Comparison of two quantum-cluster approximations

Abstract

We provide microscopic diagrammatic derivations of the the Molecular Coherent Potential Approximation (MCA) and Dynamical Cluster Approximation (DCA) and show that both are Phi-derivable. The MCA (DCA) maps the lattice onto a self-consistently embedded cluster with open (periodic) boundary conditions, and therefore violates (preserves) the translational symmetry of the original lattice. As a consequence of the boundary conditions, the MCA (DCA) converges slowly (quickly) with corrections O(1/Lc) (O(1/Lc^2)), where Lc is the linear size of the cluster. These analytical results are demonstrated numerically for the one-dimensional symmetric Falicov-Kimball model.

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