Sequential localization of a complex electron fluid.

Complex and correlated quantum systems with promise for new functionality often involve entwined electronic degrees of freedom. In such materials, highly unusual properties emerge and could be the result of electron localization. Here, a cubic heavy fermion metal governed by spins and orbitals is chosen as a model system for this physics.

Long-Range Entanglement near a Kondo-Destruction Quantum Critical Point.

The numerical renormalization group is used to study quantum entanglement in the Kondo impurity model with a density of states ρ(ϵ)∝|ϵ|^{r} (0 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Kondo destruction and valence fluctuations in an Anderson model.

Unconventional quantum criticality in heavy-fermion systems has been extensively analyzed in terms of a critical destruction of the Kondo effect. Motivated by a recent demonstration of quantum criticality in a mixed-valent heavy-fermion system, β-YbAlB(4), we study a particle-hole-asymmetric Anderson impurity model with a pseudogapped density of states. We demonstrate Kondo destruction at a mixed-valent quantum critical point, where a collapsing Kondo energy scale is accompanied by a singular charge-fluctuation spectrum.

Tunable pseudogap Kondo effect and quantum phase transitions in Aharonov-Bohm interferometers.

We study two quantum dots embedded in the arms of an Aharonov-Bohm ring threaded by a magnetic flux. This system can be described by an effective one-impurity Anderson model with an energy- and flux-dependent density of states. For specific values of the flux, this density of states vanishes at the Fermi energy, yielding a controlled realization of the pseudogap Kondo effect.

Finite-size scaling of classical long-ranged Ising chains and the criticality of dissipative quantum impurity models.

Motivated in part by quantum criticality in dissipative Kondo systems, we revisit the finite-size scaling of a classical Ising chain with 1/r;{2-} interactions. For 1/2<<1, the scaling of the dynamical spin susceptibility is sensitive to the degree of "winding" of the interaction under periodic boundary conditions. Infinite winding yields the expected mean-field behavior, whereas without any winding the scaling is of an interacting omega/T form.

Magnetic quantum phase transition in an anisotropic kondo lattice.

The quantum phase transition between paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of the Kondo lattice model with Ising anisotropy in the intersite exchange is studied within extended dynamical mean-field theory. Nonperturbative numerical solutions at zero temperature point to a continuous transition for both two- and three-dimensional magnetism. In the former case, the transition is associated with critical local physics, characterized by a vanishing Kondo scale and by an anomalous exponent in the dynamics close in value to that measured in heavy-fermion CeCu5.

Kondo screening in a magnetically frustrated nanostructure: exact results on a stable non-fermi-liquid phase.

Triangular symmetry stabilizes a novel non-Fermi-liquid phase in the three-impurity Kondo model with frustrating antiferromagnetic interactions between half-integer impurity spins. The phase arises without fine-tuning of couplings, and is stable against magnetic fields and particle-hole symmetry breaking. We find a conformal field theory describing this phase, verify it using the numerical renormalization group, and extract various exact, universal low-energy properties.

Numerical renormalization-group study of the Bose-Fermi Kondo model.

We extend the numerical renormalization-group method to Bose-Fermi Kondo models (BFKMs), describing a local moment coupled to a conduction band and a dissipative bosonic bath. We apply the method to the Ising-symmetry BFKM with a bosonic bath spectral function eta(omega) proportional omega(s), of interest in connection with heavy-fermion criticality. For 0 < s < 1, an interacting critical point, characterized by hyperscaling of exponents and omega/T scaling, describes a quantum phase transition between Kondo-screened and localized phases.

Critical local-moment fluctuations, anomalous exponents, and omega/T scaling in the Kondo problem with a pseudogap.

Experiments in heavy-fermion metals and related theoretical work suggest that critical local-moment fluctuations can play an important role near a zero-temperature phase transition. We study such fluctuations at the quantum critical point of a Kondo impurity model in which the density of band states vanishes as /epsilon/(r) at the Fermi energy (epsilon=0). The local spin response is described by a set of critical exponents that vary continuously with r.