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arXiv:cond-mat/9807060 · Physical Review Letters

Universal Crossover Behavior of a Magnetic Impurity and Consequences for Doping in Spin- 1/2 Chains

Sebastian Eggert, Stefan Rommer

Published Aug 24, 1998• 35 citations
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Abstract

We consider a magnetic impurity in the antiferromagnetic spin- $1/2$ chain which is equivalent to the two-channel Kondo problem in terms of the field theoretical description. Using a modification of the transfer-matrix density matrix renormalization group we are able to determine the crossover function for the impurity susceptibility over a large temperature range, which exhibits universal data collapse. We also calculate the local susceptibilities near the impurity, which show an interesting competition of boundary effects. This results in quantitative predictions for experiments on doped spin- $1/2$ chains, which could observe two-channel Kondo physics directly.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.1690

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We consider a magnetic impurity in the antiferromagnetic spin- 1/21/21/2 chain which is equivalent to the two-channel Kondo problem in terms of the field theoretical description. Using a modification of the transfer-matrix density matrix renormalization group we are able to determine the crossover function for the impurity susceptibility over a large temperature range, which exhibits universal data collapse. We also calculate the local susceptibilities near the impurity, which show an interesting competition of boundary effects. This results in quantitative predictions for experiments on doped spin- 1/21/21/2 chains, which could observe two-channel Kondo physics directly.
Impurity models describe localized impurities interacting with the spins of electrons. Strong correlations lead to non-trivial behaviours of the model. In this work we present 3 different impurity models: (1) the single-impurity Kondo model; (2) the two-impurity Kondo model; (3) the two-channel Kondo model. For each model we present a spin chain emulation and utilize the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We study the magnetization and zero-temperature susceptibility of the impurity when a local magnetic field is applied. We get the expected relations theoretically.
By making use of the Lanczos and the density-matrix renormalization-group methods, we study the zero-temperature properties of a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain system with a spin-1/2 magnetic impurity symmetrically coupled to its two nearest-neighbor spins. A comparison is made with the results for a magnetic impurity coupled only to the nearest-neighbor spin in the chain. The binding energy and the spin correlations are calculated. The matrix elements of the impurity spin operators are also calculated between several low-energy states. By carefully analyzing finite-size effects, we show that the dynamical structure factor of the impurity contains a \ensuremath{\delta}-function contribution at zero frequency which does not vanish in the thermodynamic limit for the case of symmetrical coupling. This indicates a partial decoupling of the impurity spin from the spins in the chain, and therefore the impurity susceptibility is predicted to show a Curie behavior. This contradicts the two-channel Kondo behavior suggested from analytic considerations.
It is well known that the free electron Kondo problem can be described by a one-dimensional (1D) model because only the s-wave part of the electronic wavefunction is affected by the Kondo coupling. Moreover, since only the spin degrees of freedom are involved in the Kondo interaction, and due to spin–charge separation in 1D, the universal low energy long distance physics of the Kondo model also arises when a magnetic impurity is coupled to the end of a gapless antiferromagnetic J 1 –J 2 spin- chain, where J 1 ( J 2 ) is the (next) nearest neighbor coupling. Experimental realizations of such spin chain models are possible and, using various analytical and numerical techniques, we present a detailed and quantitative comparison between the usual free electron Kondo model and such spin chain versions of the Kondo problem. For the gapless J 1 –J 2 spin chain two cases are studied, with zero next nearest neighbor coupling, J 2 = 0, and with a critical second-neighbor coupling, J 2 = J 2 c . We first focus on the spin chain impurity model with a critical second-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange where a bulk marginal coupling present in the spin chain model for J 2 < J 2 c vanishes . There, the usual Kondo physics is recovered in the spin chain model in the low energy regime (up to negligible corrections, dropping as powers of inverse length or energy). At J 2 c the spin chain model is not exactly solvable and we demonstrate the equivalence to the Kondo problem by comparing density matrix renormalization group calculations on the frustrated spin chain model with exact Bethe ansatz calculations of the electronic Kondo problem. We then analyze the nearest neighbor model ( J 2 = 0) where a new kind of Kondo effect occurs due to the presence of the bulk marginal coupling. This marginal coupling slightly alters the β function for the Kondo coupling, leading to a slower variation of the Kondo temperature, T K , with the bare Kondo coupling. In their exact Bethe ansatz solution of this spin chain impurity model ( J 2 = 0), Frahm and Zvyagin noted this relation as well as the connection to the Kondo problem. Here, by numerically solving the Bethe ansatz equations we provide further evidence for the connection to Kondo physics and in addition we present low temperature quantum Monte Carlo results for the impurity susceptibility that further support this connection.
We consider a magnetic S = 1/2 impurity in the antiferromagnetic spin chain as a function of two coupling parameters: the symmetric coupling of the impurity to two sites in the chain J1 and the coupling between the two sites J2. By using field theory arguments and numerical calculations we can identify all possible fixed points and classify the renormalization flow between them, which leads to a nontrivial phase diagram. Depending on the detailed choice of the two (frustrating) coupling strengths, the stable phases correspond either to a decoupled spin with Curie law behavior or to a non-Fermi-liquid fixed point with a logarithmically diverging impurity susceptibility as in the two-channel Kondo effect. Our results resolve a controversy about the renormalization flow.
Symmetry-breaking perturbations destabilize the critical points of the two-channel and two-impurity Kondo models, thereby leading to a crossover from non-Fermi liquid behavior to standard Fermi liquid physics. Here we use an analogy between this crossover and one occurring in the boundary Ising model to calculate the full crossover Green function analytically. In remarkable agreement with our numerical renormalization group calculations, the single exact function applies for an arbitrary mixture of the relevant perturbations in each model. This rich behavior resulting from finite channel asymmetry, interlead charge transfer, and/or magnetic field should be observable in quantum dot or tunneling experiments.
In order to study the interplay between Kondo and Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction, we calculate the spin-spin correlation functions between two Kondo impurities coupled to different sites of a half-filled open Hubbard chain. Using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG), we reexamine the exponents for the power-law decay of the correlation function between the two impurity spins as a function of the antiferromagnetic coupling JJJ, the Hubbard interaction UUU, and the distance RRR between the impurities. The exponents for finite systems obtained in this work deviate from previously published DMRG calculations. We furthermore show that the long-distance behavior of the exponents is the same for impurities coupled to the bulk or to both ends of the chain. We note that a universal exponent for the asymptotic behavior can not be extracted from these finite-size systems with open boundary conditions.