Noise spectra of an interacting quantum dot

We study the noise spectra of a many-level quantum dot coupled to two electron reservoirs, when interactions are taken into account only on the dot within the Hartree-Fock approximation. The dependence of the noise spectra on the interaction strength, the coupling to the leads, and the chemical potential is derived. For zero bias and zero temperature, we find that as a function of the (external) frequency, the noise exhibits steps and dips at frequencies reflecting the internal structure of the energy levels on the dot. Modifications due to a finite bias and finite temperatures are investigated for a non-interacting two-level dot. Possible relations to experiments are pointed out.Comment: Added reference

Spin gap and string order parameter in the ferromagnetic Spiral Staircase Heisenberg Ladder: a quantum Monte Carlo study

We consider a spin-1/2 ladder with a ferromagnetic rung coupling J_\perp and inequivalent chains. This model is obtained by a twist (\theta) deformation of the ladder and interpolates between the isotropic ladder (\theta=0) and the SU(2) ferromagnetic Kondo necklace model (\theta=\pi). We show that the ground state in the (\theta,J_\perp) plane has a finite string order parameter characterising the Haldane phase. Twisting the chain introduces a new energy scale, which we interpret in terms of a Suhl-Nakamura interaction. As a consequence we observe a crossover in the scaling of the spin gap at weak coupling from \Delta/J_\| \propto J_\perp/J_\| for \theta < \theta_c \simeq 8\pi/9 to \Delta/J_\| \propto (J_\perp/J_\|)^2 for \theta > \theta_c. Those results are obtained on the basis of large scale Quantum Monte Carlo calculations.Comment: 4 page

Multiple Core-Hole Coherence in X-Ray Four-Wave-Mixing Spectroscopies

Correlation-function expressions are derived for the coherent nonlinear response of molecules to three resonant ultrafast pulses in the x-ray regime. The ability to create two-core-hole states with controlled attosecond timing in four-wave-mixing and pump probe techniques should open up new windows into the response of valence electrons, which are not available from incoherent x-ray Raman and fluorescence techniques. Closed expressions for the necessary four-point correlation functions are derived for the electron-boson model by using the second order cumulant expansion to describe the fluctuating potentials. The information obtained from multidimensional nonlinear techniques could be used to test and refine this model, and establish an anharmonic oscillator picture for electronic excitations

Persistent currents of noninteracting electrons

We thoroughly study the persistent current of noninteracting electrons in one, two, and three dimensional thin rings. We find that the results for noninteracting electrons are more relevant for individual mesoscopic rings than hitherto appreciated. The current is averaged over all configurations of the disorder, whose amount is varied from zero up to the diffusive limit, keeping the product of the Fermi wave number and the ring's circumference constant. Results are given as functions of disorder and aspect ratios of the ring. The magnitude of the disorder-averaged current may be larger than the root-mean-square fluctuations of the current from sample to sample even when the mean free path is smaller, but not too small, than the circumference of the ring. Then a measurement of the persistent current of a typical sample will be dominated by the magnitude of the disorder averaged current.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Compressibility of CeMIn5Ce M In_5 and Ce2MIn8Ce_2 M In_8 (M = Rh, Ir and Co) Compounds

The lattice parameters of the tetragonal compounds Ce$M$In$_{5}$ and Ce$_{2}M$In$_{8}$($M=$Rh, Ir and Co) have been studied as a function of pressure up to 15 GPa using a diamond anvil cell under both hydrostatic and quasihydrostatic conditions at room temperature. The addition of $M$In$_{2}$ layers to the parent CeIn$_{3}$ compound is found to stiffen the lattice as the 2-layer systems (average of bulk modulus values $B_{0}$ is 70.4 GPa) have a larger $B_{0}$ than CeIn$_{3}$ (67 GPa), while the 1-layer systems with the are even stiffer (average of $B_{0}$ is 81.4 GPa). Estimating the hybridization using parameters from tight binding calculations shows that the dominant hybridization is $fp$ in nature between the Ce and In atoms. The values of $V_{pf}$ at the pressure where the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ reaches a maximum is the same for all Ce$M$In$_{5}$ compounds. By plotting the maximum values of the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ versus $c/a$ for the studied compounds and Pu-based superconductors, we find a universal $T_{c}$ versus $c/a$ behavior when these quantities are normalized appropriately. These results are consistent with magnetically mediated superconductivity.Comment: Updated version resubmitted to Phys. Rev.

