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arXiv:1604.08280 · Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Universal Symmetry-Protected Resonances in a Spinful Luttinger Liquid

Yichen Hu, C. L. Kane

Published Apr 28, 2016• 3 citations
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Abstract

We study the problem of resonant tunneling through a quantum dot in a spinful Luttinger liquid. For a range of repulsive interactions, we find that for symmetric barriers there exist resonances with a universal peak conductance $2g^* e^2/h$ that are controlled by a non-trivial intermediate fixed point. This fixed point is also a quantum critical point separating symmetry-protected topological phases. By tuning the system through resonance, all SPT phases can be accessed. For a particular interaction strength with Luttinger parameters $g_ρ=1/3$ and $g_σ=1$, we show that the problem is equivalent to a two channel $SU(3)$ Kondo problem($SU(3)_2$ CFT). At the Toulouse limit, both problems can be mapped to a quantum Brownian motion model on a Kagome lattice, which in turn is related to the quantum Brownian motion on a honeycomb lattice and the three-channel $SU(2)$ Kondo problem($SU(2)_3$ CFT). "Level-rank duality" in the quantum Brownian motion model relating $SU(2)_k$ CFT to $SU(k)_2$ CFT is also explored. Utilizing the boundary conformal field theory, the on-resonance conductance of our resonant tunneling problem is calculated as well as the scaling dimension of the leading relevant operator. This allows us to compute the scaling behavior of the resonance line-shape as a function of temperature.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1604.08280

