The half-filled Hubbard model in the pair approximation of the Cluster Variation Method

The half filled Hubbard model is studied in the pair approximation of the Cluster Variation Method. The use of the $SO(4)$ symmetry of the model makes possible to give a complete analytical characterization of the ground state, by means of explicit expressions for the double occupancy and the nearest neighbor correlation functions. The finite temperature analysis is reduced to the numerical solution of only two coupled transcendental equations. The behavior of local magnetic moment, specific heat and correlation functions is given for some typical cases in one and two dimensions. We obtain good qualitative agreement with exact and numerical results in one dimension. The results for finite temperatures show a rapid evolution, with increasing temperature, from a strongly antiferromagnetic behavior to a disordered one; in the high temperature region a maximum (which has been related to a "gradual" metal--insulator transition) is found in the specific heat for very large values of the Coulomb repulsion.