Transport and Temperature: Exact spectrum and Drude weight for the one-dimensional infinite-$U$ Hubbard model

Abstract

Understanding charge transport in strongly correlated systems remains a central challenge in condensed matter physics, while exact analytical results for finite-temperature transport remain rare. Here, we investigate charge transport in the one-dimensional Hubbard model in the infinite-interaction limit. We first construct the exact \emph{and explicit - i.e. beyond Bethe ansatz} energy spectrum and eigenstates. Building on these explicit eigenstates, we derive a closed-form analytical expression for the charge Drude weight at arbitrary temperatures in the hole-dilute limit with a fixed number of doped holes, as well as analytical expressions in the low- and high-temperature limits at fixed hole density. We further show that, at low temperatures, the leading correction to the charge Drude weight is linear in $T$ when the number of holes is fixed, whereas it is quadratic in $T$ when the hole density is fixed. This analytically controlled example highlights the importance of identifying the underlying thermodynamic trajectory when interpreting finite-size numerical studies of charge transport in more general models.