Antiferromagnetic materials with microscopic behavior resembling that of the Fermi-Hubbard model are expected to host excitons, or bound electron-hole pairs. In order to investigate such behavior, we have optimized states of the t-J model in the single-particle-single-hole sector using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). In addition to presenting preliminary results from these efforts, I will present an introduction to DMRG and related algorithms with an eye towards explaining why it should be useful for this particular problem and the challenges faced in applying it.

Pizza and drinks will be served after the seminar in ATL 2117.