Spectral function of holes in the Emery model

We calculate the single-particle excitation spectrum of holes in the Emery model thereby extending and improving previous calculations. The system is considered at half filling (${\mathit{n}}_{\mathit{h}}$=1, one hole per ${\mathrm{CuO}}_2$ unit) and for hole doping, where the on-site hole-hole repulsions are kept finite. A paramagnetic form of the ground state is used. For the determination of the retarded Green’s functions of copper and oxygen holes, the projection technique is applied solving the resulting equations of motions self-consistently. At half filling, the excitation spectrum exhibits a charge-transfer gap bounded by Zhang-Rice singlet states and the upper Hubbard band. Upon hole doping the flat singlet band crosses the Fermi level giving rise to a large Fermi surface at a hole concentration of ${\mathit{n}}_{\mathit{h}}$=1.25. Moreover, spectral weight is shifted from the upper Hubbard band to the states near the Fermi energy. The calculated spectral densities, the singlet dispersion for the doped system, and the transfer of spectral weight are in good quantitative agreement with exact diagonalization results for 2×2 ${\mathrm{CuO}}_2$ cluster.