Coexistence of antiferromagnetic order and unconventional superconductivity in heavy fermion compounds CeRh_{1-x}Ir_xIn_5: nuclear quadrupole resonance studies

We present a systematic ^{115}In NQR study on the heavy fermion compounds CeRh_{1-x}Ir_xIn_5 (x=0.25, 0.35, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55 and 0.75). The results provide strong evidence for the microscopic coexistence of antiferromagnetic (AF) order and superconductivity (SC) in the range of 0.35 \leq x \leq 0.55. Specifically, for x=0.5, T_N is observed at 3 K with a subsequent onset of superconductivity at T_c=0.9 K. T_c reaches a maximum (0.94 K) at x=0.45 where T_N is found to be the highest (4.0 K). Detailed analysis of the measured spectra indicate that the same electrons participate in both SC and AF order. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 shows a broad peak at T_N and follows a T^3 variation below T_c, the latter property indicating unconventional SC as in CeIrIn_5 (T_c=0.4 K). We further find that, in the coexistence region, the T^3 dependence of 1/T_1 is replaced by a T-linear variation below T\sim 0.4 K, with the value \frac{(T_1)_{T_c}}{(T_1)_{low-T}} increasing with decreasing x, likely due to low-lying magnetic excitations associated with the coexisting magnetism.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

The electronic structure of the heavy fermion metal LiV2O4LiV_2O_4

The electronic structure of the first reported heavy fermion compound without f-electrons LiV_2O_4 was studied by an ab-initio calculation method. In the result of the trigonal splitting and d-d Coulomb interaction one electron of the $d^{1.5}$ configuration of V ion is localized and the rest partially fills a relatively broad conduction band. The effective Anderson impurity model was solved by Non-Crossing-Approximation method, leading to an estimation for the single-site Kondo energy scale T_K. Then, we show how the so-called exhaustion phenomenon of Nozi\`eres for the Kondo lattice leads to a remarkable decrease of the heavy-fermion (or coherence) energy scale $T_{coh}\equiv {T_K}^2/D$ (D is the typical bandwidth), comparable to the experimental result.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX; 3 figures in format .eps. submitted to PR

Novel approach to description of spin liquid phases in low-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets

We consider quantum spin systems with dimerization, which at strong coupling have singlet ground states. To account for strong correlations, the excitations are described as dilute Bose gas of degenerate triplets with infinite on-site repulsion. This approach is applied to the two-layer Heisenberg model at zero temperature with general couplings. Our analytic results for the triplet gap, the excitation spectrum and the location of the quantum critical point are in excellent agreement with numerical results, obtained by dimer series expansions.Comment: 4 pages, REVTex, 3 Postscript figure

Quantum Criticality in doped CePd_1-xRh_x Ferromagnet

CePd_1-xRh_x alloys exhibit a continuous evolution from ferromagnetism (T_C= 6.5 K) at x = 0 to a mixed valence (MV) state at x = 1. We have performed a detailed investigation on the suppression of the ferromagnetic (F) phase in this alloy using dc-(\chi_dc) and ac-susceptibility (\chi_ac), specific heat (C_m), resistivity (\rho) and thermal expansion (\beta) techniques. Our results show a continuous decrease of T_C (x) with negative curvature down to T_C = 3K at x*= 0.65, where a positive curvature takes over. Beyond x*, a cusp in cac is traced down to T_C* = 25 mK at x = 0.87, locating the critical concentration between x = 0.87 and 0.90. The quantum criticality of this region is recognized by the -log(T/T_0) dependence of C_m/T, which transforms into a T^-q (~0.5) one at x = 0.87. At high temperature, this system shows the onset of valence instability revealed by a deviation from Vegard's law (at x_V~0.75) and increasing hybridization effects on high temperature \chi_dc and \rho. Coincidentally, a Fermi liquid contribution to the specific heat arises from the MV component, which becomes dominant at the CeRh limit. In contrast to antiferromagnetic systems, no C_m/T flattening is observed for x > x_cr rather the mentioned power law divergence, which coincides with a change of sign of \beta. The coexistence of F and MV components and the sudden changes in the T dependencies are discussed in the context of randomly distributed magnetic and Kondo couplings.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Dynamics of disordered heavy Fermion systems

Dynamics of the disordered heavy Fermion model of Dobrosavljevic et al. are calculated using an expression for the spectral function of the Anderson model which is consistent with quantum Monte Carlo results. We compute the self-energy for three distributions of Kondo scales including the distribution of Bernal et al. for UCu{5-x}Pd{x}. The corresponding low temperature optical conductivity shows a low-frequency pseudogap, a negative optical mass enhancement, and a linear in frequency transport scattering rate, consistent with results in Y{1-x}U{x}Pd{3} and UCu{5-x}Pd{x}.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX and 4 PS figure