Hartree-Fock based diagonalization: an efficient method for simulating disordered interacting electrons

We present an efficient numerical method for simulating the low-energy properties of disordered many-particle systems. The method which is based on the quantum-chemical configuration interaction approach consists in diagonalizing the Hamiltonian in an energetically truncated basis build of the low-energy states of the corresponding Hartree-Fock Hamiltonian. As an example we investigate the quantum Coulomb glass, a model of spinless electrons in a random potential interacting via long-range Coulomb interaction. We find that the Coulomb interaction increases the conductance of strongly disordered systems but reduces the conductance of weakly disordered systems.