Magnetic impurities in the one-dimensional spin-orbital model

Using one-dimensional spin-orbital model as a typical example of quantum spin systems with richer symmetries, we study the effect of an isolated impurity on its low energy dynamics in the gapless phase through bosonization and renormalization group methods. In the case of internal impurities, depending on the symmetry, the boundary fixed points can be either an open chain with a residual spin or (and) orbital triplet left behind, or a periodic chain. However, these two fixed points are indistinguishable in the sense that in both cases, the lead-correction-to-scaling boundary operators (LCBO) only show Fermi-liquid like corrections to thermodynamical quantities. (Except the possible Curie-like contributions from the residual moments in the latter cases.) In the case of external (Kondo) impurities, the boundary fixed points, depending on the sign of orbital couplings, can be either an open chain with an isolated orbital doublet due to Kondo screening or it will flow to an intermediate fixed point with the same LCBO as that of the two-channel Kondo problem. Comparison with the Kondo effect in one-dimensional (1D) Heisenberg spin chain and multi-band Hubbard models is also made.Comment: 7 pages, No figur

Condensation of a tetrahedra rigid-body libration mode in HoBaCo4O7 : the origin of phase transition at 355 K

Rietveld profiles, Moessbauer spectra and x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) were analyzed through the structural phase transition at Ts = 355 K in HoBaCo4O7. Excess of the oxygen content over O7 was avoided via annealing the samples in argon flow at 600 degree C. Space groups (S.G.) Pbn21c and P63mc were used to refine the structure parameters in the low- and high-temperature phases, respectively. Additionally, the Cmc21 symmetry was considered as a concurrent model of structure of the low-temperature phase. In the high-temperature phase, severe anisotropy of thermal motion of the major part of the oxygen atoms was observed. This anisotropic motion turns to be quenched as the sample is cooled below Ts. The variation of quadrupole splitting near Ts is not similar to a steplike anomaly frequently seen at the charge-ordering transition. We observe instead a dip-like anomaly of the average quadrupole splitting near Ts. Narrow distribution of the electric field gradient (EFG) over different cobalt sites is observed and explained on the basis of point-charge model. XAFS spectra show no evidence of significant difference between YBaCo4O7 (T > Ts) and HoBaCo4O7 (T < Ts). The origin of the transition at Ts is ascribed to the condensation of the libration phonon mode associated with the rigid-body rotational movements of the starlike tetrahedral units, the building blocks of kagome network. It is shown that the condensation of the libration mode is not compatible with translation symmetry for the hexagonal S.G., but compatible for the orthorhombic S.G. The orthorhombic lattice parameters and EFG components (Vxx, Vyy, Vzz) vary smoothly with temperature at approaching Ts and closely follow each other.Comment: 13 figure

Effects of a magnetic field on the one-dimensional spin-orbital model

We study the effects of a uniform magnetic field on the one-dimensional spin-orbital model in terms of effective field theories. Two regions are examined: one around the SU(4) point (J=K/4) and the other with K<<J. We found that when $J\leq K/4$, the spin and orbital correlation functions exhibit power-law decay with nonuniversal exponents. In the region with J>K/4, the excitation spectrum has a gap. When the magnetic field is beyond some critical value, a quantum phase transition occurs. However, the correlation functions around the SU(4) point and the region with K<<J exhibit distinct behavior. This results from different structures of excitation spectra in both regime.Comment: 22 pages, no figure