We analyze in detail all the possible fixed points of the effective Hamiltonian of a nonmagnetic impurity hopping between two sites in a metal obtained by Moustakas and Fisher (MF). We find a line of non-Fermi liquid fixed points which continuously interpolates between the two-channel Kondo fixed point (2CK) and the one-channel, two-impurity Kondo (2IK) fixed point. There is one relevant direction with scaling dimension
21 and one leading irrelevant operator with dimension
23. There is also one marginal operator in the spin sector moving along this line. The marginal operator, combined with the leading irrelevant operator, will generate the relevant operator. For the general position on this line, the leading low-temperature exponents of the specific heat, the hopping susceptibility and the electron conductivity ${C}_{\mathrm{imp}},{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{imp}}^{h},\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)$ are the same as those of the 2CK, but the finite-size spectrum depends on the position on the line. No universal ratios can be formed from the amplitudes of the three quantities except at the 2CK point on this line where the universal ratios can be formed. At the 2IK point on this line, $\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)\ensuremath{\sim}2{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{u}{(1+aT}^{3/2})$, no universal ratio can be formed either. The additional non-Fermi-liquid fixed point found by MF has the same symmetry as the 2IK, it has two relevant directions with scaling dimension
21, and is therefore also unstable. The leading low-temperature behaviors are ${C}_{\mathrm{imp}}\ensuremath{\sim}T,{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{imp}}^{h}\ensuremath{\sim}\mathrm{ln}T,\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)\ensuremath{\sim}2{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{u}{(1+aT}^{3/2})$; no universal ratios can be formed. The system is shown to flow to a line of Fermi-liquid fixed points which continuously interpolates between the noninteracting fixed point and the two-channel spin-flavor Kondo fixed point discussed by the author previously. The effect of particle-hole symmetry breaking is discussed. The effective Hamiltonian in the external magnetic field is analyzed. The scaling functions for the physical measurable quantities are derived in the different regimes; their predictions for the experiments are given. Finally the implications are given for a nonmagnetic impurity hopping around three sites with triangular symmetry discussed by MF.
The two-impurity Kondo model with particle-hole symmetry is known to have a critical point at comparable RKKY interaction and Kondo temperature. Using bosonization and controlled low energy projection, we identify the critical point and map it to a solvable resonant level model. The physics of the critical point is shown to be the same as the two-channel Kondo model. An effective Hamiltonian is derived from which the solutions for the critical point and surrounding Fermi-liquid phase follow immediately. The universality of the critical point is strongly supported by the overall excellent agreement with the numerical renormalization group and conformal field theory results.
An asymptotically exact solution is presented for the two-impurity Kondo model for a finite region of the parameter space surrounding the critical point. This region is located in the most interesting intermediate regime where the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction is comparable to the Kondo temperature. After several exact simplifications involving reduction to one dimension and Abelian bosonization, the critical point is explicitly identified, making clear its physical origin. By using controlled low-energy projection, an effective Hamiltonian is derived for the finite region in the phase diagram around the critical point. The completeness of the effective Hamiltonian is rigorously proved from general symmetry considerations. The effective Hamiltonian is solved exactly not only at the critical point but also for the surrounding Fermi-liquid phase. Analytic crossover functions from the critical to Fermi-liquid behavior are derived for the specific heat and staggered susceptibility. It is shown that applying a uniform magnetic field has negligible effect on the physical behavior inside our solution region. A detailed comparison is made with the numerical renormalization-group and conformal-field-theory results. The excellent agreement is exploited to argue for the universality of the critical point, which in turn implies universal behavior everywhere inside our solution region.
The phase diagram of the multichannel Kondo Hamiltonian with an
XXZ spin-exchange anisotropy is revisited, revealing a far richer fixed-point structure than previously appreciated. For a spin-
21 impurity and
k>2 conduction-electron channels, a second ferromagneticlike domain is found deep inside the antiferromagnetic regime. The new domain extends above a (typically large) critical longitudinal coupling
Jz∗>0 and is separated from the antiferromagnetic domain by a second Kosterlitz-Thouless line. A similar line of stable ferromagneticlike fixed points with a residual isospin-
21 local moment is shown to exist for large ${J}_{z}⪢\ensuremath{\mid}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\ensuremath{\mid}>0$ and arbitrary
k and
s obeying $\ensuremath{\mid}k\ensuremath{-}2s\ensuremath{\mid}>1$. Here,
Jz is the longitudinal spin-exchange coupling, ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ is the transverse coupling, and
s is the impurity spin. Near the free-impurity fixed point, spin-exchange anisotropy generates a highly relevant term for
s>1∕2 and arbitrary
k. Depending on the sign of ${J}_{z}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{2}$ and the parity of
2s, the system flows either to a conventional Fermi liquid with no residual degeneracy or to a
k-channel, spin-
21 Kondo effect or to a line of ferromagneticlike fixed points with a residual isospin-
21 local moment. These results are obtained through a combination of perturbative renormalization-group techniques, Abelian bosonization, a strong-coupling expansion in
1∕Jz, and explicit numerical renormalization-group calculations.
Tunneling impurities in metals have been known for some time to have the potential for exhibiting Kondo-like physics. However, previous models based on an impurity hopping between two equivalent positions have run into trouble due to the existence of relevant operators that drive the system away from the non-Fermi-liquid Kondo fixed point. In the case of an impurity hopping among positions with higher symmetry, such as triangular symmetry, it is shown here that the non-Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperatures can be generic. Using various bosonization techniques, the fixed point is shown to be stable. However, unlike the conventional two-channel Kondo (2CK) model, it has four leading irrelevant operators, implying that while the form of the singular temperature dependence of physical quantities is similar to the 2CK model, there will not be simple universal amplitude ratios. The phase diagram of this system is analyzed and a critical manifold is found to separate the non-Fermi-liquid from a conventional Fermi liquid fixed point. Generalization to higher symmetries, such as cubic, and the possibility of physical realizations with dynamic Jahn-Teller impurities are discussed.
We discuss the two-channel Kondo problem with a pseudogap density of states $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\omega})\ensuremath{\propto}{|\ensuremath{\omega}|}^{r}$ of the bath fermions. Combining both analytical and numerical renormalization group techniques, we characterize the impurity phases and quantum phase transitions of the relevant Kondo and Anderson models. The line of stable points, corresponding to the overscreened non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the metallic
r=0 case, is replaced by a stable particle-hole-symmetric intermediate-coupling fixed point for $0<r<{r}_{\mathrm{max}}\ensuremath{\approx}0.23$. For
r>rmax, this non-Fermi-liquid phase disappears, and instead a critical fixed point with an emergent spin-channel symmetry appears, controlling the quantum phase transition between two phases with stable spin and channel moments, respectively. We propose low-energy field theories to describe the quantum phase transitions, all being formulated in fermionic variables. We employ $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ expansion techniques to calculate critical properties near the critical dimensions
r=0 and 1, the latter being potentially relevant for two-channel Kondo impurities in neutral graphene. We find the analytical results to be in excellent agreement with those obtained from applying Wilson's numerical renormalization group technique.