In this thesis we investigate the physics of two strongly correlated electron systems. The part I of this document is dedicated to the study of the real-time dynamics of the Kondo effect produced by a quench protocol. For it, we consider one or two metallic chains of interacting electrons (Hubbard chains) coupled to a magnetic impurity of spin 1/2. The quench protocol consists of assuming that, for times τ < 0, the chains are decoupled from the impurity, at τ = 0 the coupling is suddenly turned on and, for τ > 0 , the system evolves unitarily in time. We determine an analytical expression for the relaxation of the impurity magnetization in the time regime τ ≪ τK , where τK is the Kondo time. This result was confirmed by numerical calculations performed in our group. Based on these numerical results, we observe that the increase in the interaction U between the electrons in the chains leads to a faster decay of the impurity magnetization, showing that the electron-electron interaction favors the formation of the Kondo effect. Further we studied the time-dependent transport through the impurity, from which we determine, in the interacting case, an analytical expression for the time scale equivalent to the Kondo time. According to the expression we obtained, we conclude that the Kondo scale is reduced when U increases, in agreement with the numerical results mentioned above. In part II of this thesis we investigate the physics of superconducting cuprates, motivated by electronic Raman spectroscopy measurements of the charge density wave (CDW) phase observed in these materials. Through a phenomenological approach, we describe a charge order in the CuO2 plane. Analyzing the spectral properties of the system, we establish that the CDW phase should be more easily detectable in the ω > 0 (above the Fermi level) region of the local density of states. Our results for the B2g Raman response show a general dip-hump behavior, as actually seen in the experiments, which is independent of the system band structure. In contrast, the B1g Raman response is strongly band structure dependent. In the second part of the work, a more general model was proposed, based on the Yang-Rice-Zhang ansatz, which also takes into account the pseudogap (PG) phase. We conclude that the PG phase drives the doping dependence of the CDW energy scale, in agreement with the experiments. This result is suggestive of a PG phase governing the different energy scales of the exotic phases that appear in the underdoped region of the cuprate phase diagram.
In this thesis we investigate the physics of two strongly correlated electron systems. The part I of this document is dedicated to the study of the real-time dynamics of the Kondo effect produced by a quench protocol. For it, we consider one or two metallic chains of interacting electrons (Hubbard chains) coupled to a magnetic impurity of spin 1/2. The quench protocol consists of assuming that, for times τ < 0, the chains are decoupled from the impurity, at τ = 0 the coupling is suddenly turned on and, for τ > 0 , the system evolves unitarily in time. We determine an analytical expression for the relaxation of the impurity magnetization in the time regime τ ≪ τK , where τK is the Kondo time. This result was confirmed by numerical calculations performed in our group. Based on these numerical results, we observe that the increase in the interaction U between the electrons in the chains leads to a faster decay of the impurity magnetization, showing that the electron-electron interaction favors the formation of the Kondo effect. Further we studied the time-dependent transport through the impurity, from which we determine, in the interacting case, an analytical expression for the time scale equivalent to the Kondo time. According to the expression we obtained, we conclude that the Kondo scale is reduced when U increases, in agreement with the numerical results mentioned above. In part II of this thesis we investigate the physics of superconducting cuprates, motivated by electronic Raman spectroscopy measurements of the charge density wave (CDW) phase observed in these materials. Through a phenomenological approach, we describe a charge order in the CuO2 plane. Analyzing the spectral properties of the system, we establish that the CDW phase should be more easily detectable in the ω > 0 (above the Fermi level) region of the local density of states. Our results for the B2g Raman response show a general dip-hump behavior, as actually seen in the experiments, which is independent of the system band structure. In contrast, the B1g Raman response is strongly band structure dependent. In the second part of the work, a more general model was proposed, based on the Yang-Rice-Zhang ansatz, which also takes into account the pseudogap (PG) phase. We conclude that the PG phase drives the doping dependence of the CDW energy scale, in agreement with the experiments. This result is suggestive of a PG phase governing the different energy scales of the exotic phases that appear in the underdoped region of the cuprate phase diagram.
We study the real-time dynamics of the Kondo effect after a quantum quench in which a magnetic impurity is coupled to two metallic Hubbard chains. Using an effective field theory approach, we find that for noninteracting electrons the charge current across the impurity is given by a scaling function that involves the Kondo time. In the interacting case, we show that the Kondo time decreases with the strength of the repulsive interaction and the time dependence of the current reveals signatures of the Kondo effect in a Luttinger liquid. In addition, we verify that the relaxation of the impurity magnetization does not exhibit universal scaling behavior in the perturbative regime below the Kondo time. Our results highlight the role of nonequilibrium dynamics as a valuable tool in the study of quantum impurities in interacting systems.
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.
We study a quantum quench in which a magnetic impurity is suddenly coupled to Hubbard chains, whose low-energy physics is described by Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory. Using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization-group (tDMRG) technique, we analyze the propagation of charge, spin, and entanglement in the chains after the quench and relate the light-cone velocities to the dispersion of holons and spinons. We find that the local magnetization at the impurity site decays faster if we increase the interaction in the chains, even though the spin velocity decreases. We derive an analytical expression for the relaxation of the impurity magnetization which is in good agreement with the tDMRG results at intermediate timescales, providing valuable insight into the time evolution of the Kondo screening cloud in interacting systems.
