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arXiv:cond-mat/0412561

Local quantum critical behavior in magnetic Kondo impurity models with partially screened moment

Guang-Ming Zhang, Yu, Lu

Published Dec 21, 2004• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In the strong coupling limit, an effective resonant level model is derived for the spin-1 underscreened Kondo impurity model. A local quantum critical behavior is induced by the formation of a bound state with partially screened magnetic moment, displaying a residual $Z_2$ symmetry, leading to a $δ$-resonance at the Fermi level in the impurity spectral function. As a consequence, a logarithmic singularity appears in the real part of the impurity dynamic spin susceptibility as a function of $\max (ω, T)$, with $ω$ as frequency, $T$ temperature. A small magnetic field breaks this $Z_2$ symmetry and suppresses the singularity. We also discuss the possible manifestation of such a quantum critical behavior in the spin-1/2 two Kondo impurity model and the single quantum dot system with even electron occupation.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0412561

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In the strong coupling limit, an effective resonant level model is derived for the spin-1 underscreened Kondo impurity model. A local quantum critical behavior is induced by the formation of a bound state with partially screened magnetic moment, displaying a residual Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry, leading to a δδδ-resonance at the Fermi level in the impurity spectral function. As a consequence, a logarithmic singularity appears in the real part of the impurity dynamic spin susceptibility as a function of max⁡(ω,T)\max (ω, T)max(ω,T), with ωωω as frequency, TTT temperature. A small magnetic field breaks this Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry and suppresses the singularity. We also discuss the possible manifestation of such a quantum critical behavior in the spin-1/2 two Kondo impurity model and the single quantum dot system with even electron occupation.
Abstract We investigate the boundary phenomena that arise in a finite-size XX spin chain interacting through an XX interaction with a spin − 1 2 impurity located at its edge. Upon Jordan–Wigner transformation, the model is described by a quadratic Fermionic Hamiltonian. Our work displays, within this ostensibly simple model, the emergence of the Kondo effect, a quintessential hallmark of strongly correlated physics. We also show how the Kondo cloud shrinks and turns into a single particle bound state as the impurity coupling increases beyond a critical value. In more detail, using both Bethe Ansatz and exact diagonalization techniques, we show that the local moment of the impurity is screened by different mechanisms depending on the ratio of the boundary and bulk coupling J imp J . When the ratio falls below the critical value 2 , the impurity is screened via the Kondo effect. However, when the ratio between the coupling exceeds the critical value 2 an exponentially localized bound mode is formed at the impurity site which screens the spin of the impurity in the ground state. We show that the boundary phase transition is reflected in local ground state properties by calculating the spinon density of states, the magnetization at the impurity site in the presence of a global magnetic field, and the finite temperature susceptibility of the impurity. We find that the spinon density of states in the Kondo phase has the characteristic Lorentzian peak that moves from the Fermi level to the maximum energy of the spinon as the impurity coupling is increased and becomes a localized bound mode in the bound mode phase. Moreover, the impurity magnetization and the finite temperature impurity susceptibility behave differently in the two phases. When the boundary coupling J imp exceeds the critical value 2 J , the model is no longer boundary conformal invariant as a massive bound mode appears at the impurity site.
We study correlated two-level quantum impurity models coupled to a metallic conduction band in the hope of gaining insight into the physics of nanoscale quantum dot systems. We focus on the possibility of formation of a spin-1 impurity local moment which, on coupling to the band, generates an underscreened (USC) singular Fermi liquid state. By employing physical arguments and the numerical renormalization group (NRG) technique, we analyse such systems in detail examining in particular both the thermodynamic and dynamic properties, including the differential conductance.The quantum phase transitions occurring between the USC phase and a more ordinary Fermi liquid (FL) phase are analysed in detail. They are generically found to be of Kosterlitz-Thouless type; exceptions occur along lines of high symmetry where first-order transitions are found. A `Friedel-Luttinger sum rule' is derived and, together with a generalization of Luttinger's theorem to the USC phase, is used to obtain general results for the T=0T=0T=0 zero-bias conductance --- it is expressed solely in terms of the number of electrons present on the impurity and applicable in both the USC and FL phases. Relatedly, dynamical signatures of the quantum phase transition show two broad classes of behaviour corresponding to the collapse of either a resonance or antiresonance in the single-particle density of states. Evidence of both of these behaviours is seen in experimental devices.We study also the effect of a local magnetic field on both single- and two-level quantum impurities. In the former case we attempt to resolve some points of contention that remain in the literature. Specifically we show