We propose a versatile strategy for numerical renormalization group (NRG) solution of general channel-mixing Kondo and Anderson impurity models beyond previous reach. We illustrate the strategy by investigating the quantum phase transitions in models of Anderson impurities coupled to $s$- and $d$-wave superconducting baths. We discuss the effects of nontrivial channel-mixing in such models. Our strategy opens the door toward broad applications of NRG as impurity solver in cluster dynamical mean field theory for strongly correlated electron systems.
We propose a versatile strategy for numerical renormalization group (NRG) solution of general channel-mixing Kondo and Anderson impurity models beyond previous reach. We illustrate the strategy by investigating the quantum phase transitions in models of Anderson impurities coupled to s- and d-wave superconducting baths. We discuss the effects of nontrivial channel-mixing in such models. Our strategy opens the door toward broad applications of NRG as impurity solver in cluster dynamical mean field theory for strongly correlated electron systems.
We propose an auxiliary-bath algorithm for the numerical renormalization group (NRG) method to solve multi-impurity models with shared electron baths. The method allows us to disentangle the electron baths into independent Wilson chains to perform standard NRG procedures beyond the widely adopted independent bath approximation. Its application to the 2-impurity model immediately reproduces the well-known even- and odd-parity channels. For 3-impurity Kondo models, we find collective screening of cluster degrees of freedom depending on impurity configurations and clarify the false prediction of a non-Fermi liquid ground state for the C3 symmetric case in previous literature due to improper treatment of disentanglement. Our work highlights the importance of nonlocal spatial correlations due to shared baths and reveals a generic picture of successive collective screening for entropy depletion that is crucial in real correlated systems. Our method greatly expands the applicability of the NRG and opens an avenue for its further development.
In the early 1970s, Wilson developed the concept of a fully nonperturbative renormalization group transformation. When applied to the Kondo problem, this numerical renormalization group (NRG) method gave for the first time the full crossover from the high-temperature phase of a free spin to the low-temperature phase of a completely screened spin. The NRG method was later generalized to a variety of quantum impurity problems. The purpose of this review is to give a brief introduction to the NRG method, including some guidelines for calculating physical quantities, and to survey the development of the NRG method and its various applications over the last 30 years. These applications include variants of the original Kondo problem such as the non-Fermi-liquid behavior in the two-channel Kondo model, dissipative quantum systems such as the spin-boson model, and lattice systems in the framework of the dynamical mean-field theory.
Quantum impurity problems can be solved using the numerical renormalization group (NRG), which involves discretizing the free conduction electron system and mapping to a ``Wilson chain.'' It was shown recently that Wilson chains for different electronic species can be interleaved by use of a modified discretization, dramatically increasing the numerical efficiency of the RG scheme [Phys. Rev. B 89, 121105(R) (2014)]. Here we systematically examine the accuracy and efficiency of the ``interleaved'' NRG (iNRG) method in the context of the single impurity Anderson model, the two-channel Kondo model, and a three-channel Anderson-Hund model. The performance of iNRG is explicitly compared with ``standard'' NRG (sNRG): when the average number of states kept per iteration is the same in both calculations, the accuracy of iNRG is equivalent to that of sNRG but the computational costs are significantly lower in iNRG when the same symmetries are exploited. Although iNRG weakly breaks SU(N) channel symmetry (if present), both accuracy and numerical cost are entirely competitive with sNRG exploiting full symmetries. iNRG is therefore shown to be a viable and technically simple alternative to sNRG for high-symmetry models. Moreover, iNRG can be used to solve a range of lower-symmetry multiband problems that are inaccessible to sNRG.
The Kondo effect is a hallmark of strongly-correlated systems, where an impurity's local degrees of freedom are screened by conduction electrons, forming a many-body singlet. With increasing degrees of freedom in the impurity, theoretical studies face significant challenges in accurately identifying and characterizing the underlying mechanisms that screen the impurity. In this work, we introduce a straightforward yet powerful methodology for identifying the formation of Kondo singlets and their screening mechanisms, by utilizing the numerical renormalization group (NRG) combined with the matrix product states (MPS) technique. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on the single and two-level Anderson impurity models (AIM). Furthermore, we discuss potential generalizations of the method to multichannel and multiorbital Kondo impurities. Harnessing advanced tensor network techniques, our approach extends to complex impurity systems, offering a robust and versatile framework for studying Kondo physics.
