Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT)   back  
In complex materials where electrons occupy 3d-, 4f- or 5f-orbitals the excitation spectra cannot be described in terms of well-defined quasiparticles over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies. Single-electron descriptions using a mean-field break down and strong correlations come into play. The dynamical mean-field theory provides an approach that contains both band and atomic physics as limiting cases and can serve as a basis of a new spectral functional theory which allows to quantitatively describe the excitation spectra of complex strongly correlated materials.

References:
  • G. Kotliar and D. Vollhardt, Strongly Correlated Materials: Insights from Dynamical Mean-Field Theory, Physics Today 57, No. 3 (March), 53 (2004).
  • A. Georges, G. Kotliar, W. Krauth, M. Rozenberg, The Local Impurity Self Consistent Approximation to Strongly Correlated Fermion Systems and the Limit of Infinite Dimensions, Rev. Mod. Phys. 68, 13 (1996).
Further reading can be found at the web pages of Dieter Vollhardt's group in Augsburg: http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/theo3/vollha