Variational local moment approach: From Kondo effect to Mott transition in correlated electron systems

The variational local moment approach (VLMA) solution of the single impurity Anderson model is presented. It generalizes the local moment approach of Logan et al. by invoking the variational principle to determine the lengths of local moments and orbital occupancies. We show that VLMA is a comprehensive, conserving and thermodynamically consistent approximation and treats both Fermi and non-Fermi liquid regimes as well as local moment phases on equal footing. We tested VLMA on selected problems. We solved the single- and multi-orbital impurity Anderson model in various regions of parameters, where different types of Kondo effects occur. The application of VLMA as an impurity solver of the dynamical mean-field theory, used to solve the multi-orbital Hubbard model, is also addressed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.