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We study the problem of resonant tunneling through a quantum dot in a spinful Luttinger liquid. For a range of repulsive interactions, we find that for symmetric barriers there exist resonances with a universal peak conductance 2g∗e2/h2g^* e^2/h2g∗e2/h that are controlled by a non-trivial intermediate fixed point. This fixed point is also a quantum critical point separating symmetry-protected topological phases. By tuning the system through resonance, all SPT phases can be accessed. For a particular interaction strength with Luttinger parameters gρ=1/3g_ρ=1/3gρ​=1/3 and gσ=1g_σ=1gσ​=1, we show that the problem is equivalent to a two channel SU(3)SU(3)SU(3) Kondo problem(SU(3)2SU(3)_2SU(3)2​ CFT). At the Toulouse limit, both problems can be mapped to a quantum Brownian motion model on a Kagome lattice, which in turn is related to the quantum Brownian motion on a honeycomb lattice and the three-channel SU(2)SU(2)SU(2) Kondo problem(SU(2)3SU(2)_3SU(2)3​ CFT). "Level-rank duality" in the quantum Brownian motion model relating SU(2)kSU(2)_kSU(2)k​ CFT to SU(k)2SU(k)_2SU(k)2​ CFT is also explored. Utilizing the boundary conformal field theory, the on-resonance conductance of our resonant tunneling problem is calculated as well as the scaling dimension of the leading relevant operator. This allows us to compute the scaling behavior of the resonance line-shape as a function of temperature.
We analyze a model of resonant point-contact tunneling between multiple Luttinger-liquid leads. The model is a variant of the multichannel Kondo model and can be related to the quantum Brownian motion of a particle on lattices with $\ensuremath{\pi}$ flux through each plaquette (in the three-lead case, it is a honeycomb lattice with $\ensuremath{\pi}$ flux). By comparing the perturbative and instanton gas expansions, we find a duality property of the model. At the boundary, this duality exchanges Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions on the Tomonaga-Luttinger bosons, which describe the leads; in the bulk, it exchanges the ``momentum'' and ``winding'' modes of these bosons. Over a certain range of Luttinger-liquid parameter g, a nontrivial intermediate coupling fixed-point controls the low-energy physics. The finite conductance at this fixed point can be exactly computed for two special values of g. For larger values of g, there is a stable fixed point at strong coupling that has enhanced conductance resulting from an analogue of Andreev reflection at the point contact.
We discuss the conductance of a Luttinger liquid interrupted by a quantum dot containing a single resonant level. Using bosonization and refermionization methods, we find a mapping to a Kondo-type problem which possesses a nontrivial Toulouse-type solvable point. At this point, we obtain an analytic expression for the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics and analyze the differential conductance and the width of the resonance peak as functions of bias and gate voltages, temperature, and barrier asymmetry. We also determine the exact scaling function for the linear conductance.
A quantum dot coupled to two helical edge states of a two-dimensional topological insulator through electron tunnelings is studied. We show that if the electron interactions on the edge states are repulsive, with Luttinger liquid parameter K<1K<1K<1, the system reaches a stable two-channel Kondo fixed point at low temperatures. This is in contrast to the Luttinger liquid leads case in which K<1/2K<1/2K<1/2 is needed. This two-channel fixed point is described by a boundary sine-Gordon Hamiltonian with a KKK dependent boundary term. The impurity entropy, the impurity specific heat and the conductance are calculated.
We demonstrate the equivalence between two distinct Luttinger liquid impurity problems. The first concerns a one-dimensional topological superconductor coupled at one end to the ends of two single channel Luttinger liquids. The second concerns a point contact in the quantum spin Hall effect, where four helical Luttinger liquids meet at a point. Both problems have been studied previously and exhibit several stable phases depending on the Luttinger parameter K, that can be characterized in terms of simple conformally invariant boundary conditions describing perfect normal (or Andreev) transmission or reflection. In addition, both problems exhibit critical points that are described by "intermediate" fixed points similar to those found in earlier studies of an impurity in a Luttinger liquid with spin. Though these two models have different symmetries and numbers of modes, we show they are equivalent and are related by a duality transformation, and we show that the non-trivial intermediate critical points are the same. In the non-interacting limit, K=1, the duality involves two distinct free fermion representations that are related by a non-local transformation that derives from the triality of SO(8). Using the explicit translation between the two theories, we translate results from one problem to the other and vice versa. This allows us to make new predictions about the topological superconductor-Luttinger liquid junction, including predictions about the global behavior of the critical conductance G*(K), as well predictions for the critical exponents and universal crossover scaling functions. In this paper we introduce both models from scratch, using a common notation that facilitates their comparison, and we discuss in detail the dualities that relate them, along with their free fermion limits. We close with a discussion of open problems and future directions.
We study a quantum dot coupled to two edge states of a quantum spin Hall insulator through electron tunnelings in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbital interaction induced by an external electric field. We show that if the electron interactions on the edge states are repulsive, there are two possible phases, depending on the Luttinger liquid parameter KKK. For 1/2<K<11/2<K<11/2<K<1, the low-temperature physics is controlled by a previously identified two-channel Kondo fixed point. For the edge states with even stronger repulsive interactions, i.e., 1/4<K<1/21/4<K<1/21/4<K<1/2, the system reaches another phase at low temperatures, described by a new two-channel Kondo fixed point. This phase is separated from the original one by a continuous phase transition upon varying the value of KKK through the external electric field. The corresponding critical point is described by a free Dirac fermion backscattered by a local potential. We investigate the low-temperature properties associated with this new fixed point and also discuss the scaling behaviors of the system at the critical point.
We study a quantum point contact in a quantum spin Hall insulator. It has recently been shown that the Luttinger liquid theory of such a structure maps to the theory of a weak link in a Luttinger liquid with spin with Luttinger liquid parameters ${g}_{\ensuremath{\rho}}=1/{g}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}=g<1$. We show that for weak interactions, 1/2<g<11/2<g<11/2<g<1, the pinch-off of the point contact as a function of gate voltage is controlled by a novel quantum critical point, which is a realization of a nontrivial intermediate fixed point found previously in the Luttinger liquid model with spin. We predict that the dependence of the conductance on gate voltage near the pinch-off transition for different temperatures collapses onto a universal curve described by a crossover scaling function associated with that fixed point. We compute the conductance and critical exponents of the critical point as well as the universal scaling function in solvable limits, which include $g=1\ensuremath{-}ϵ$, g=1/2+ϵg=1/2+ϵg=1/2+ϵ, and g=1/3g=1/\sqrt{3}g=1/3​. These results, along with a general scaling analysis, provide an overall picture of the critical behavior as a function of ggg. In addition, we analyze the structure of the four-terminal conductance of the point contact in the weak tunneling and weak backscattering limits. We find that different components of the conductance can have different temperature dependences. In particular, we identify a skew conductance GXY{G}_{XY}GXY​, which we predict vanishes as ${T}^{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ with $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\ge}2$. This behavior is a direct consequence of the unique edge state structure of the quantum spin Hall insulator. Finally, we show that for strong interactions, g<1/2g<1/2g<1/2, the presence of spin nonconserving spin-orbit interactions leads to a novel time-reversal-symmetry breaking insulating phase. In this phase, the transport is carried by spinless chargons and chargeless spinons. These lead to nontrivial correlations in the low frequency shot noise. Implications for experiments on HgCdTe quantum well structures will be discussed.