We derive the transport properties of a quantum impurity system, often realized as a quantum dot, subject to a source-drain bias voltage at zero temperature and magnetic field. Using the Scattering Bethe Anstaz(SBA), a generalization of the traditional Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz(TBA) to open systems out of equilibrium, we derive some transport results for the small quantum dot, described by Anderson impurity Hamiltonian. Exact dot occupation out of equilibrium and the nonlinear conductance are obtained by introducing phenomenological spin- and charge-fluctuation distribution functions in the computation of the current. The current and dot occupation as a function of voltage are evaluated numerically. We also vary the gate voltage and study the transition from the mixed valence to the Kondo regime in the presence of a non-equilibrium current. For the larger quantum dot the Interacting Resonance Level Model is used to describe the strog correlation problem in this system. We show some current vs voltage results and compare with other theoretical results. We conclude with the difficulties we encountered by using this method and suggest some future extensions related to this SBA approach.
Recently the authors developed a scattering approach that allows for a complete description of the steady-state physics of quantum-impurities in and out of equilibrium. Quantum impurities are described using scattering eigenstates defined ab initio on the open, infinite line with asymptotic boundary conditions imposed by the leads. The scattering states on the open line are constructed for integrable quantum-impurity models by means of a significant generalization of the Bethe-Ansatz which we call the Scattering Bethe-Ansatz (SBA). The purpose of the paper is to present in detail the scattering approach to quantum-impurity models and the SBA and show that they reproduce well-known thermodynamic results for several widely studied models: the Resonance Level model, Interacting Resonance Level model and the Kondo model. Though the SBA is more complex than the traditional Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz (TBA) when applied to thermodynamical questions, the scattering approach (SBA) allows access to an array of new questions that cannot be addressed otherwise, ranging from scattering of electrons off magnetic impurities to nonequilibrium dynamics.
Using different techniques, and Fermi-liquid relationships, we calculate the variation with the applied magnetic field (up to second order) of the zero-temperature equilibrium conductance through a quantum dot described by the impurity Anderson model. We focus on the strong-coupling limit $U\ensuremath{\gg}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$, where
U is the Coulomb repulsion and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ is half the resonant-level width, and consider several values of the dot level energy
Ed, ranging from the Kondo regime ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{F}\ensuremath{-}{E}_{d}\ensuremath{\gg}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ to the intermediate-valence regime ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{F}\ensuremath{-}{E}_{d}\ensuremath{\sim}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$, where ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{F}$ is the Fermi energy. We have mainly used the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and the numerical renormalization group (NRG) combined with renormalized perturbation theory (RPT). Results for the dot occupancy and magnetic susceptibility from the DMRG and
NRG+RPT are compared with the corresponding Bethe ansatz results for $U\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, showing an excellent agreement once
Ed is renormalized by a constant Haldane shift. For $U<3\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ a simple perturbative approach in
U agrees very well with the other methods. The conductance decreases with the applied magnetic field for dot occupancies ${n}_{d}\ensuremath{\sim}1$ and increases for ${n}_{d}\ensuremath{\sim}0.5$ or ${n}_{d}\ensuremath{\sim}1.5$ regardless of the value of
U. We also relate the energy scale for the magnetic-field dependence of the conductance with the width of the low-energy peak in the spectral density of the dot.
