Cellular dynamical mean-field theory of the periodic Anderson model

We develop a cluster dynamical mean-field theory of the periodic Anderson model in three dimensions, taking a cluster of two sites as a basic reference frame. The mean-field theory displays the basic features of the Doniach phase diagram: a paramagnetic Fermi liquid state, an antiferromagnetic state, and a transition between them. In contrast with spin-density wave theories, the transition is accompanied by a large increase of the effective mass everywhere on the Fermi surface and a substantial change of the Fermi surface shape across the transition. To understand the nature and the origin of the phases near the transition, we investigate the paramagnetic solution underlying the antiferromagnetic state, and identify the transition as a point where the f electrons decouple from the conduction electrons undergoing an orbitally selective Mott transition. This point turns out to be intimately related to the two-impurity Kondo model quantum critical point. In this regime, nonlocal correlations become important and result in significant changes in the photoemission spectra and the de Haas–van Alphen frequencies. The transition involves considerable f spectral weight transfer from the Fermi level to its immediate vicinity, rather than to the Hubbard bands as in single-site dynamical mean-field theory.