  Local moment formation driven by the on--site repulsion $U$ is one of the
most fundamental features in the Hubbard model. At the simplest level, the
temperature dependence of the local moment is expected to have a single
structure at $T \sim U$, reflecting the suppression of the double occupancy. In
this paper we show new low temperature Quantum Monte Carlo data which emphasize
that the local moment also has a signature at a lower energy scale which
previously had been thought to characterize only the temperatures below which
moments on {\it different} sites begin to correlate locally. We discuss
implications of these results for the structure of the specific heat, and
connections to quasiparticle resonance and pseudogap formation in the density
of states.

Strongly Correlated Electrons