This thesis focuses on the study of dissipative quantum impurity models. Quantum impurity models describe a localized quantum system, known as the impurity, that interacts with a large quantum bath, enabling the exploration of essential phenomena such as the Kondo effect in magnetic impurities and the transport properties in quantum dots. An intriguing extension of these models is the exploration of the interplay between strong correlations and dissipation. Dissipation, often described by the Lindblad master equation in its Markovian limit, introduces challenges and opportunities as it interacts with coherent many-body effects. In this thesis, we want to investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum impurity systems influenced by both strong correlations and dissipation across four main parts. We begin by developing numerical methods, specifically a diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique, to analyze the real-time dynamics of dissipative quantum impurity models. Our findings demonstrate that local Markovian dissipation enhances the convergence of Monte Carlo sampling by constraining the process to a reduced subspace of diagrams. This effectively mitigates the sign problem and facilitates the exploration of longer time scales compared to conventional unitary approaches. In the second part, we derive a self-consistent dynamical map using the Non-Crossing Approximation to study the long-term behavior of dissipative quantum impurity models. This method effectively resums diagrams into a self-consistent Dyson equation, capturing essential non-Markovian environmental effects, including the Kondo effect. In a third part, we examine the relationship between Kondo physics and Markovian dissipation by investigating an interacting quantum dot coupled to a metallic bath under continuous charge monitoring. We identify a crossover from Kondo screening to the Quantum Zeno effect, effectively described by a non-Hermitian Kondo model in the weak dissipation regime. Finally, the last part explores the effects of particle losses on the Kondo effect and the Kondo-Zeno crossover. Preliminary results indicate that while single-particle losses reduce many-body effects, two-body losses introduce intriguing phenomena, such as spin decay and hints of the Kondo-Zeno crossover, along with an unusual spectral function exhibiting a low-frequency lineshape.
In this thesis, we describe methods for solving quantum impurity models out of equilibrium, and consider several applications of these methods. Quantum impurity models describe systems in which a small subsystem (the impurity) is coupled to a large external environment (the bath). These models are useful in describing a wide variety of physical systems, including quantum dots, absorbed adatoms, and molecular junctions. They are also important for the study of lattice models, such as the Hubbard model, where they appear as auxiliary problems within the framework of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). Many interesting phenomena in these systems, such as transport through a quantum dot, or optical pumping of a Mott insulator, occur away from equilibrium. Theoretical description of these phenomena requires methods that are capable of handling both real time evolution and strong correlation effects presenting a formidable challenge. In this thesis, we describe several methods for the solution of non-equilibrium quantum impurity models which meet this challenge. These methods are based on an expansion in the coupling between the impurity and the bath known as the hybridization expansion. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to the problems addressed in this thesis. Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of Keldysh formalism for nonequilibrium problems. Chapter 3 describes the bare hybridization expansion for the Anderson impurity model as well as its bold extensions. In particular we derive the non-crossing approximation (NCA), the one-crossing approximation (OCA), the inchworm expansion, and a bold expansion for the impurity Green's function. Chapter 4 describes the implementation of a quantum Monte Carlo algorithm based on the inchworm expansion. The rest of the thesis describes applications of these algorithms to problems of physical interest. Chapters 5 and 6 apply the methods previously described to understanding the Kondo effect in quantum dot systems. The first chapter examines the behavior of the Kondo effect under an applied voltage bias, a classic non-equilibrium strongly-correlated problem. The second chapter examines different ways of measuring the cloud of electrons which screen the impurity spin in the Kondo regime. Chapters 7 and 8 apply the same methods to the Hubbard model using the Dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) mapping. The first chapter studies the Hubbard model in equilibrium using the numerically exact inchworm quantum Monte Carlo method. The second chapter studies the possibility of dynamic switching between the metal and Mott-insulator states of the Hubbard model using the one-crossing approximation (OCA). Finally chapter 9 gives some overall conclusions and suggests future directions for the development of hybridization expansion methods.
