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arXiv:2305.10297

Auxiliary-Bath Numerical Renormalization Group Method and Successive Collective Screening in Multi-Impurity Kondo Systems

Danqing Hu, Jiangfan Wang, Yi‐feng Yang

Published May 17, 2023• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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 $C_3$ 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.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2305.10297

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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 C3C_3C3​ 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.
Probing Collective and Individual Kondo Screening: Multi-Stage, Multi-Channel Kondo Effects in a C3C_3C3​-Symmetric Four-Impurity Model
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Solving quantum impurity problems may advance our understanding of strongly correlated electron physics, but its development in multi-impurity systems has been greatly hindered due to the presence of shared bath. Here, we propose a general operation strategy to disentangle the shared bath into multiple auxiliary baths and relate the problem to a spectral decomposition problem of function matrix for applying the numerical renormalization group (NRG). We prove exactly that such decomposition is possible for models satisfying (block) circulant symmetry, and show how to construct the auxiliary baths for arbitrary impurity configuration by mapping its graph structure to the subgraph of a regular impurity configuration. We further propose an approximate decomposition algorithm to reduce the number of auxiliary baths and save the computational workload. Our work reveals a deep connection between quantum impurity problems and the graph theory, and provides a general scheme to extend the NRG applications for realistic multi-impurity systems.
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.
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 sss- and ddd-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.
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
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.