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arXiv:1012.1044 · Physical Review B

RKKY interaction and the nature of the ground state of double dots in parallel

Manas Kulkarni, Robert Konik

Published Jun 23, 2011• 5 citations
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Abstract

We argue through a combination of slave-boson mean-field theory and the Bethe ansatz that the ground state of closely spaced double quantum dots in parallel coupled to a single effective channel are Fermi liquids. We do so by studying the dots' conductance, impurity entropy, and spin correlation. In particular, we find that the zero-temperature conductance is characterized by the Friedel sum rule, a hallmark of Fermi-liquid physics, and that the impurity entropy vanishes in the limit of zero temperature, indicating that the ground state is a singlet. This conclusion is in opposition to a number of numerical renormalization-group studies. We suggest a possible reason for the discrepancy.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.83.245121

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We argue through a combination of slave-boson mean-field theory and the Bethe ansatz that the ground state of closely spaced double quantum dots in parallel coupled to a single effective channel are Fermi liquids. We do so by studying the dots' conductance, impurity entropy, and spin correlation. In particular, we find that the zero-temperature conductance is characterized by the Friedel sum rule, a hallmark of Fermi-liquid physics, and that the impurity entropy vanishes in the limit of zero temperature, indicating that the ground state is a singlet. This conclusion is in opposition to a number of numerical renormalization-group studies. We suggest a possible reason for the discrepancy.
A large-N diagrammatic approach is used to study coupled quantum dots in a parallel geometry. We show that the Friedel sum rule (FSR) holds at lowest order in a 1/N expansion for this system, thereby suggesting that the ground state is a Fermi liquid. Using the FSR together with the dot occupancy, we compute the dot system's conductance. Our finding that the 1/N expansion indicates the system is a Fermi liquid is in agreement with both prior results based on the Bethe ansatz and slave boson mean field theory.
We resolve the controversy regarding the ground state of the parallel double quantum dot system near half filling. The numerical renormalization group predicts an underscreened Kondo state with residual spin-1/2 magnetic moment, ln2 residual impurity entropy, and unitary conductance, while the Bethe ansatz solution predicts a fully screened impurity, regular Fermi-liquid ground state, and zero conductance. We calculate the impurity entropy of the system as a function of the temperature using the hybridization-expansion continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo technique, which is a numerically exact stochastic method, and find excellent agreement with the numerical renormalization group results. We show that the origin of the unconventional behavior in this model is the odd-symmetry "dark state" on the dots.
The system of several (N)(N)(N) quantum dots coupled in parallel to the same single-mode conduction channel can be modeled as a single-channel NNN-impurity Anderson model. Using the generalized Schrieffer-Wolff transformation we show that near the particle-hole symmetric point, the effective Hamiltonian in the local moment regime is the NNN-impurity S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 Kondo model. The conduction-band-mediated RKKY exchange interaction between the dots is ferromagnetic and at intermediate temperatures locks the moments into a maximal spin S=N∕2S=N∕2S=N∕2 ground state. We provide an analytical estimate for the RKKY interaction. At low temperatures the spin is partially screened by the conduction electrons to $N∕2\ensuremath{-}1∕2$ due to the Kondo effect. By comparing accurate numerical renormalization group results for magnetic susceptibility of the NNN-impurity Anderson model to the exact Bethe ansatz results of a S=N∕2S=N∕2S=N∕2 SU(2) Kondo system we show that at low-temperature the quantum dots can be described by the effective S=N∕2S=N∕2S=N∕2 Kondo model. Moreover, the Kondo temperature is independent of the number of impurities NNN. We demonstrate the robustness of the spin N∕2N∕2N∕2 ground state as well as of the associated S=N∕2S=N∕2S=N∕2 Kondo effect by studying the stability of the system with respect to various experimentally relevant perturbations. We finally explore various quantum phase transitions driven by these perturbations.
We formulate a general approach for studying the low-frequency response of an interacting quantum dot connected to leads in the presence of oscillating gate voltages. The energy dissipated is characterized by the charge relaxation resistance, which under the loose assumption of Fermi liquid behavior at low energy, is shown to depend only on static charge susceptibilities. The predictions of the scattering theory are recovered in the noninteracting limit while the effect of interactions is simply to replace densities of states by charge susceptibilities in formulas. In order to substantiate the Fermi liquid picture in the case of a quantum RCRCRC geometry, we apply a renormalization group analysis and derive the low-energy Hamiltonian for two specific models: the Anderson and the Coulomb blockade models. The Anderson model is shown, using a field theoretical approach based on Barnes slave bosons, to map onto the Kondo model. We recover the well-known expression of the Kondo temperature for the asymmetric Anderson model and compute the charge susceptibility. The Barnes slave bosons are extended to the Coulomb blockade model where the renormalization-group analysis can be carried out perturbatively up to zero energy. All calculations agree with the Fermi liquid nature of the low-energy fixed point and satisfy the Friedel sum rule.
We study correlated quantum impurity models that undergo a local quantum phase transition (QPT) from a strong coupling, Fermi liquid phase to a non-Fermi liquid phase with a globally doubly degenerate ground state. Our aim is to establish what can be shown exactly about such ``local moment'' (LM) phases, of which the permanent (zero-field) local magnetization is a hallmark, and an order parameter for the QPT. A description of the zero-field LM phase is shown to require two distinct self-energies, which reflect the broken symmetry nature of the phase and together determine the single self-energy of standard field theory. Distinct Friedel sum rules for each phase are obtained, via a Luttinger theorem embodied in the vanishing of appropriate Luttinger integrals. By contrast, the standard Luttinger integral is nonzero in the LM phase but found to have universal magnitude. A range of spin susceptibilites are also considered, including that corresponding to the local order parameter, whose exact form is shown to be RPA-like, and to diverge as the QPT is approached. Particular attention is given to the pseudogap Anderson model, including the basic physical picture of the transition, the low-energy behavior of single-particle dynamics, the quantum critical point itself, and the rather subtle effect of an applied local field. A two-level impurity model that undergoes a QPT (``singlet-triplet'') to an underscreened LM phase is also considered, for which we derive on general grounds some key results for the zero-bias conductance in both phases.
We study correlated two-level quantum dots, coupled in effective one-channel fashion to metallic leads, with electron interactions including on-level and interlevel Coulomb repulsions, as well as the interorbital Hund's rule exchange favoring the spin-1 state in the relevant sector of the free dot. For arbitrary dot occupancy, the underlying phases, quantum phase transitions (QPTs), thermodynamics, single-particle dynamics, and electronic transport properties are considered, and direct comparison is made to conductance experiments on lateral quantum dots. Two distinct phases arise generically, one characterized by a normal Fermi liquid fixed point (FP) and the other by an underscreened (USC) spin-1 FP. Associated QPTs, which occur in general in a mixed valent regime of nonintegral dot charge, are found to consist of continuous lines of Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, separated by first-order level-crossing transitions at high symmetry points. A ``Friedel-Luttinger sum rule'' is derived and, together with a deduced generalization of Luttinger's theorem to the USC phase (a singular Fermi liquid), is used to obtain a general result for the T=0T=0T=0 zero-bias conductance, expressed solely in terms of the dot occupancy and applicable to both phases. Relatedly, dynamical signatures of the QPT show two broad classes of behavior, corresponding to the collapse of either a Kondo resonance, or antiresonance, as the transition is approached from the Fermi liquid phase, the latter behavior being apparent in experimental differential conductance maps. The problem is studied using the numerical renormalization group method, combined with analytical arguments.