The ionic Hubbard model is investigated at half filling at zero temperature. We apply the cellular dynamical mean-field theory to the one-dimensional ionic Hubbard model to compute local quantities such as double occupancy and staggered charge density. Both quantities provide general transition behavior of the model from a band insulating phase to a Mott insulating phase. The renormalized band gap is introduced as an efficient order parameter for the transition from a band insulator. We also present the spectral properties of the ionic Hubbard model, which exhibit characteristic features for both weak and strong interactions.
Categories: cond-mat.str-el