Strong correlation effect in Fullerene C20

POSTER

Abstract

Successful synthesis of the gas-phase dodecahedral C20 molecule [Nature 407, 60 (2000)] has stimulated great interest in this material. In this talk we report exact diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo simulation results on the C20 molecule and a possible solid structure [Phys. Rev. B 76, 033414 (2007)]. Our results suggest that strong electronic correlations suppress the Jahn-Teller effect on the dodecahedral molecule, and make the solid an insulator. We also determine the critical value of the interaction strength for the metal-insulator transition.

*Supported by DE-FG52-06NA26170, NSERC, CIAR, CFI and computer resources of SHARCNET.

Authors

  • Fei Lin

    • Physics Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Erik Sorensen

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

  • Catherine Kallin

    • McMaster University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

  • John Berlinsky

    • Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON, Canada
    • McMaster University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada