Pairing mechanism in the doped Hubbard antiferromagnet: the 4x4 model as a test case

We introduce a local formalism, in terms of eigenstates of number operators, having well defined point symmetry, to solve the Hubbard model at weak coupling on a $N\times N$ square lattice (for even N). The key concept is that of W=0 states, that are the many-body eigenstates of the kinetic energy with vanishing Hubbard repulsion. At half filling, the wave function demonstrates an antiferromagnetic order, a lattice step translation being equivalent to a spin flip. Further, we state a general theorem which allows to find all the W=0 pairs (two-body W=0 singlet states). We show that, in special cases, this assigns the ground state symmetries at least in the weak coupling regime. The N=4 case is discussed in detail. To study the doped half filled system, we enhance the group theory analysis of the $4 \times 4$ Hubbard model introducing an Optimal Group which explains all the degeneracies in the one-body and many-body spectra. We use the Optimal Group to predict the possible ground state symmetries of the $4 \times 4$ doped antiferromagnet by means of our general theorem and the results are in agreement with exact diagonalization data. Then we create W=0 electron pairs over the antiferromagnetic state. We show analitycally that the effective interaction between the electrons of the pairs is attractive and forms bound states. Computing the corresponding binding energy we are able to definitely predict the exact ground state symmetry