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arXiv:cond-mat/0405193 · Physical Review B

Crossover from nonequilibrium to equilibrium behavior in the time-dependent Kondo model

Dmitry Lobaskin, Stefan K. Kehrein

Published May 18, 2005• 65 citations
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Abstract

We investigate the equilibration of a Kondo model that is initially prepared in a nonequilibrium state towards its equilibrium behavior. Such initial nonequilibrium states can, e.g., be realized in quantum-dot experiments with time-dependent gate voltages. We evaluate the nonequilibrium spin-spin correlation function at the Toulouse point of the Kondo model exactly and analyze the crossover between nonequilibrium and equilibrium behavior as the nonequilibrium initial state evolves as a function of the waiting time for the first spin measurement. Using the flow equation method, we extend these results to the experimentally relevant limit of small Kondo couplings.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.71.193303

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We investigate the equilibration of a Kondo model that is initially prepared in a nonequilibrium state towards its equilibrium behavior. Such initial nonequilibrium states can, e.g., be realized in quantum-dot experiments with time-dependent gate voltages. We evaluate the nonequilibrium spin-spin correlation function at the Toulouse point of the Kondo model exactly and analyze the crossover between nonequilibrium and equilibrium behavior as the nonequilibrium initial state evolves as a function of the waiting time for the first spin measurement. Using the flow equation method, we extend these results to the experimentally relevant limit of small Kondo couplings.
We analyze the nonequilibrium Kondo model at finite voltage and temperature by using a new formulation of the real-time renormalization group method with the Laplace variable as the flow parameter. We evaluate the energy-dependent spin relaxation rate and nonlinear conductance, and derive an approximate form for the universal line shape for the latter in the whole crossover regime from weak to strong coupling. The results are shown to agree well with exact methods in equilibrium, Fermi-liquid theory, weak-coupling expansions, and recent experiments. For the transient spin dynamics we find a universal exponential decay in the long-time limit along with a truncation-dependent pre-exponential power law. For multichannel models a pure power-law decay typical for non-Fermi-liquid behavior is predicted.
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.
Motivated by recent experiments on molecular quantum dots we investigate the relaxation of pure spin states when coupled to metallic leads. Under suitable conditions these systems are well described by a ferromagnetic Kondo model. Using two recently developed theoretical approaches, the time-dependent numerical renormalization group and an extended flow equation method, we calculate the real-time evolution of a Kondo spin into its partially screened steady state. We obtain exact analytical results which agree well with numerical implementations of both methods. Analytical expressions for the steady state magnetization and the dependence of the long-time relaxation on microscopic parameters are established. We find the long-time relaxation process to be much faster in the regime of anisotropic Kondo couplings. The steady state magnetization is found to deviate significantly from its thermal equilibrium value.
We investigate the Kondo model with time-dependent couplings that are periodically switched on and off. On the Toulouse line we derive exact analytical results for the spin dynamics in the steady state that builds up after an infinite number of switching periods. Remarkably, the universal long-time behavior of the spin-spin correlation function remains completely unaffected by the driving. In the limit of slow driving the dynamics becomes equivalent to that of a single interaction quench. In the limit of fast driving it is shown that the steady state cannot be described by some effective equilibrium Hamiltonian due to the observation that an incautious implementation of the Trotter formula is not correct. As a consequence, the steady state in the limit of fast switching serves as an example for the emergence of new quantum states not accessible in equilibrium.
We examine the dynamics of a correlated quantum dot in the mixed valence regime. We perform numerically exact calculations of the current after a quantum quench from equilibrium by rapidly applying a bias voltage in a wide range of initial temperatures. The current exhibits short equilibration times and saturates upon the decrease of temperature at all times, indicating Kondo behavior both in the transient regime and in the steady state. The time-dependent current saturation temperature connects the equilibrium Kondo temperature to a substantially increased value at voltages outside of the linear response. These signatures are directly observable by experiments in the time domain.
Quantum phase transitions out of equilibrium are outstanding emergent subjects in condensed matter physics with great fundamental importance and challenges. We theoretically investigate here the nonequilibrium quantum phase transition in a generic nano-setup: the pseudogap Kondo model where a Kondo quantum dot couples to two---left (L) and right (R)---voltage-biased fermionic leads with power-law density of states (DOS) with respect to their Fermi levels ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L/R}$, ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c,L(R)}(\ensuremath{\omega})\ensuremath{\propto}{|\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L(R)}|}^{r}$ with 0<r<10<r<10<r<1. In equilibrium (${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{R}=0$) and for 0<r<1/20<r<1/20<r<1/2, with increasing Kondo correlations this model exhibits a quantum phase transition from a unscreened local moment (LM) phase to the Kondo screened phase. At finite bias voltages and near criticality, we discover new nonequilibrium universal scaling behaviors in conductance, conduction electron TTT matrix, and local spin susceptibility via a controlled frequency-dependent renormalization group (RG) approach. The current-induced decoherence is key to understanding these distinct universal nonequilibrium quantum critical regimes. The relevance of our results to experiment is discussed.