Correct formulation of the 1/Nexpansion for the slave-boson approach within the functional integral

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Abstract
We consider the slave-boson method within the coherent-state functional integral representation of the partition function, and show how to deal with the continuum imaginary-time limit required by the very definition of the functional integral. We find that a correct treatment of the continuum limit modifies the free energy when fluctuation (1/N) corrections beyond the mean-field solution are considered. Numerical results are presented for a two-level single-site model system (with an infinite Hubbard repulsion), for which the additional terms in the free energy introduced by the correct continuum limit act to validate the 1/N expansion. Our analysis calls for a revision of several outcomes of the slave-boson method with the inclusion of fluctuation corrections.