The multichannel Kondo model exhibits non-Fermi-liquid behavior in the overscreened case, when the number of channels, k, is greater than twice the size of the impurity spin, s. We show that, for overscreening, exchange anisotropy is irrelevant at the low-temperature fixed point for s=1/2 or s=k/2-1/2, but relevant for all other values of s. However, an external field or channel asymmetry is relevant, producing crossover to Fermi-liquid fixed points with different phase shifts for each spin in the first case and for each channel in the second. These results are elucidated by explicit comparison of analytic finite-size spectra derived from conformal field theory with those obtained from numerical renormalization-group calculations. The relevance of the results (for k=2 and s=1/2) to the quadrupolar Kondo Hamiltonian (which has been proposed as a model for many uranium-based heavy-fermion materials) will be briefly discussed. Also, a larger, a/Isymplectic symmetry Sp(2k) is shown to be present in the k-channel Kondo model.
The multichannel Kondo model with
SU(N) spin symmetry and
SU(K) channel symmetry is considered. The impurity spin is chosen to transform as an antisymmetric representation of
SU(N), corresponding to a fixed number of Abrikosov fermions ${\ensuremath{\sum}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}{f}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}{f}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}=Q.$ For more than one channel
(K>1), and all values of
N and
Q, the model displays non-Fermi behavior associated with the overscreening of the impurity spin. Universal low-temperature thermodynamic and transport properties of this non-Fermi-liquid state are computed using conformal field theory methods. A large-
N limit of the model is then considered, in which $K/N\ensuremath{\equiv}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $Q/N\ensuremath{\equiv}{q}_{0}$ are held fixed. Spectral densities satisfy coupled integral equations in this limit, corresponding to a (time-dependent) saddle point. A low-frequency, low-temperature analysis of these equations reveals universal scaling properties in the variable $\ensuremath{\omega}/T,$ in agreement with conformal invariance. The universal scaling form is obtained analytically and used to compute the low-temperature universal properties of the model in the large-
N limit, such as the
T=0 residual entropy and residual resistivity, and the critical exponents associated with the specific heat and susceptibility. The connections with the ``noncrossing approximation'' and the previous work of Cox and Ruckenstein are discussed.
The phase diagram of the multichannel Kondo Hamiltonian with an
XXZ spin-exchange anisotropy is revisited, revealing a far richer fixed-point structure than previously appreciated. For a spin-
21 impurity and
k>2 conduction-electron channels, a second ferromagneticlike domain is found deep inside the antiferromagnetic regime. The new domain extends above a (typically large) critical longitudinal coupling
Jz∗>0 and is separated from the antiferromagnetic domain by a second Kosterlitz-Thouless line. A similar line of stable ferromagneticlike fixed points with a residual isospin-
21 local moment is shown to exist for large ${J}_{z}⪢\ensuremath{\mid}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\ensuremath{\mid}>0$ and arbitrary
k and
s obeying $\ensuremath{\mid}k\ensuremath{-}2s\ensuremath{\mid}>1$. Here,
Jz is the longitudinal spin-exchange coupling, ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ is the transverse coupling, and
s is the impurity spin. Near the free-impurity fixed point, spin-exchange anisotropy generates a highly relevant term for
s>1∕2 and arbitrary
k. Depending on the sign of ${J}_{z}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{2}$ and the parity of
2s, the system flows either to a conventional Fermi liquid with no residual degeneracy or to a
k-channel, spin-
21 Kondo effect or to a line of ferromagneticlike fixed points with a residual isospin-
21 local moment. These results are obtained through a combination of perturbative renormalization-group techniques, Abelian bosonization, a strong-coupling expansion in
1∕Jz, and explicit numerical renormalization-group calculations.
We study an exchange interaction in which conduction electrons with pseudospin
Sc=3/2 interact with the impurity spin
SI=1/2. Due to the overscreening of the impurity spin by higher conduction electron spin, a nontrivial intermediate-coupling-strength fixed point is realized. Using the numerical renormalization group (NRG), we show that the low-energy spectra are described by a non-Fermi-liquid excitation spectrum. A conformal field theory analysis is compared with NRG results and excellent agreement is obtained. Using the double-fusion rule to generate the operator spectrum with the conformal theory, we find that the specific heat coefficient and magnetic susceptibility will diverge as ${\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2\mathrm{/}3}$, that the scaling dimension of an applied magnetic field is 5/6, and that exchange anisotropy is always relevant. We discuss the possible relevance of our work to two-level-system Kondo materials and dilute cerium alloys, and we point out a paradox in understanding the Bethe-ansatz solutions to the multichannel Kondo model.
We consider the single-channel Kondo problem with the Kondo coupling between a spin
S impurity and conduction electrons with spin
j. These problems arise as multicritical points in the parameter spaces of two-and higher-level tunneling systems and some impurity models of heavy fermion compounds. In contrast to the previous Bethe-ansatz conjectures, it turns out that the dynamics of the spin sector is the same as that of a spin-
S impurity coupled to
k(j) channels of spin-\textonehalf{} electrons with
k(j)=23j(j+1)(2j+1). As a result, for
2S<k(j), the system shows non-Fermi-liquid behavior with the same exponents for the thermodynamic quantities as those of the
k(j)-channel Kondo problem. However, both the finite-size spectrum and the operator content are different due to the presence of the other sectors and can be obtained by conformal field theory techniques.
In the Kondo problem the overscreened multichannel model is the only one that can be assessed perturbatively. However, until now there are still problems remaining in studies by means of a perturbative renormalization group due to the absence of a proper treatment on the constraint of the pseudofermion. In this paper we try to settle these problems. We studied the general overscreened multichannel Kondo problem by means of a field-theory renormalization group with the technique of treating the pseudofermion constraint as developed recently. We calculated the critical exponent, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, residue entropy, and Wilson ratio for the overscreened multichannel Kondo model. From these results we conclude that all overscreened multichannel Kondo models with the same channel number
K but different
S have the same fixed point properties. Therefore, they belong to the same universal class, which agrees with the result obtained by Bethe ansatz and conformal field theory.
A conformal-field-theory approach has recently been developed for quantum-impurity problems including the ``overscreened'' multichannel Kondo model. We present the details of our calculation of the single-fermion Green's function. The universal zero-temperature resistivity and leading temperature-dependent term are derived. Effects of particle-hole symmetry breaking are included. We also give our perturbative proof of the ``g theorem'' governing the change in residual entropy under a renormalization-group flow between two boundary fixed points.