Variational reduced-density-matrix calculation of the one-dimensional Hubbard model

Variational reduced-density-matrix theory is applied to calculating the ground-state energy and two-electron reduced density matrices (2-RDMs) of the one-dimensional Hubbard model for a range of interaction strengths. The 2-RDM is constrained to represent an N-particle wave function by two sets of N-representability conditions, known as the 2- and partial 3-positivity conditions. Variational optimization of the energy with the 2-RDM constrained by N-representability conditions is performed using a first-order semidefinite-programming algorithm that was developed for treating atoms and molecules [ D. A. Mazziotti Phys. Rev. Lett. 93 213001 (2004)]. Accurate energies for a broad range of interaction strengths indicate that the variational 2-RDM method is a valuable tool for studying strongly correlated electrons.