Evaluation of the BCS approximation for the attractive Hubbard model in one dimension

The ground-state energy and energy gap to the first excited state are calculated for the attractive Hubbard model in one dimension using both the Bethe ansatz equations and the variational BCS wave function. Comparisons are provided as a function of coupling strength and electron density. While the ground-state energies are always in very good agreement, the BCS energy gap is sometimes incorrect by an order of magnitude, particularly at half-filling. Finite-size effects are also briefly discussed for cases where an exact solution in the thermodynamic limit is not possible. In general, the BCS result for the energy gap is poor compared to the exact result.