A detailed derivation of the recently proposed time-dependent numerical renormalization-group (TD-NRG) approach to nonequilibrium dynamics in quantum-impurity systems is presented. We demonstrate that the method is suitable for fermionic as well as bosonic baths. Comparisons with exact analytical results for the charge relaxation in the resonant-level model and for dephasing in the spin-boson model establish the accuracy of the method. The real-time dynamics of a single spin coupled to each type of bath is investigated. We use the TD-NRG to calculate the spin relaxation and spin precession of a single Kondo impurity. The short- and long-time dynamics are studied as a function of temperature in the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regimes. The short-time dynamics agrees very well with analytical results obtained at second order in the exchange coupling J. In the ferromagnetic regime, the transient spin decay is described by the scaling variable $x=2{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{F}\ensuremath{\mid}J(T)\ensuremath{\mid}Tt$. In the antiferromagnetic regime, the long-time decay is governed for T<TK by the Kondo time scale 1∕TK. Here ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{F}$ is the conduction-electron density of states, TK is the Kondo temperature, and J(T) is the effective exchange coupling at temperature T. Results for spin precession are obtained by rotating the external magnetic field from the x axis to the z axis.
The first topic of this thesis is the study of many-body effects in an one-dimensional strongly correlated electronic system - the Kondo lattice model. This system is tackled numerically by means of the density matrix renormalization group, since analytic method, i.e., perturbation the- ory fail due to competing coupling constants. The Kondo lattice model consists of a conduction band of electrons which couple via a spin exchange coupling to a localized spin lattice. We study the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model as a function of the exchange coupling, the band filling, and the quasimomentum in the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. We compute the dispersion relation of the quasiparticles, their lifetimes, and the Z factor. The exact ground state and the quasiparticle-dispersion relation of the Kondo lattice model with one conduction electron are well known. The quasiparticle could be identified as the spin polaron. Our calculations of the dispersion relation for partial band fillings give a result similar to the one-electron case, which suggests that the quasiparticle in both cases is the spin polaron. We find that the quasiparticle lifetime differs by orders of magnitude between the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases and depends strongly on the quasimomentum. Further- more, we study the effects of the Coulomb interaction on the phase diagram, the static magnetic susceptibility and electron spin relaxation. We show that onsite Coulomb interaction supports ferromagnetic order and nearest neighbor Coulomb interaction drives, depending on the elec- tron filling, either a paramagnetic or ferromagnetic order. Furthermore, we calculate electron quasiparticle life times, which can be related to electron spin relaxation and decoherence times, and explain their dependence on the strength of interactions and the electron filling in order to find the sweet spot of parameters where the relaxation time is maximized. We find that effective exchange processes between the electrons dominate the spin relaxation and decoherence rate. In the second topic of this thesis, we numerically calculate the electron transport through carbon nanotube based quantum dot devices. We use a master equation’s approach in first order of the tunneling rate to the leads and an extended constant interaction model to model the carbon nanotube system. This work has been done in collaboration with two experimental groups and we compare their respective experimentally obtained data to our numerical calculations. In both collaborations striking similarity between the numerical data and the experimental data is found. In the first collaboration transport through a carbon nanotube peapod, i.e, a carbon nanotube filled with fullerenes, has been measured. We identify a small hybridization between a fullerene molecule and the surrounding carbon nanotube to be of crucial importance for the understanding of the transport data. In the second collaboration, electron transport through a carbon nanotube rope, i.e., a bundle of carbon nanotubes has been measured. Also here, hybridization between the different nanotubes plays a crucial role. Furthermore, an external magnetic field is applied, which enables the identification of specific spin states of the compound quantum dot system. This might be important for future applications of such devices in spin-dependent electronics.
In this dissertation we investigate superconductivity in strongly correlated systems, with a specific focus on copper oxides, known as cuprates. These materials exhibit a variety of emerging phases as we vary parameters such as temperature, doping, and pressure. In addition to the superconducting phase, other phases, such as the pseudogap, remain poorly understood. The pseudogap phase is characterized by a suppression of spectral weight in certain directions in momentum space. Understanding this phase is fundamental to understanding superconductivity, as it is believed that there are signatures of the superconducting phase in the pseudogap phase. The Hubbard model is used to describe strongly correlated systems, as it well describes the competition between the kinetic energy and the Coulomb interaction of electrons. It is believed that much can be learned about cuprates considering the Hubbard model in two spatial dimensions, corresponding to the planes of copper and oxygen, in the presence of doping, arising from the other atoms. However, the model does not have an exact solution in two dimensions, requiring the use of a numerical method for its resolution. In previous work by the group, the model was solved numerically without considering superconductivity via extensions of Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT). This technique maps the Hubbard model onto the Anderson impurity problem, simplifying the resolution. The results obtained revealed two distinct metallic phases, conventional and pseudogap, as the system doping varied. The objective of this dissertation is to verify whether the different metallic phases mentioned above give rise to different superconducting phases. For this, an electron pair formation term was added to the Hamiltonian and new numerical DMFT results were obtained. These results are difficult to understand; to analyze them, we use a phenomenological model that describes electron dynamics at low energies. We built a code that simultaneously adjusts the DMFT curves for the real and imaginary parts of the normal and anomalous self-energies to the phenomenological model for each doping value, allowing the analysis of the model parameters starting from the different metallic regions. Our preliminary results show fluctuations in these parameters when we vary the doping, suggesting that it would be desirable to obtain more accurate DMFT results, which is in progress, so that new adjustments to the phenomenological model can be made.