occurs is $U_c/t=3.79\pm 0.01$ quite close to the value $U_c/t=3.869 \pm 0.013$ reported using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. This reinforces the conclusion that the semimetal to spin liquid transition is pre-empted by the transition to the antiferromagnet. Since TPSC satisfies the Mermin-Wagner theorem, we find temperature-dependent results for the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic correlation lengths as well as the dependence of double occupancy and of the renormalized spin and charge interactions on the bare interaction strength. We also estimate the value of the crossover temperature to the renormalized classical regime as a function of interaction strength.