Quantum impurity models describe interactions between some local degrees of freedom and a continuum of non-interacting fermionic or bosonic states. The investigation of quantum impurity models is a starting point towards the understanding of more complex strongly correlated systems, but quantum impurity models also provide the description of various correlated mesoscopic structures, biological and chemical processes, atomic physics and describe phenomena such as dissipation or dephasing. Prototypes of these models are the Anderson impurity model, or the single- and multi-channel Kondo models. The numerical renormalization group method (NRG) proposed by Wilson in mid 70's has been used in its original form for a longtime as one of the most accurate and powerful methods to deal with quatum impurity problems. Recently, a number of new developments took place: First, a spectral sum-conserving density matrix NRG approach (DM-NRG) has been developed, which has also been generalized for non-Abelian symmetries. In this manual we introduce some of the basic concepts of the NRG method and present recently developed Flexible DM-NRG code. This code uses user-defined non-Abelian symmetries dynamically, computes spectral functions, expectation values of local operators for user-defined impurity models. The code can also use a uniform density of states as well as a user-defined density of states. The current version of the code assumes fermionic bath's and it uses any number of U(1), SU(2) charge SU(2) or Z(2) symmetries. The Flexible DM-NRG code can be downloaded from http://www.phy.bme.hu/~dmnrg
An essential role for the description of correlated quantum many-particle systems is played by impurity problems. These consist of a small number of localized orbitals, where the electrons are subject to a Coulomb-interaction, coupled to noninteracting bath degrees of freedom. Impurity models are used for the description of magnetic impurities in metals, of quantum points in nanostructures, and in the context of the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). For their solution a large number of numerical methods exists. We mention here quantum Monte Carlo methods, the numerical renormalization group, or the exact diagonalization method. In this thesis we introduce a new approach to impurity problems, which is based on the functional renormalization group (fRG). In contrast to the methods mentioned above this approach is approximative, but it can be applied with comparatively lower numerical effort. The aim of this thesis is to examine the advantages and limits of this method. An important role in this connection is played by the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM), which is already understood very well with other methods and is seen as a prototype for models with strong local correlations. The spin fluctuations of this model are governed by the so-called Kondo energy scale and a central question of this thesis is whether this scale can be reproduced with our approach. We begin with a short introduction to the Green's function formalism for correlated quantum many particle systems. Then the fRG flow equations for the one-particle irreducible vertex functions are deduced, and several approximation schemes are discussed. In chapter 4 we introduce the fRG scheme used in this thesis. At first the SIAM is mapped to a semi-infinite chain, in which the interacting orbital is given by the first site of this chain. The system is then subdivided into two parts. The first part, which is called 'core', consists of the interacting orbital and the first L bath sites. The remaining bath sites form the second part. At the beginning both parts are decoupled from each other such that the core can be solved exactly. Starting with this exact solution the coupling between the core and the remaining bath sites is switched on slowly in a renormalization group flow. This way it is possible to calculate the one-particle and two-particle correlation functions on the correlated site. We call this flow scheme 'hybridization flow'. The flow equations are formulated in an effective theory on the first bath site outside the core, which turns out to be advantageous compared to other implementations of the hybridization flow. In chapter 5 this hybridization flow method is applied to the SIAM with semi-elliptic bath density of states. We discuss the differences which arise for different core-sizes (L = 0,1,2,3) and for different truncations of the fRG flow equations. In the cases L=0 and L=2 the local Fermi liquid properties of the SIAM and the associated Kondo scale can not be reproduced in both approximation schemes. For the core sizes L=1 and L=3 the ground state of the core is already a spin singlet state in the beginning of the flow and the Fermi liquid properties are reproduced. The Kondo energy scale, which determines the width of the central quasi-particle peak and the size of the local spin-susceptibility, is however not accurately resolved. This is partly due to the finite temperature used in our implementation such that for larger interaction strength the temperature is above the Kondo energy scale. The application of the hybridization flow method to quantum impurity problems in the context of the DMFT is discussed in chapter 6. In this approach lattice models with a local interaction, like the Hubbard model, are mapped to an effective impurity problem for a single lattice site embedded in a dynamical mean field representing the influence of the other electrons. This scheme is exact in infinitely many dimensions and a nonperturbative approximation method for finite-dimensional systems. In particular the Mott metal-insulator transition in the Hubbard model is successfully described by this method. One class of quantities, which is easily accessible from the hybridization flow scheme, is given by the local two-particle correlation functions. These play an essential role in non-local extensions of the DMFT. Therefore we mainly focus on these quantities. At first we apply our flow scheme to the Hubbard model on the Bethe lattice in infinite dimensions and calculate the local one-particle irreducible vertex functions in the insulating and the metallic phase in good agreement with previous calculations, which use the exact diagonalization method as impurity solver. After this we extend our flow scheme to a cluster DMFT method, which includes short-range antiferromagnetic correlations and calculate again the local and non-local vertex functions for the two-dimensional Hubbard model. We compare these to the results of the single-site DMFT.