We study finite-temperature transport properties of the one-dimensional Hubbard model using the density matrix renormalization group. Our aim is twofold: First, we compute both the charge- and the spin-current correlation function of the integrable model at half filling. The former decays rapidly, implying that the corresponding Drude weight is either zero or very small. Second, we calculate the optical charge conductivity ${\sigma }_{r}eg\left(\omega \right)$ in the presence of small integrability-breaking next-nearest-neighbor interactions (the extended Hubbard model). The dc conductivity is finite and diverges as the temperature is decreased below the gap. Our results thus suggest that the half-filled, gapped Hubbard model is a normal charge conductor at finite temperatures. As a test bed for our numerics, we compute ${\sigma }_{r}eg\left(\omega \right)$ for the integrable XXZ spin chain in its gapped phase.

• Received 12 August 2014
• Revised 12 September 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.155104