Computing local multipoint correlators using the numerical renormalization group

Local three- and four-point correlators yield important insight into strongly correlated systems and have many applications. However, the nonperturbative, accurate computation of multipoint correlators is challenging, particularly in the real-frequency domain for systems at low temperatures. In the accompanying paper, we introduce generalized spectral representations for multipoint correlators. Here, we develop a numerical renormalization group (NRG) approach, capable of efficiently evaluating these spectral representations, to compute local three- and four-point correlators of quantum impurity models. The key objects in our scheme are partial spectral functions, encoding the system's dynamical information. Their computation via NRG allows us to simultaneously resolve various multiparticle excitations down to the lowest energies. By subsequently convolving the partial spectral functions with appropriate kernels, we obtain multipoint correlators in the imaginary-frequency Matsubara, the real-frequency zero-temperature, and the real-frequency Keldysh formalisms. We present exemplary results for the connected four-point correlators of the Anderson impurity model, and for resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra of related impurity models. Our method can treat temperatures and frequencies -- imaginary or real -- of all magnitudes, from large to arbitrarily small ones.Comment: See also the jointly published paper [F. B. Kugler, S.-S. B. Lee, and J. von Delft, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041006 (2021); arXiv:2101.00707

Emergent Properties of the Periodic Anderson Model: a High-Resolution, Real-Frequency Study of Heavy-Fermion Quantum Criticality

We study paramagnetic quantum criticality in the periodic Anderson model (PAM) using cellular dynamical mean-field theory, with the numerical renormalization group (NRG) as an impurity solver. The PAM describes an itinerant $c$ band hybridizing with a localized $f$ band. At $T=0$, it exhibits a hybridization tuned Kondo breakdown quantum critical point (KB-QCP) from a Kondo to an RKKY phase. At the KB-QCP, the $f$ band changes character from itinerant to mainly localized, while the $c$ band remains itinerant. We elucidate its nature in detail by performing a high-resolution, real-frequency study of dynamical quantities. NRG allows us to study the quantum critical non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) regime located between $T_{FL}<T_{NFL}$. Surprisingly, self-consistency is essential to stabilize the NFL and the QCP. The Fermi-liquid (FL) scale $T_{FL}$ decreases towards and vanishes at the QCP. At $T=0$, we find the following properties. The $f$ quasiparticle (QP) weight $Z_f$ decreases continuously as the QCP is approached from either side, vanishing only at the QCP. Therefore, $Z_f$ is nonzero in both the Kondo and the RKKY phase; hence, the FL QP comprise $c$ and $f$ electrons in both phases. The Fermi surface (FS) volumes in the two phases differ. Whereas the large-FS Kondo phase has a usual two-band structure, the small-FS RKKY phase has an unexpected three-band structure. We provide a detailed analysis of quasiparticle properties of both the Kondo and the RKKY phase. The FS reconstruction is accompanied by the appearance of a Luttinger surface (LS) on which the $f$ self-energy diverges. The FS and LS volumes are related to the density by a generalized Luttinger sum rule. We interpret the small FS volume and the emergent LS as evidence for $f$-electron fractionalization in the RKKY phase. Our Hall coefficient and specific heat are in good qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 38 pages, 26 figure

Minimax optimization of entanglement witness operator for the quantification of three-qubit mixed-state entanglement

We develop a numerical approach for quantifying entanglement in mixed quantum states by convex-roof entanglement measures, based on the optimal entanglement witness operator and the minimax optimization method. Our approach is applicable to general entanglement measures and states and is an efficient alternative to the conventional approach based on the optimal pure-state decomposition. Compared with the conventional one, it has two important merits: (i) that the global optimality of the solution is quantitatively verifiable, and (ii) that the optimization is considerably simplified by exploiting the common symmetry of the target state and measure. To demonstrate the merits, we quantify Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entanglement in a class of three-qubit full-rank mixed states composed of the GHZ state, the W state, and the white noise, the simplest mixtures of states with different genuine multipartite entanglement, which have not been quantified before this work. We discuss some general properties of the form of the optimal witness operator and of the convex structure of mixed states, which are related to the symmetry and the rank of states

Analytic continuation of multipoint correlation functions

Conceptually, the Matsubara formalism (MF), using imaginary frequencies, and the Keldysh formalism (KF), formulated in real frequencies, give equivalent results for systems in thermal equilibrium. The MF has less complexity and is thus more convenient than the KF. However, computing dynamical observables in the MF requires the analytic continuation from imaginary to real frequencies. The analytic continuation is well-known for two-point correlation functions (having one frequency argument), but, for multipoint correlators, a straightforward recipe for deducing all Keldysh components from the MF correlator had not been formulated yet. Recently, a representation of MF and KF correlators in terms of formalism-independent partial spectral functions and formalism-specific kernels was introduced by Kugler, Lee, and von Delft [Phys. Rev. X 11, 041006 (2021)]. We use this representation to formally elucidate the connection between both formalisms. We show how a multipoint MF correlator can be analytically continued to recover all partial spectral functions and yield all Keldysh components of its KF counterpart. The procedure is illustrated for various correlators of the Hubbard atom.Comment: 56 pages, 8 figure