Pathway to Kondo physics in quantum wires coupled to a repulsive spin impurity and manifestations in ytterbium atoms
Jeff Maki, Lidia Stocker, Oded Zilberberg
The Kondo effect is a paradigmatic model of strongly correlated physics, where a magnetic impurity forms a many-body singlet with a fermionic environment. The properties of this singlet depend sensitively on correlations within the environment, which are particularly pronounced in one dimension, where interactions give rise to Luttinger liquid behavior. A promising platform to study these effects is provided by cold gases of ytterbium (Yb) atoms, where an atomic impurity is coupled to an interacting one-dimensional fermionic environment via both magnetic and potential scattering. These two scattering mechanisms compete with each other, raising the question of how robust Kondo screening remains in such systems. Here, we show that potential scattering can suppress Kondo screening in one-dimensional Yb gases. Remarkably, however, Kondo physics persists in well-defined regimes determined by the interactions in the environment. Combining analytical renormalization-group methods with density-matrix renormalization-group simulations, we identify a transition from a strongly to a weakly entangled impurity as potential scattering increases. The two approaches are in excellent agreement across the parameter regimes considered. Our results provide a quantitative criterion for the emergence of Kondo screening in one-dimensional Yb gases and delineate experimentally accessible regimes for its realization in cold-atom platforms.
arXiv:2601.11449•Physical Review Research•May 3, 2026•0 citations