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arXiv:1002.0717 · Physical Review B

Thermal transport in a spin- 12 Heisenberg chain coupled to a magnetic or nonmagnetic impurity

Alexandros Metavitsiadis, X. Zotos, O. S. Barišić, Peter Prelovšek

Published May 3, 2010• 16 citations
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Abstract

We explore the effect of a (non-)magnetic impurity on the thermal transport of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg chain model. This unique system allows to probe Kondo-type phenomena in a prototype strongly correlated system. Using numerical diagonalization techniques we study the scaling of the frequency dependent thermal conductivity with system size and host-impurity coupling strength as well as the dependence on temperature. We focus in particular on the analysis of ``cutting healing'' of weak links or a magnetic impurity by the host chain via Kondo-like screening as the temperature is lowered.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.81.205101

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We study the effect of an isolated impurity on the low-energy properties of a half-odd-integer-spin Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain using both numerical and conformal field theory techniques. The impurity corresponds to the substitution of a magnetic ion by a different ion with the same or different spin, or else to the coupling of a magnetic impurity to a single spin on the chain. Depending on which kind of impurity is present, the low-energy behavior corresponds either to a ``healing'' of the defect or else to a severing of the chain at the impurity location. In both cases there is a coupling-dependent length scale over which magnetic screening takes place. Analogies with the Kondo effect are elucidated.
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The effect of a single static impurity on the many-body states and on the spin and thermal transport in the one-dimensional anisotropic Heisenberg chain at finite temperatures is studied. Whereas the pure Heisenberg model reveals Poisson level statistics and dissipationless transport due to integrability, we show using the numerical approach that a single impurity induces Wigner-Dyson level statistics and at high enough temperature incoherent transport within the chain, whereby the relaxation time and dc conductivity scale linearly with length.