Phonon-assisted and magnetic field induced Kondo tunneling in single molecular devices

We consider the Kondo tunneling induced by multiphonon emission/absorption processes in magnetic molecular complexes with low-energy singlet-triplet spin gap and show that the number of assisting phonons may be changed by varying the Zeeman splitting of excited triplet state. As a result, the structure of multiphonon Kondo resonances may be scanned by means of magnetic field tuning.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Shortened version of this paper will be published in the Proceedings of the International Conference "Phonons2007" (J. Phys: Conf. Series

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Falls Among Older Adults: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine whether differences in reported fall rates exist between different ethnic groups. Searches were carried out on four databases: Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, and Web of Science. Only English language studies with community-dwelling participants aged 60 + years were included. Studies also needed to compare fall prevalence for at least two or more ethnic groups. Two reviewers independently screened all articles and evaluated study quality. Twenty-three articles were included for systematic review, and meta-analyses were carried out on the 16 retrospective studies that reported falls in the previous 12 months. The Asian group demonstrated significantly lower fall prevalence than all other ethnic groups at 13.89% (10.87, 16.91). The Hispanic group had a fall prevalence of 18.54% (12.95, 24.13), closely followed by the Black group at 18.60% (13.27, 23.93). The White group had the highest prevalence at 23.77% (18.66, 28.88). Some studies provided adjusted estimates of effect statistics for the odds/risk of falls, which showed that differences still existed between some ethnic groups even after adjusting for other risk factors. Overall, differences in fall prevalence do appear to exist between different ethnic groups, although the reasons for these differences currently remain undetermined and require further investigation. These findings highlight the need to provide more ethnically tailored responses to public health challenges, which could potentially increase the adherence to prevention interventions, and allow for a more targeted use of resources

Kondo effect of a Co atom on Cu(111) in contact with an Fe tip

Single Co atoms, which exhibit a Kondo effect on Cu(111), are contacted with Cu and Fe tips in a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. With Fe tips, the Kondo effect persists with the Abrikosov-Suhl resonance significantly broadened. In contrast, for Cu-covered W tips, the resonance width remains almost constant throughout the tunneling and contact ranges. The distinct changes of the line width are interpreted in terms of modifications of the Co d state occupation owing to hybridization with the tip apex atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Non-Kondo mechanism for resistivity minimum in spin ice conduction systems

We present a mechanism of resistivity minimum in conduction electron systems coupled with localized moments, which is distinguished from the Kondo effect. Instead of the spin-flip process in the Kondo effect, electrons are elastically scattered by local spin correlations which evolve in a particular way under geometrical frustration as decreasing temperature. This is demonstrated by the cellular dynamical mean-field theory for a spin-ice type Kondo lattice model on a pyrochlore lattice. Peculiar temperature dependences of the resistivity, specific heat, and magnetic susceptibility in the non-Kondo mechanism are compared with the experimental data in metallic Ir pyrochlore oxides.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Tunable "Doniach Phase Diagram" for strongly-correlated nanoclusters

Exact diagonalization calculations reveal that the energy spacing $\Delta$ in the conduction band tunes the interplay between the {\it local} Kondo and {\it non local} RKKY interactions, giving rise to a "Doniach phase diagram" for a nanocluster with regions of prevailing Kondo or RKKY correlations. The parity of the total number of electrons alters the competition between the Kondo and RKKY correlations. This interplay may be relevant to experimental realizations of small rings or quantum dots with tunable magnetic properties. Below a critical value V$_c$ of the hybridization the susceptibility exhibits a low-T exponential activation behavior determined by the interplay of the spin gap and $\Delta$.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Topological Kondo effect with Majorana fermions

