Variational Many Body States for the U=∞ Hubbard Model

We study a general class of variational wavefunctions for strongly correlated lattice fermions. The wavefunctions considered here automatically satisfy local constraints of no double occupancy and include correlations between opposite spin particles in a very physical way. We calculate the energy and correlation functions for the one dimensional U=∞ Hubbard model, where a comparison with exact results is made. We briefly report on preliminary results for the t-J model.