We study a dissipative version of the Anderson Impurity model, where an interacting impurity is coupled to a fermionic reservoir and exposed to Markovian dissipation in the form of two-body losses. Using a self-consistent hybridization expansion based on the Non-Crossing Approximation (NCA) we compute the dynamics of the impurity, its steady-state and spectral function. We show that the interplay between strong Coulomb repulsion and correlated dissipation gives rise to robust signatures of Kondo physics both at weak and strong losses. These include a strongly suppressed spin relaxation rate, displaying a characteristic Kondo-Zeno crossover and a spectral function where doublon band is quickly destroyed by dissipation while the coherent Kondo peak remains visible for weak losses, then disappears at intermediate values and finally re-emerge as the system enters in the Kondo-Zeno regime. As compared to the case of single particle losses we show that two-body dissipation protects Kondo physics. The picture obtained with NCA is confirmed by numerical simulations of exact dynamics on finite-size chains. We interpret these results using a dissipative Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, which leads to an effective Kondo model with residual impurity-bath losses which are suppressed by strong correlations or strong losses.
Dissipative quantum impurity models Cette thèse porte sur l’étude des modèles d’impureté quantique dissipatifs. Les modèles d’impureté quantique décrivent un système quantique localisé, appelé impureté, qui interagit avec un réservoir quantique, permettant d’explorer des phénomènes essentiels tels que l’effet Kondo dans les impuretés magnétiques et les propriétés de transport. Une extension intéressante de ces modèles consiste à explorer l’interaction entre les fortes corrélations et la dissipation. La dissipation, souvent décrite par l’équation maîtresse de Lindblad dans sa limite Markovienne, présente des défis et des opportunités en interagissant avec les effets cohérents à N-corps. Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons à étudier les dynamiques hors équilibre des systèmes d’impureté quantique influencés à la fois par les fortes corrélations et la dissipation. Nous commençons par développer des méthodes numériques, notamment une technique de Monte Carlo diagrammatique, pour analyser la dynamique en temps réel des modèles d’impureté quantique dissipatifs. Nos résultats montrent que la dissipation Markovienne locale améliore la convergence de l’échantillonnage Monte Carlo en restreignant le processus à un sous-espace réduit de diagrammes. Cela permet de réduire efficacement le problème de signe et facilite l’exploration de plus longues échelles de temps par rapport aux approches unitaires usuelles. Dans la deuxième partie, nous dérivons une carte dynamique auto-cohérente en utilisant l’Approximation Sans Croisement (NCA) pour étudier le comportement à long temps des modèles d’impureté quantique dissipatifs. Cette méthode résume efficacement les diagrammes dans une équation de Dyson auto-cohérente, capturant des effets environnementaux non-markoviens essentiels, y compris l’effet Kondo. Dans la troisième partie, nous examinons la relation entre la physique de Kondo et la dissipation markovienne en étudiant une boîte quantique interactive couplée à un réservoir métallique sous une surveillance continue de sa charge. Nous mettons en évidence un crossover entre le régime de Kondo et l’effet Zeno quantique, modélisé par un Kondo non hermitien, qui montre la robustesse de l’effet Kondo sous faible dissipation. Enfin, la dernière partie explore les effets des pertes de particules sur l’effet Kondo et la transition Kondo-Zeno. Les résultats préliminaires indiquent que, bien que les pertes d’une seule particule réduisent significativement les effets collectifs à N-corps, les pertes à deux corps introduisent des phénomènes intrigants, tels qu’une décroissance du spin et des indices de la transition Kondo-Zeno, ainsi qu’une fonction spectrale inhabituelle présentant une forme de ligne à basse fréquence.
