A variational method in the problem of screening an external charge in strongly correlated metals

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California - Riverside, CA 92521, USA
² Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory - Argonne, IL 60439, USA
³ Pulsed Field Facility, NHMFL, Los Alamos National Laboratory - Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA

gguzman-verri@anl.gov
arkady@lanl.gov

Received: 18 December 2012
Accepted: 18 July 2013

Abstract

We describe a variational calculation for the problem of screening of a point charge in a layered correlated metal close to the Mott transition where the screening is non-linear due to the proximity to the incompressible insulating state. This analysis can robustly account for locally incompressible regions induced by external charge and gives further insights, such as overscreening in the nearest nearby metallic layers while preserving overall charge neutrality.