In this paper, we examine the dynamical charge-Kondo-breakdown scenario proposed for cuprate superconductors within the perspective of renormalization group (RG) topology. By analyzing the coupled RG flow equations governing the effective low-energy theory, we determine the fixed-point structure, stability properties, and global organization of the flow. We find that the putative finite-coupling interacting fixed point is unstable against perturbations transverse to an invariant critical manifold. As a result, generic RG trajectories exhibit runaway behavior. To elucidate the global structure of the theory, we combine analytical solutions of the flow equations with numerical phase portraits and Poincaré compactification. This analysis reveals that the interacting fixed point exhibits a marginally relevant instability, generating an exponentially large but finite crossover scale. The resulting flow topology closely resembles anisotropy-driven runaway flows encountered in fluctuation-induced weakly first-order transitions. Within this framework, the apparent quantum-critical regime can be understood as an extended crossover controlled by a near-critical fixed point, rather than by asymptotic scale invariance. The results obtained indicate that the existence of extended scaling behavior does not, by itself, imply the presence of a stable interacting quantum critical state. More generally, our analysis demonstrates how RG topology can provide a powerful diagnostic for distinguishing genuine criticality from pseudo-critical behavior in theories of strongly correlated quantum matter.
In this paper, we examine the dynamical charge-Kondo-breakdown scenario proposed for cuprate superconductors within the perspective of renormalization group (RG) topology. By analyzing the coupled RG flow equations governing the effective low-energy theory, we determine the fixed-point structure, stability properties, and global organization of the flow. We find that the putative finite-coupling interacting fixed point is unstable against perturbations transverse to an invariant critical manifold. As a result, generic RG trajectories exhibit runaway behavior. To elucidate the global structure of the theory, we combine analytical solutions of the flow equations with numerical phase portraits and Poincaré compactification. This analysis reveals that the interacting fixed point exhibits a marginally relevant instability, generating an exponentially large but finite crossover scale. The resulting flow topology closely resembles anisotropy-driven runaway flows encountered in fluctuation-induced weakly first-order transitions. Within this framework, the apparent quantum-critical regime can be understood as an extended crossover controlled by a near-critical fixed point, rather than by asymptotic scale invariance. The results obtained indicate that the existence of extended scaling behavior does not, by itself, imply the presence of a stable interacting quantum critical state. More generally, our analysis demonstrates how RG topology can provide a powerful diagnostic for distinguishing genuine criticality from pseudo-critical behavior in theories of strongly correlated quantum matter.
Spin-boson models are simple examples of quantum dissipative systems, but also serve as effective models in quantum magnetism and exhibit nontrivial criticality. Recently, they have been established as a platform to study the nontrivial renormalization-group (RG) scenario of fixed-point annihilation, in which two intermediate-coupling RG fixed points collide and generate an extremely slow RG flow near the collision. For the Bose Kondo model, a single S=1/2 spin where each spin component couples to an independent bosonic bath with power-law spectrum ∝ωs via dissipation strengths αi, i∈{x,y,z}, such phenomena occur sequentially for the U(1)-symmetric model at αz=0 and the SU(2)-symmetric case at αz=αxy, as the bath exponent s<1 is tuned. Here we use an exact wormhole quantum Monte Carlo method for retarded interactions to explore how this nontrivial fixed-point structure affects the phase diagram and phase transitions of the anisotropic model. In particular, we show how fixed-point annihilation within a symmetry-enhanced critical manifold leads to (i) a continuous order-to-order transition beyond the Landau paradigm, (ii) a symmetry-enhanced first-order transition, and (iii) pseudocriticality, which can be tuned into each other via the bath exponent s. We extract critical exponents at the continuous transition, but also find scaling behavior at the symmetry-enhanced first-order transition, for which the inverse correlation-length exponent is given by the bath exponent s. Moreover, we provide direct numerical evidence for pseudocritical scaling on both sides of the fixed-point collision, which manifests in an extremely slow drift of the correlation-length exponent. We also study the crossover away from the SU(2)-symmetric case and determine the phase boundary of an extended U(1)-symmetric critical phase.
