Recently, the issue of whether the Kondo problem in quantum dots at large bias is a weak-coupling problem or not has been raised. In this paper, we revisit this problem by carefully analyzing a corresponding model in the solvable limit --- the Emery-Kivelson line, where various crossover energy scales can be easily identified. We then try to extract the scaling behavior of this problem from various physical correlation functions within the spirit of ``poor man's scaling.'' Our conclusions support some recent suggestions made by Coleman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4088 (2001)], which are obtained by perturbative analysis: The voltage acts as a cutoff of the renormalization group flow for only half of the impurity so that the low-temperature physics is controlled by a strong-coupling fixed point. But the low-temperature response functions in general show one-channel Kondo behaviors with two-channel Kondo behaviors occurring only through proximity to a quantum critical point.
Recently, the issue of whether the Kondo problem in quantum dots at large bias is a weak-coupling problem or not has been raised. In this paper, we revisit this problem by carefully analyzing a corresponding model in the solvable limit --- the Emery-Kivelson line, where various crossover energy scales can be easily identified. We then try to extract the scaling behavior of this problem from various physical correlation functions within the spirit of ``poor man's scaling.'' Our conclusions support some recent suggestions made by Coleman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4088 (2001)], which are obtained by perturbative analysis: The voltage acts as a cutoff of the renormalization group flow for only half of the impurity so that the low-temperature physics is controlled by a strong-coupling fixed point. But the low-temperature response functions in general show one-channel Kondo behaviors with two-channel Kondo behaviors occurring only through proximity to a quantum critical point.
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.
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 investigate theoretically the quantum phase transition (QPT) between the one-channel Kondo (1CK) and two-channel Kondo (2CK) fixed points in a quantum dot coupled to helical edge states of interacting 2D topological insulators (2DTI) with Luttinger parameter 0 < K < 1 . The model was studied by Law et al (2010 Phys. Rev. B 81 041305(R) ), and was mapped onto an anisotropic two-channel Kondo model via bosonization. For K < 1 , the strong coupling 2CK fixed point was argued to be stable for infinitesimally weak tunnelings between the dot and the 2DTI based on a simple scaling dimensional analysis (Law et al 2010 Phys. Rev. B 81 041305(R) . We re-examine this model beyond the bare scaling dimension analysis via a one-loop renormalization group (RG) approach combined with bosonization and re-fermionization techniques near weak-coupling and strong-coupling (2CK) fixed points. We find for a fixed value of K < 1 that the 2CK fixed point can be unstable towards the 1CK fixed point and the system is expected to undergo a quantum phase transition between 1CK and 2CK fixed points with changing Kondo couplings. Our RG approach is controlled near K = 1. In general, this QPT can also occur upon tuning the Luttinger parameter K to a critical value K c smaller than unity ( 0 < K c < 1 ) for fixed Konodo couplings. The QPT in our model comes as a result of the combined Kondo and the helical Luttinger physics in 2DTI, and it serves as the first example of the 1CK-2CK QPT that is accessible by the controlled RG approach. We extract quantum critical and crossover behaviors from various thermodynamical quantities near the transition. Our results are robust against particle-hole asymmetry for 1 2 < K < 1 .
We examine the properties of a dc-biased quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime. For voltages V that are large compared to the Kondo temperature T(K), the physics is governed by the scales V and gamma, where gamma approximately V/ln(2)(V/T(K)) is the nonequilibrium decoherence rate induced by the voltage-driven current. Based on scaling arguments, self-consistent perturbation theory, and perturbative renormalization group, we argue that due to the large gamma the system can be described by renormalized perturbation theory in 1/ln(V/T(K))<<1. However, in certain variants of the Kondo problem, two-channel Kondo physics is induced by a large voltage V.
Kondo physics first surfaced into the scientific world in 1934 via an unexpected observations made by a group of experimentalists, who measured the temperature-dependent resistance of gold wires in their laboratory at the University of Leiden. When decreasing the temperature below 4 Kelvin, they observed an unexpected increase of the resistance, which resulted in a resistance minimum that was not accounted for by the theoretical understanding at that time. Only 30 years later, Jun Kondo, a Japanese physicist from Tokyo, was the first to explain this curiosity, known as the Kondo effect, under the assistance of the Kondo model. Although his findings explained the increased resistance, a more fundamental problem was raised: the Kondo problem, an unphysical divergence of the resistance at very low temperatures. To solve this problem required the development of more advanced methods beyond the scope of pure perturbative methods, namely the use of renormalization group (RG) methods. More than twenty years after Kondo’s first steps towards the solution of the resistance minimum, the Kondo effect experienced a scientific revival due to the emergence of quantum dot systems in solid state physics. A quantum dot is a very localized and spatially restricted area within a metal, where only a few electrons fit in the area. The limited spatial spread constrains the possible positions for the electrons on the dot, and forces them into strong interactions with each other–they are strongly correlated. In quantum dot systems, not only the Kondo effect in equilibrium situations between the dot and its surrounding reservoirs can be studied, but also the effects of nonequilibrium situations, where a finite bias voltage drives a current through the quantum dot. However, the nonequilibrium Kondo effect is far less explored compared to its equilibrium counterpart and it requires the development of new methods beyond established equilibrium methods. To fill this gap, we use the recently developed real-time renormalization group (RTRG) method in the weak-coupling regime and its extension to the crossover regime, from weak coupling to strong coupling. Furthermore, different combinations between the number of electrons on the dot and the number of reservoirs of electrons in the surrounding metal allow for distinct physical situations, which can be studied within the framework of the RTRG method. We subsequently characterize the properties of the the overscreened, the underscreened, and the fully screened Kondo model by analyzing their physical observables and, in parts, their time evolution. The perturbative foundation of the RTRG method gives us the opportunity to gather new analytic insights for higher spin Kondo systems, on the one hand, and provides for a qualitative comparison of obtained results to various other methods and analytic results, on the other hand.
We investigate theoretically the possibility of observing two-channel Kondo (2CK) physics in tunnel-coupled double quantum dots (TCDQDs), at both zero and finite magnetic fields; taking the two-impurity Anderson model as the basic TCDQD model, together with effective low-energy models arising from it by Schrieffer-Wolff transformations to second and third order in the tunnel couplings. The models are studied primarily using Wilson's numerical renormalization group. At zero field our basic conclusion is that while 2CK physics arises in principle provided the system is sufficiently strongly correlated, the temperature window over which it could be observed is much lower than is experimentally feasible. This finding disagrees with recent work on the problem, and we explain why. At finite field, we show that the quantum phase transition known to arise at zero field in the two-impurity Kondo model, with an essentially 2CK quantum critical point, persists at finite fields. This raises the prospect of access to 2CK physics by tuning a magnetic field, although preliminary investigation suggests this to be even less feasible than at zero field.