Quantum boundary currents for nonsimply-laced Toda theories

We study the quantum integrability of nonsimply--laced affine Toda theories defined on the half--plane and explicitly construct the first nontrivial higher--spin charges in specific examples. We find that, in contradistinction to the classical case, addition of total derivative terms to the "bulk" current plays a relevant role for the quantum boundary conservation.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figure

Kondo Quartet

This article describes some recently obtained results on the low-energy properties of the "Kondo quartet" model of two spin-1/2 impurities interacting with two channels (flavours) of conduction electrons. We shall particularly emphasize the connections between conformal field-theory methods and bosonisation approaches, which are first illustrated on the example of the single-impurity, two-channel Kondo problem. This article is dedicated to the memory of Claude Itzykson, and will appear in the Proceedings of the Conference "Advanced Quantum Field Theory", held in La Londe Les Maures, Sept. 1996 (Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Supp.; V.Rittenberg, J.Fr\"{o}lich and A.Schwimmer eds.).Comment: 18 pages, RevTeX3.0, 2 .ps figure

Impurities in S=1/2 Heisenberg Antiferromagnetic Chains: Consequences for Neutron Scattering and Knight Shift

Non-magnetic impurities in an S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain are studied using boundary conformal field theory techniques and finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We calculate the static structure function, S_imp(k), measured in neutron scattering and the local susceptibility, chi_i measured in Knight shift experiments. S_imp(k) becomes quite large near the antiferromagnetic wave-vector, and exhibits much stronger temperature dependence than the bulk structure function. \chi_i has a large component which alternates and increases as a function of distance from the impurity.Comment: 8 pages (revtex) + one postscript file with 6 figures. A complete postscript file with all figures + text (10pages) is available from http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/struct.ps or by request from [email protected] Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Edge Critical Behaviour of the 2-Dimensional Tri-critical Ising Model

Using previous results from boundary conformal field theory and integrability, a phase diagram is derived for the 2 dimensional Ising model at its bulk tri-critical point as a function of boundary magnetic field and boundary spin-coupling constant. A boundary tri-critical point separates phases where the spins on the boundary are ordered or disordered. In the latter range of coupling constant, there is a non-zero critical field where the magnetization is singular. In the former range, as the temperature is lowered, the boundary undergoes a first order transition while the bulk simultaneously undergoes a second order transition.Comment: 6 pages, RevTex, 3 postscript figure

Boundary Critical Phenomena in SU(3) "Spin" Chains

SU(3)-invariant "spin" chains with a single impurity, such as a modified exchange coupling on one link, are analyzed using boundary conformal field theory techniques. These chains are equivalent to a special case of the "tJV" model, i.e. the t-J model with a nearest neighbour repulsion added. In the continuum limit they are equivalent to two free bosons at a special value of the compactification radii. The SU(3) symmetry, which is made explicit in this formulation, provides insight into the exact solution of a non-trivial boundary critical point found earlier in another formulation of this model as a theory of quantum Brownian motion.Comment: 19 pages, Rev Te

Abelian bosonization approach to quantum impurity problems

Using Abelian Bosonization, we develop a simple and powerful method to calculate the correlation functions of the two channel Kondo model and its variants. The method can also be used to identify all the possible boundary fixed points and their maximum symmetry, to calculate straightforwardly the finite size spectra, to demonstrate the physical picture at the boundary explicitly. Comparisons with Non-Abelian Bosonization method are made. Some fixed points corresponding to 4 pieces of bulk fermions coupled to s=1/2 impurity are listed.Comment: 12 pages, REVTEX, 1 Table, no figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Letts. July 21, 199

Non-Fermi liquid behavior in Kondo models

Despite the fact that the low energy behavior of the basic Kondo model cannot be studied perturbatively it was eventually shown by Wilson, Anderson, Nozieres and others to have a simple "local Fermi liquid theory" description. That is, electronic degrees of freedom become effectively non-interacting in the zero energy limit. However, generalized versions of the Kondo model involving more than one channel or impurity may exhibit low energy behavior of a less trivial sort which can, nonetheless, be solved exactly using either Bethe ansatz or conformal field theory and bosonization techniques. Now the low energy limit exhibits interacting many body behavior. For example, processes in which a single electron scatters off the impurity into a multi electron-hole state have a non-vanishing (and sometimes large) amplitude at zero energy. This corresponds to a rare solveable example of non-Fermi liquid behavior. Essential features of these phenomena are reviewed.Comment: A brief review submitted to the special issue of J. Phys. Soc. of Japan, "Kondo effect -- 40 years after the discovery

Neel order in doped quasi one-dimensional antiferromagnets

We study the Neel temperature of quasi one-dimensional S=1/2 antiferromagnets containing non-magnetic impurities. We first consider the temperature dependence of the staggered susceptibility of finite chains with open boundary conditions, which shows an interesting difference for even and odd length chains. We then use a mean field theory treatment to incorporate the three dimensional inter-chain couplings. The resulting Neel temperature shows a pronounced drop as a function of doping by up to a factor of 5.Comment: 4 pages in revtex4 format including 2 epsf-embedded figures. The latest version in PDF format is available from http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/papers/staggered.pd

Transverse spectral functions and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in XXZ spin chains

Recently much progress has been made in applying field theory methods, first developed to study X-ray edge singularities, to interacting one dimensional systems in order to include band curvature effects and study edge singularities at arbitrary momentum. Finding experimental confirmations of this theory remains an open challenge. Here we point out that spin chains with uniform Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions provide an opportunity to test these theories since these interactions may be exactly eliminated by a gauge transformation which shifts the momentum. However, this requires an extension of these X-ray edge methods to the transverse spectral function of the xxz spin chain in a magnetic field, which we provide

Climbing the Entropy Barrier: Driving the Single- towards the Multichannel Kondo Effect by a Weak Coulomb Blockade of the Leads

We study a model proposed recently in which a small quantum dot is coupled symmetrically to several large quantum dots characterized by a charging energy E_c. Even if E_c is much smaller than the Kondo temperature T_K, the long-ranged interactions destabilize the single-channel Kondo effect and induce a flow towards a multi-channel Kondo fixed point associated with a rise of the impurity entropy with decreasing temperature. Such an ``uphill flow'' implies a negative impurity specific heat, in contrast to all systems with local interactions. An exact solution found for a large number of channels allows us to capture this physics and to predict transport properties.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Recent references and new title added in published versio