The Kondo effect is a striking consequence of the coupling of itinerant electrons to a quantum spin with degenerate energy levels. While degeneracies are commonly thought to arise from symmetries or fine-tuning of parameters, the recent emergence of Majorana fermions has brought to the fore an entirely different possibility: a "topological degeneracy" which arises from the nonlocal character of Majorana fermions. Here we show that nonlocal quantum spins formed from these degrees of freedom give rise to a novel "topological Kondo effect". This leads to a robust non-Fermi liquid behavior, known to be difficult to achieve in the conventional Kondo context. Focusing on mesoscopic superconductor devices, we predict several unique transport signatures of this Kondo effect, which would demonstrate the non-local quantum dynamics of Majorana fermions, and validate their potential for topological quantum computation

The Strong Coupling Fixed-Point Revisited

In recent work we have shown that the Fermi liquid aspects of the strong coupling fixed point of the s-d and Anderson models can brought out more clearly by interpreting the fixed point as a renormalized Anderson model, characterized by a renormalized level $\tilde\epsilon_d$, resonance width, $\tilde\Delta$, and interaction $\tilde U$, and a simple prescription for their calculation was given using the numerical renormalization group (NRG). These three parameters completely specify a renormalized perturbation theory (RPT) which leads to exact expressions for the low temperature behaviour. Using a combination of the two techniques, NRG to determine $\tilde\epsilon_d$, $\tilde\Delta$, and $\tilde U$, and then substituting these in the RPT expressions gives a very efficient and accurate way of calculating the low temperature behaviour of the impurity as it avoids the necessity of subtracting out the conduction electron component. Here we extend this approach to an Anderson model in a magnetic field, so that $\tilde\epsilon_d$, $\tilde\Delta$, and $\tilde U$ become dependent on the magnetic field. The de-renormalization of the renormalized quasiparticles can then be followed as the magnetic field strength is increased. Using these running coupling constants in a RPT calculation we derive an expression for the low temperature conductivity for arbitrary magnetic field strength.Comment: Contribution to JPSJ volume commemorating the 40th anniversary of the publication of Kondo's original pape

Slave-boson approach to the infinite-U Anderson-Holstein impurity model

The infinite-$U$ Anderson-Holstein impurity model is studied with a focus on the interplay between the strong electron correlation and the weak electron-phonon interaction. The slave boson method has been employed in combination with the large degeneracy expansion (1/N) technique. The charge and spin susceptibilities and the phonon propagator are obtained in the approximation scheme where the saddle point configuration and the Gaussian 1/N fluctuations are taken into account. The spin susceptibility is found not to be renormalized by electron-phonon interaction, while the charge susceptibility is renormalized. From the renormalized charge susceptibility the Kondo temperature is found to increase by the electron-phonon interaction. It turns out that the bosonic 1/N Gaussian fluctuations play a very crucial role, in particular, for the phonon propagator.Comment: 12pages, 3 figures. Published in Physical Review

Theory of Fano-Kondo effect in quantum dot systems: temperature dependence of the Fano line shapes

The Fano-Kondo effect in zero-bias conductance is studied based on a theoretical model for the T-shaped quantum dot by the finite temperature density matrix renormalization group method. The modification of the two Fano line shapes at much higher temperatures than the Kondo temperature is also investigated by the effective Fano parameter estimated as a fitting parameter.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, the proceeding of SCES'0

Magnetic phases in the correlated Kondo-lattice model

We study magnetic ordering of an extended Kondo-lattice model including an additional on-site Coulomb interaction between the itinerant states. The model is solved in the dynamical mean-field theory using Wilson's numerical renormalization group approach as impurity solver. For a bipartite lattice we find at half filling the expected antiferromagnetic phase. Upon doping this phase is gradually suppressed and hints towards phase separation are observed. For large doping the model exhibits ferromagnetism, the appearance of which can at first sight be explained by Rudermann-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction. However, for large values of the Kondo coupling $J$ significant differences to a simple Rudermann-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida picture can be found. We furthermore observe signs of quantum critical points for antiferromagnetic Kondo coupling between the local spins and band states