that the position of the maximum in the spin resolved density of states (and related peaks in the differential conductance) is not linear in the applied field, showing a more complicated form than a simple `Zeeman splitting'. The analytic result for the low-field asymptote is recovered. For two-level impurities we illustrate the manner in which the USC state is destroyed: due to two cancelling effects an abrupt change in the zero-bias conductance does not occur as one might expect. Comparison with experiment is made in both cases and used to interpret experimental findings in a manner contrary to previous suggestions. We find that experiments are very rarely in the limit of strong impurity-host coupling. Further, features in the differential conductance as a function of bias voltage should not be simply interpreted in terms of isolated quantum dot states. The many-body nature of such systems is crucially important to their observed properties.
In a metal, a magnetic impurity is fully screened by the conduction electrons at low temperature. In contrast, impurity moments coupled to spin-1 bulk bosons, such as triplet excitations in paramagnets, are only partially screened, even at the bulk quantum critical point. We argue that this difference is not due to the quantum statistics of the host particles but instead related to the structure of the impurity-host coupling, by demonstrating that frustrated magnets with bosonic spinon excitations can display a bosonic version of the Kondo effect. However, the Bose statistics of the bulk implies distinct behavior, such as a weak-coupling impurity quantum phase transition, and perfect screening for a range of impurity spin values. We discuss implications of our results for the compound Cs2CuCl4, as well as possible extensions to multicomponent bosonic gases.
We investigate quantum impurity problems, where a local magnetic moment is coupled to the spin density of a bosonic environment, leading to bosonic versions of the standard Kondo and Anderson impurity models. In a physical situation, these bosonic environments can correspond either to deconfined spinons in certain classes of Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ frustrated antiferromagnets, or to particles in a multicomponent Bose gase (in which case the spin degree of freedom is attributed to hyperfine levels). Using renormalization group techniques, we establish that our impurity models, which feature an exchange interaction analogous to Kondo impurities in Fermi liquids, allow flow toward a stable strong-coupling state. Since the low-energy bosons exist around a single point in momentum space, and there is no Fermi surface, an impurity quantum phase transition occurs at intermediate coupling, separating screened and unscreened phases. This behavior is qualitatively different from previously studied spin-isotropic variants of the spin-boson model, which display stable intermediate-coupling fixed points and no screening.
We study the formation of local magnetic moments in the strongly correlated Hubbard model within dynamical mean-field theory and associate peculiarities of the temperature dependence of local charge ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c}$ and spin ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{s}$ susceptibilities with different stages of local moment formation. The local maximum of the temperature dependence of the charge susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c}$ is associated with the beginning of local magnetic moment formation, while the minimum of the susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{c}$ and double occupation, as well as the low-temperature boundary of the plateau of the effective local magnetic moment ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\mathrm{eff}}^{2}=T{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{s}$ temperature dependence are connected with the full formation of local moments. We also obtain the interaction dependence of the Kondo temperature TK{T}_{K}TK​, which is compared to the fingerprint criterion of Chalupa et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 056403 (2021)]. Near the Mott transition the two criteria coincide, while further away from the Mott transition the fingerprint criterion somewhat overestimates the Kondo temperature. The relation of the observed features to the behavior of eigenvectors/eigenvalues of fermionic frequency-resolved charge susceptibility and divergences of irreducible vertices is discussed.
We discuss the dynamics of magnetic moments in d-wave superconductors. In particular, we focus on moments induced by doping nonmagnetic impurities into cuprates. The interaction of such moments with the Bogoliubov quasiparticles of the superconductors can be described by variants of the pseudogap Kondo model, characterized by a power-law density of states at the Fermi level. The numerical renormalization-group technique is employed to investigate this Kondo problem for realistic band structures and particle-hole asymmetries, both at zero and finite temperatures. In particular, we study the boundary quantum phase transition between the local-moment and asymmetric strong-coupling phases, and argue that this transition has been observed in recent nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. We determine the spectral properties of both phases and the location of the critical point as a function of Kondo coupling and doping, and discuss quantum-critical crossovers near this phase transition. In addition, changes in the local density of states around the impurity are calculated as functions of temperature, being relevant to scanning tunneling microscopy experiments.