The essential features of DMFT are brought out in the previous chapter in the simplest form: the single-site approximation in which correlation between sites can be neglected. In this case the self-energy due to interactions can be calculated using an auxiliary system of a single site embedded in an effective medium that represents the surrounding crystal. The resulting many-body problem is equivalent to an Anderson impurity model that must be solved self-consistently. The results are exact for infinite dimensions d → ∞; however, in any finite dimension, i.e., real systems, this is just a mean-field approximation analogous to the Weiss mean field in magnetic systems or the CPA for disordered alloys.

There are, however, many important properties and phenomena that require us to go beyond mean-field approximations. For example, basic questions concerning the nature of a metal–insulator transition can be established only by quantitative assessment of the correlations between different sites. Is a single site sufficient (the central idea in the arguments by Mott discussed in Sec. 3.2) or is correlation between sites (for example, an ordered antiferromagnetic state) essential for interactions to lead to an insulating state? A complete theory must establish the range of correlation needed to understand the mechanisms and to make quantitative calculations. A striking example that requires a k-dependent self-energy is the opening of a “pseudogap” in only part of the Brillouin zone in a high-temperature superconductor, as illustrated in Fig. 2.16.

This chapter is devoted to methods that go beyond the single-site approximation to take into account interactions and correlations between electrons on sites.