Extended crossover from Fermi liquid to quasi-antiferromagnet in the half-filled 2D Hubbard model.

The ground state of the Hubbard model on the square lattice at half filling is known to be that of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) band insulator for any on-site repulsion. At finite temperature, the absence of long-range order makes the question of how the interaction-driven insulator is realised non-trivial. We address this problem with controlled accuracy in the thermodynamic limit using Self-energy Determinantal Diagrammatic Monte-Carlo and Dynamical Cluster Approximation methods and show that development of long-range AFM correlations drives an extended crossover from Fermi-liquid to insulating behaviour in the parameter regime that precludes the conventional metal-to-insulator transition scenario. The intermediate crossover state is best described as a non-Fermi liquid with a partially gapped Fermi surface.