Correlations are a central ingredient of modern condensed matter physics. With the advent of mesoscopic physics, it became possible to study correlated systems in non-equilibrium situations, which can be reached by e.g. driving a constant current through a quantum dot. A basic question is how correlations on the one hand and a non-equilibrium current on the other hand influence each other. Here this interplay is studied for the model system of a quantum dot in the Kondo regime using the real time renormalization group (RTRG) method. This method is a functional renormalization group (RG) method allowing a non-perturbative description of correlated systems in non-equilibrium. For the Kondo quantum dot the method is generalized to the case of double vertices. The RTRG method not only provides equations for the calculation of the renormalized coupling between the quantum dot spin and the reservoir electrons, but also equations for the calculation of the non-equilibrium decoherence rate and the non-equilibrium current.The RG equations are derived to second order. This approximation is expected to be valid as long as the quantum dot does not enter the strong coupling regime, i.e. the effective coupling strength between the quantum dot spin and the electrons does not become too large. It is found that this is the case if the bias voltage applied to the dot or the temperature is much larger than the Kondo temperature.It is shown that the RG equations lead to coupling functions depending on the energy of the incident and the scattered electron. This dependence is simplified to the dependence on the average energy of the incident and the scattered electron in the weak coupling regime.A closer inspection of the RG equations for the couplings shows that they not only contain terms leading to a logarithmic increase of the coupling strength but also subleading terms which are unimportant in the weak coupling regime. The RG equations are solved analytically for the case where the subleading terms are neglected. It is found that the coupling functions develop resonances at energies associated with the chemical potentials of the reservoirs. The height of these resonances is determined by the decoherence rate. However, for bias voltages much larger than the Kondo temperature these resonances do not affect the conductance for a two terminal setup, so the conductance does not provide a measure for the decoherence rate in this case. It is found that the conductance for the two terminal setup is a universal function of voltage/Kondo temperature and temperature/Kondo temperature in the weak coupling regime. This function is calculated analytically in the limits of vanishing voltage or temperature. Furthermore, it is found that for zero temperature the decoherence rate is proportional to the non-equilibrium current flowing through the system. This supports the physical picture that a non-equilibrium current is associated with a decoherence rate, which cuts the logarithmic scaling of the coupling strength.Finally, the RG equations are solved numerically for zero temperature including the subleading corrections found before. As expected, the subleading corrections have no impact on the decoherence rate and the conductance in the weak coupling regime. On the other hand, it is found that they lead to strong deviations from the results of the analytic leading logarithmic approximation if the bias voltage approaches the Kondo temperature. Generally, it is found that the subleading corrections lead to a saturation of the decoherence rate and the conductance to some finite value. However, for the numerical solution a numerical regularization parameter has to be introduced. It turns out that the saturation value found depends on its value, so no statements on the precise value of the decoherence rate and the current can be made in this regime.
We develop an exact nonperturbative framework to compute steady-state properties of quantum impurities subject to a finite bias. We show that the steady-state physics of these systems is captured by nonequilibrium scattering eigenstates which satisfy an appropriate Lippman-Schwinger equation. Introducing a generalization of the equilibrium Bethe ansatz--the nonequilibrium Bethe ansatz--we explicitly construct the scattering eigenstates for the interacting resonance level model and derive exact, nonperturbative results for the steady-state properties of the system.
The theoretical description of strongly correlated quantum systems out of equilibrium presents several challenges and a number of open questions persist. In this paper we focus on nonlinear electronic transport through an interacting quantum dot maintained at finite bias using a concept introduced by Hershfield [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2134 (1993)] whereby one can express such nonequilibrium quantum impurity models in terms of the system's Lippmann-Schwinger operators. These scattering operators allow one to reformulate the nonequilibrium problem as an effective equilibrium problem associated with a modified Hamiltonian. In this paper we provide a pedagogical analysis of the core concepts of the effective equilibrium theory. First, we demonstrate the equivalence between observables computed using the Schwinger-Keldysh framework and the effective equilibrium approach, and relate the Green's functions in the two theoretical frameworks. Second, we expound some applications of this method in the context of interacting quantum impurity models. We introduce a novel framework to treat effects of interactions perturbatively while capturing the entire dependence on the bias voltage. For the sake of concreteness, we employ the Anderson model as a prototype for this scheme. Working at the particle-hole symmetric point, we investigate the fate of the Abrikosov-Suhl resonance as a function of bias voltage and magnetic field.
We study the nonequilibrium transport properties of fully (exactly) screened Kondo quantum dots subject to a finite bias voltage or a finite temperature. First, we calculate the Fermi-liquid coefficients of the conductance for models with arbitrary spin, i.e., its leading behavior for small bias voltages or temperatures. Second, we determine the low-temperature behavior of the static susceptibility from the exactly known Bethe ansatz results for the magnetization. Third, we study the crossover from strong to weak coupling in the spin-1/2 and the spin-1 models coupled to one or two screening channels, respectively. Using a real-time renormalization group method we calculate the static and dynamical spin-spin correlation functions for the spin-1/2 model as well as the linear and differential conductance and the static susceptibility for the spin-1 model. We define various Kondo scales and discuss their relations. We assess the validity of the renormalization-group treatment by comparing with known results for the temperature dependence of the linear conductance and static susceptibility as well as the Fermi-liquid behavior at low energies.