We investigate theoretically the quantum phase transition (QPT) between the one-channel Kondo (1CK) and two-channel Kondo (2CK) fixed points in a quantum dot coupled to helical edge states of interacting 2D topological insulators (2DTI) with Luttinger parameter 0 < K < 1 . The model was studied by Law et al (2010 Phys. Rev. B 81 041305(R) ), and was mapped onto an anisotropic two-channel Kondo model via bosonization. For K < 1 , the strong coupling 2CK fixed point was argued to be stable for infinitesimally weak tunnelings between the dot and the 2DTI based on a simple scaling dimensional analysis (Law et al 2010 Phys. Rev. B 81 041305(R) . We re-examine this model beyond the bare scaling dimension analysis via a one-loop renormalization group (RG) approach combined with bosonization and re-fermionization techniques near weak-coupling and strong-coupling (2CK) fixed points. We find for a fixed value of K < 1 that the 2CK fixed point can be unstable towards the 1CK fixed point and the system is expected to undergo a quantum phase transition between 1CK and 2CK fixed points with changing Kondo couplings. Our RG approach is controlled near K = 1. In general, this QPT can also occur upon tuning the Luttinger parameter K to a critical value K c smaller than unity ( 0 < K c < 1 ) for fixed Konodo couplings. The QPT in our model comes as a result of the combined Kondo and the helical Luttinger physics in 2DTI, and it serves as the first example of the 1CK-2CK QPT that is accessible by the controlled RG approach. We extract quantum critical and crossover behaviors from various thermodynamical quantities near the transition. Our results are robust against particle-hole asymmetry for 1 2 < K < 1 .
In this thesis, several cases of non-equilibrium phenomena and quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated electron systems are analyzed. The unconventional critical behavior near magnetic quantum phase transitions in various heavy-fermion metals has triggered proposals on the breakdown of the Kondo effect at the critical point. In part I, we investigate, within one specific scenario, the fate of such a zero-temperature transition upon coupling of the electronic to lattice degrees of freedom. We study a Kondo-Heisenberg model with volume-dependent Kondo coupling � this model displays both Kondo volume collapse and Kondo-breakdown transitions. Within a large-N treatment, we find that the Kondo breakdown transition remains of second order except for very soft lattices. Finally, we relate our findings to current heavy-fermion experiments. Using non-equilibrium Green�s functions, we derive transport equations for the degrees of freedom participating in the quantum critical region of the Kondo breakdown transition. We discuss conditions under which the transport of electrical charge is described by the independent motion of conduction electrons and auxiliary bosons. Under these conditions, we derive a semiclassical transport equation for the bosons and quantitatively discuss the electrical conductivity of the whole system. Motivated by pressure experiments on FeAs-122 superconductors, in part II we propose a scenario based on local-moment physics to explain salient features at the magnetic phase boundary of CaFe2As2. In this scenario, the low-pressure magnetic phase derives from Fe moments, which become screened in the paramagnetic high-pressure phase. The quantum phase transition can be described as an orbital-selective Mott transition, which is rendered first order by coupling to the lattice. These ideas are illustrated by a suitable mean-field analysis of an Anderson lattice model. An analytical description of non-equilibrium phenomena in interacting quantum systems is rarely possible. In part III we present one example where such a description can be achieved, namely the ferromagnetic Kondo model. In equilibrium, this model is tractable via perturbative renormalization-group techniques. We employ a recently developed extension of the flow-equation method to calculate the non-equilibrium decay of the local magnetization at zero temperature. The flow equations admit analytical solutions which become exact at short and long times, in the latter case revealing that the system always retains a memory of its initial state. Finally, in part IV we analyze the Nernst effect resulting from normal state quasiparticles in the cuprates in presence of various types of translational symmetry breaking. In the electron-doped cuprates, the Nernst signal resulting from a reconstruction of the Fermi surface due to spin density wave order is discussed. An order parameter consistent with the reconstruction of the Fermi surface detected in electron-doped materials is shown to sharply enhance the Nernst signal close to optimal doping. Within a semiclassical treatment, the obtained magnitude and position of the enhanced Nernst signal agrees with Nernst measurements in electron-doped cuprates. In the hole-doped cuprates, we discuss relations between the normal-state Nernst effect and stripe order. We find that Fermi pockets caused by translational symmetry breaking lead to a strongly enhanced Nernst signal with a sign depending on the modulation period of the ordered state and other details of the Fermi surface. This implies differences between antiferromagnetic and charge-only stripes. We compare our findings with recent data from La1.6−xNd0.4SrxCuO4 and YBa2Cu3Oy.
