We studied the ground state of alkaline-earth-metal atoms confined in one-dimensional optical lattices with an effective hybridization generated by a suitable laser field. This system is modeled by the periodic Anderson model plus a quadratic confining potential, and we adopted the density-matrix renormalization group to calculate its ground state. We found a one-to-one correspondence between the local variance, the local von Neumann entropy, and the on-site spin-spin correlation. For low global densities, we observed the formation of local singlets between delocalized and localized atoms and found Kondo spin-liquid domains that can be tuned with the confining potential, the hybridization, and the local repulsion. Band insulator, metallic, phase separation, and Kondo spin-liquid regions coexist in the ground state.
We calculate the entanglement of the ground state of alkaline-earth-metal fermionic atoms confined in one-dimensional optical lattices. This system can be described using the Kondo lattice model plus a harmonic confining potential, and we adopt the density-matrix renormalization group to study its ground state. We find that the local von Neumann entropy is constant in the insulating domains, and a one-to-one correspondence with the variance of the local density is observed. We show that the average entropy and its derivative are useful tools for identifying quantum transitions in impurity systems.
We have used the density-matrix renormalization group method to study the ground-state properties of the symmetric periodic Anderson model in one dimension. We have considered lattices with up to
Ns=50 sites, and electron densities ranging from quarter to half filling. Through the calculation of energies, correlation functions, and their structure factors, together with careful extrapolations (toward ${N}_{s}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$), we were able to map out a phase diagram
Uvsn, where
U is the electronic repulsion on
f orbitals, and
n is the electronic density, for a fixed value of the hybridization. At quarter filling,
n=1, our data is consistent with a transition at ${U}_{{c}_{1}}\ensuremath{\simeq}2$, between a paramagnetic (PM) metal and a spin-density-wave (SDW) insulator; overall, the region $U\ensuremath{\lesssim}2$ corresponds to a PM metal for all
n<2. For $1<n\ensuremath{\lesssim}1.5$ a ferromagnetic phase is present within a range of
U, while for $1.5\ensuremath{\lesssim}n<2$, we find an incommensurate SDW phase; above a certain
Uc(n), the system displays a Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida behavior, in which the magnetic wave vector is determined by the occupation of the conduction band. At half filling, the system is an insulating spin liquid, but with a crossover between weak and strong magnetic correlations.
We study the ground-state properties of an extended periodic Anderson model to understand the role of Hund's coupling between localized and itinerant electrons using the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm. By calculating the von Neumann entropies we show that two phase transitions occur and two new phases appear as the hybridization is increased in the symmetric half-filled case due to the competition between Kondo effect and Hund's coupling. In the intermediate phase, which is bounded by two critical points, we found a dimerized ground state, while in the other spatially homogeneous phases the ground state is Haldane-like and Kondo-singlet-like, respectively. We also determine the entanglement spectrum and the entanglement diagram of the system by calculating the mutual information thereby clarifying the structure of each phase.
We study the ground-state properties of spin-1/2 fermionic atoms confined in a one-dimensional optical superlattice with harmonic confinement by using the density-matrix renormalization group method. For this purpose, we consider an ionic Hubbard model that has superlattice potentials with two-site periodicity. We find that several different types of insulating regimes coexist even if the number of atoms at each site is not an integer, but its average within the unit cell is an integer or half integer. This is contrasted to the coexisting phase of the metallic and Mott-insulating regimes known for the ordinary Hubbard model in an optical lattice. The phase characteristics are elucidated by investigating the profiles of the atom density, the local density (spin) fluctuations, the double occupation probability, and the spin correlations in detail.
Ground-state properties of fermionic mixtures confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice are studied numerically within the spinless Falicov-Kimball model with a harmonic trap. A number of remarkable results are found. i) At low particle filling the system exhibits phase separation with heavy atoms in the center of the trap and light atoms in the surrounding regions. ii) Insulating phases always coexist with metallic phases. iii) Atomic-density waves are observed in the insulating regions for all particle fillings near the half-filled lattice case. iv) The variance of the local density exhibits universal behavior (independent of the particle filling, the Coulomb interaction and the strength of a confining potential) over the whole region of the local density values.