We develop a diagrammatic Monte Carlo method for the real-time dynamics of dissipative quantum impurity models. These are small open quantum systems with interaction and local Markovian dissipation, coupled to a large quantum bath. Our algorithm samples the hybridization expansion formulated on a single real-time contour, rather than on the double Keldysh one, as it naturally arises in the thermofield/vectorized representation of the Lindblad dynamics. We show that local Markovian dissipation generally helps the convergence of the diagrammatic Monte Carlo sampling by reducing the sign problem, thus allowing to reach longer timescales as compared to the conventional unitary case. We apply our method to an Anderson impurity model in the presence of local dephasing and discuss its effect on the charge and spin dynamics of the impurity.
This thesis contributes to the understanding of impurity models. It is divided into two main parts, with a general introduction given in Part I and the research related to it presented in Part II, with the second part being subdivided into two main projects. In the first project, the influence of two many-body effects, the Kondo effect and the Fermi edge singularity, on the absorption and emission spectra of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) is examined. Whereas the Kondo effect so far was always examined with transport experiments, we show that it has been observed with optical methods for the first time, by comparing experimental data for the absorption line shapes of QDs to calculations with the numerical renormalization group. We continue by examining a QD with strong optical coupling of the energy levels. The resulting interplay of Rabi-oscillations and Kondo effect leads to a new many-body state, a secondary, outer Kondo effect, with Kondo-like correlations between the spin-Kondo and the trion state. The last work regarding optics at QDs addresses the Fermi edge singularity. We show that for QDs this phenomenon can be described numerically on a quantitative level. The second project concerns transport properties of impurity models. First, we present a comprehensive study of the Kondo effect for an InAs-nanowire QD, a system for which the Kondo effect was observed only a few years ago. The second study regarding transport concerns the Kondo effect in bulk metals with magnetic impurities. Although nowadays the Kondo effect is often studied with QDs, it was discovered for iron impurities in noble metals like gold and silver. However, it was unknown for a long time which exact realization of Kondo model describes these systems. We identify the model by comparing numerical calculations for the magnetoresistivity and the dephasing rate for different models to experimental results. The third work about transport concerns the phenomenon that for a fixed type of Kondo model quantities like the magnetoresistivity or the conductivity, respectively, can be scaled onto a universal curve for different parameters, when energies are rescaled with the the Kondo temperature
TK, since it is the only relevant low energy scale of the problem. For finite bandwidth, however, different definitions of
TK (which coincide in the limit of infinite bandwidth) lead to different
TK-values. We show that with a very common definition of
TK, finite bandwidth, which is always present at numerical calculations, can deteriorate the universality of rescaled curves, and we offer an alternative definition of
TK which ensures proper scaling. In the last study presented in this thesis we calculate the Fermi-liquid coefficients for fully screened multi-channel Kondo models. For temperatures below
TK, these models show Fermi-liquid behavior, and the impurity density of states and certain quantities which depend on it, like resistivity, show quadratic dependencies on parameters like temperature or magnetic field, described by the Fermi-liquid coefficients. We calculate these coefficients both analytically and numerically.
Continuously monitoring a quantum system can strongly affect its properties and even suppress its coherent evolution via the Quantum Zeno effect. Here we focus on one of the simplest entangled many-body state, arising via the Kondo effect in a strongly interacting quantum dot coupled to a metallic bath, and investigate the effect of continuous monitoring of the dot total charge. We show that the decay rate of an initially polarized spin displays a crossover from Kondo screening to Quantum Zeno effect. Remarkably, the long-lived Kondo state is robust to weak dissipation, as confirmed by the dot spectral function which features a clear Kondo peak at finite dissipation, even in a regime where charge fluctuations and the associated Hubbard bands have been quenched by the monitoring protocol. We derive an effective model for the long-time dynamics which is described, at weak dissipation, by a non-Hermitian Kondo model. The continuous monitoring of entangled many-body states can strongly affect their properties. Here, the authors theoretically show a crossover from Kondo to Zeno screening for an interacting quantum dot coupled to a metallic bath with dissipation.