Strong Correlation Effects in the Fullerene C20

The smallest fullerene, dodecahedral C20, is studied using a one band Hubbard model parameterized by U/t. Results are obtained using exact diagonalization of matrices with linear dimensions as large as 5.7 x 10^9, supplemented by quantum Monte Carlo. We report the magnetic and spectral properties of C20 as a function of U/t and investigate electronic pair binding. Solid forms of C20 are studied using cluster perturbation theory and evidence is found for a metal-insulator transition at U ~ 4t. We also investigate the relevance of strong correlations to the Jahn-Teller effect in C20.