Abstract Long-range interactions in one-dimensional quantum systems can qualitatively modify low-energy critical behavior and provide a natural setting for exploring unconventional phase transitions beyond short-range Tomonaga—Luttinger liquid physics. In this work, we study a one-dimensional XXZ spin chain with transverse long-range interactions and an explicit dimerization perturbation. Using bosonization and weak-coupling renormalization group (RG) analysis, we derive the RG flow equations. The resulting weak-coupling phase diagram contains a gapless Tomonaga—Luttinger liquid, an explicitly dimerized phase, and a continuous symmetry breaking (CSB) phase induced by the transverse long-range interaction. We further analyze the collapse point at which the two perturbations become simultaneously marginal. A stability analysis of the corresponding doubly marginal Gaussian fixed point shows that it is weakly unstable rather than a stable multicritical infrared fixed point, thereby giving rise to a pseudo-multicritical crossover over large length scales. Similar physics may be accessible in Rydberg-atom systems, offering a controllable theoretical and experimental platform for exploring long-range interaction effects and crossover behavior in one-dimensional quantum systems.
The numerical renormalization group is employed to study a double quantum (DQD) dot system consisting of two equivalent single-level dots, each coupled to its own lead and with a mutual capacitive coupling embodied in an interdot interaction U', in addition to the intradot Coulomb interaction U. We focus on the regime with two electrons on the DQD, and the evolution of the system on increasing U'/U. The spin-Kondo effect arising for U'=0 (SU(2) x SU(2)) is found to persist robustly with increasing U'/U, before a rapid but continuous crossover to (a) the SU(4) point U'=U where charge and spin degrees of freedom are entangled and the Kondo scale strongly enhanced; and then (b) a charge-Kondo state, in which a charge-pseudospin is quenched on coupling to the leads/conduction channels. A quantum phase transition of Kosterlitz-Thouless type then occurs from this Fermi liquid, strong coupling (SC) phase, to a broken symmetry, non-Fermi liquid charge ordered (CO) phase at a critical U'_c. Our emphasis in this paper is on the structure, stability and flows between the underlying RG fixed points, on the overall phase diagram in the (U,U')-plane and evolution of the characteristic low-energy Kondo scale inherent to the SC phase; and on static physical properties such as spin- and charge-susceptibilities (staggered and uniform), including universality and scaling behaviour in the strongly correlated regime. Some exact results for associated Wilson ratios are also obtained.
We determine the global renormalization group (RG) flow of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. From a controlled truncation of the infinite hierarchy of the exact functional RG flow equations, we identify several fixed points. Apart from a stable fixed point, associated with the celebrated non-Fermi liquid state of the model, we find another stable fixed point related to an integer-valence state. These stable fixed points are separated by a discontinuity fixed point with one relevant direction, describing a quantum first-order transition. Most notably, the fermionic spectrum continues to be quantum critical even at the discontinuity fixed point. This rules out a description of the transition in terms of a local effective Ising variable as is established for classical transitions. We propose an entangled quantum state at phase coexistence as a possible physical origin of this critical behavior.