In this thesis we present a novel variational cluster approximation for Heisenberg spin systems. It is based on the self-energy functional theory by Potthoff for fermionic and bosonic models with local interactions. To develop a similar method for spin systems, we derive a free energy functional which is the starting point of the approximation.
Within this approximation, we find an analytical expression to evaluate the free energy by tiling the real system into a set of clusters. We describe the technical details of the spin variational cluster approximation and the evaluation of the free energy. The method is tested for the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with first- and second-neighbour interactions. Thereby, we investigate the dependence of the approximation on cluster size and the choice of variational parameters. The opportunities and limitations as well as future applications of the method are thoroughly discussed.
Keywords: Heisenberg model; Variational Cluster Approximation; Spin system
