  The slave-boson mean-field method is used to study the two-dimensional
Hubbard model. A magnetic phase diagram allowing for paramagnetism, weak- and
strong ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, including all continuous and
first-order transitions, is constructed and compared to the corresponding phase
diagram using the Hartree-Fock approximation (HFA). Magnetically ordered
regions are reduced by a factor of about 3 along both the $t/U$ and density
axes compared to the HFA. Using the spin-rotation invariant formulation of the
slave-boson method the helicity modulus is computed and for half-filling is
found to practically coincide with that found using variational Monte Carlo
calculations using the Gutzwiller wave function. Off half-filling the results
can be used to compare with Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the effective
hopping parameter. Contrary to the case of half-filling, the slave-boson
approach is seen to greatly improve the results of the HFA when off
half-filling. (Submitted to: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter)
