Surface properties of a heavy-fermion system: An exact many-body solution to a periodic-cluster Hubbard model

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Abstract
An exact solution of an eight-site crystal model with periodic boundary conditions, a {001} thin film with face-centered-cubic crystal structure, is presented for the case of a heavy-fermion system. The object is to study modifications of the many-body electronic structure in the presence of surfaces. The model consists of (a) a single, fully symmetric orbital per site, with nearest-neighbor and second-nearest-neighbor hopping; (b) an infinite Coulomb repulsion between electrons on the same site; (c) antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions; and (d) a nearly half-filled band ((7/8 electron per site). Two structures are investigated: a two-layer and a four-layer fcc slab. The nature of the change from bulk to surface is studied by introducing a variable coupling between periodically extended slabs. The many-body spectrum, the one-electron occupancy, and the change in properties from bulk to surface are obtained and discussed.