Phase diagram of the Mott transition in a two-band Hubbard model in infinite dimensions

The Mott metal-insulator transition in the two-band Hubbard model in infinite dimensions is studied by using the linearized dynamical mean-field theory recently developed by Bulla and Potthoff. The phase boundary of the metal-insulator transition is obtained analytically as a function of the on-site Coulomb interaction at the $d$-orbital, the charge-transfer energy between the $d$- and $p$-orbitals and the hopping integrals between $p-d$, $d-d$ and $p-p$ orbitals. The result is in good agreement with the numerical results obtained from the exact diagonalization method.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Fermi liquids and the Luttinger integral

The Luttinger Theorem, which relates the electron density to the volume of the Fermi surface in an itinerant electron system, is taken to be one of the essential features of a Fermi liquid. The microscopic derivation of this result depends on the vanishing of a certain integral, the Luttinger integral I L, which is also the basis of the Friedel sum rule for impurity models, relating the impurity occupation number to the scattering phase shift of the conduction electrons. It is known that non-zero values of I L with I L = ±π/2, occur in impurity models classified as singular Fermi liquids. Here we show the same values, I L = ±π/2, occur in an impurity model in phases with regular low energy Fermi liquid behavior. Consequently the Luttinger integral can be taken to characterize these phases, and the quantum critical points separating them interpreted as topological

Higher-order Fermi-liquid corrections for an Anderson impurity away from half filling : Equilibrium properties

We study the low-energy behavior of the vertex function of a single Anderson impurity away from half filling for finite magnetic fields, using the Ward identities with careful consideration of the antisymmetry and analytic properties. The asymptotic form of the vertex function Γ σ σ ′ ; σ ′ σ ( i ω , i ω ′ ; i ω ′ , i ω ) is determined up to terms of linear order with respect to the two frequencies ω and ω ′ , as well as the ω 2 contribution for antiparallel spins σ ′ ≠ σ at ω ′ = 0 . From these results, we also obtain a series of the Fermi-liquid relations beyond those of Yamada-Yosida [Prog. Theor. Phys. 54, 316 (1975)]. The ω 2 real part of the self-energy Σ σ ( i ω ) is shown to be expressed in terms of the double derivative ∂ 2 Σ σ ( 0 ) / ∂ ε 2 d σ with respect to the impurity energy level ε d σ , and agrees with the formula obtained recently by Filippone, Moca, von Delft, and Mora (FMvDM) in the Nozières phenomenological Fermi-liquid theory [Phys. Rev. B 95, 165404 (2017)]. We also calculate the T 2 correction of the self-energy and find that the real part can be expressed in terms of the three-body correlation function ∂ χ ↑ ↓ / ∂ ε d , − σ , where χ ↑ ↓ is the static susceptibility between antiparallel spins. We also provide an alternative derivation of the asymptotic form of the vertex function. Specifically, we calculate the skeleton diagrams for the vertex function Γ σ σ ; σ σ ( i ω , 0 ; 0 , i ω ) for parallel spins up to order U 4 in the Coulomb repulsion U . It directly clarifies the fact that the analytic components of order ω vanish as a result of the cancellation of four related Feynman diagrams, which are related to each other through the antisymmetry operation

Higher-order Fermi-liquid corrections for an Anderson impurity away from half filling: Nonequilibrium transport

We extend the microscopic Fermi-liquid theory for the Anderson impurity [Phys. Rev. B 64, 153305 (2001)] to explore nonequilibrium transport at finite magnetic fields. Using the Ward identities in the Keldysh formalism with the analytic and antisymmetric properties of the vertex function, the spin-dependent Fermi-liquid corrections of order T 2 and ( e V ) 2 are determined at low temperatures T and low bias voltages e V . Away from half filling, these corrections can be expressed in terms of the linear and nonlinear static susceptibilities which represent the two-body and three-body fluctuations, respectively. We calculate the nonlinear susceptibilities using the numerical renormalization group, to explore the differential conductance d I / d V through a quantum dot. We find that the two-body fluctuations dominate the corrections in the Kondo regime at zero magnetic field. The contribution of the three-body fluctuations becomes significant far away from half filling, especially in the valence-fluctuation regime and empty-orbital regimes. In finite magnetic fields, the three-body contributions become comparable to the two-body contributions, and play an essential role in the splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak occurring at a magnetic field of the order of the Kondo energy scale. We also apply our microscopic formulation to the magnetoresistance and thermal conductivity of dilute magnetic alloys away from half filling

Nonlinear thermoelectric response of quantum dots: renormalized dual fermions out of equilibrium

The thermoelectric transport properties of nanostructured devices continue to attract attention from theorists and experimentalist alike as the spatial confinement allows for a controlled approach to transport properties of correlated matter. Most of the existing work, however, focuses on thermoelectric transport in the linear regime despite the fact that the nonlinear conductance of correlated quantum dots has been studied in some detail throughout the last decade. Here, we review our recent work on the effect of particle-hole asymmetry on the nonlinear transport properties in the vicinity of the strong coupling limit of Kondo-correlated quantum dots and extend the underlying method, a renormalized superperturbation theory on the Keldysh contour, to the thermal conductance in the nonlinear regime. We determine the charge, energy, and heat current through the nanostructure and study the nonlinear transport coefficients, the entropy production, and the fate of the Wiedemann-Franz law in the non-thermal steady-state. Our approach is based on a renormalized perturbation theory in terms of dual fermions around the particle-hole symmetric strong-coupling limit.Comment: chapter contributed to 'New Materials for Thermoelectric Applications: Theory and Experiment' Springer Series: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series - B: Physics and Biophysics, Veljko Zlatic (Editor), Alex Hewson (Editor). ISBN: 978-9400749863 (2012

Long-range Kondo signature of a single magnetic impurity

The Kondo effect, one of the oldest correlation phenomena known in condensed matter physics, has regained attention due to scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) experiments performed on single magnetic impurities. Despite the sub-nanometer resolution capability of local probe techniques one of the fundamental aspects of Kondo physics, its spatial extension, is still subject to discussion. Up to now all STS studies on single adsorbed atoms have shown that observable Kondo features rapidly vanish with increasing distance from the impurity. Here we report on a hitherto unobserved long range Kondo signature for single magnetic atoms of Fe and Co buried under a Cu(100) surface. We present a theoretical interpretation of the measured signatures using a combined approach of band structure and many-body numerical renormalization group (NRG) calculations. These are in excellent agreement with the rich spatially and spectroscopically resolved experimental data.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures + 8 pages supplementary material; Nature Physics (Jan 2011 - advanced online publication

Kondo physics in carbon nanotubes

The connection of electrical leads to wire-like molecules is a logical step in the development of molecular electronics, but also allows studies of fundamental physics. For example, metallic carbon nanotubes are quantum wires that have been found to act as one-dimensional quantum dots, Luttinger-liquids, proximity-induced superconductors and ballistic and diffusive one-dimensional metals. Here we report that electrically-contacted single-wall nanotubes can serve as powerful probes of Kondo physics, demonstrating the universality of the Kondo effect. Arising in the prototypical case from the interaction between a localized impurity magnetic moment and delocalized electrons in a metallic host, the Kondo effect has been used to explain enhanced low-temperature scattering from magnetic impurities in metals, and also occurs in transport through semiconductor quantum dots. The far higher tunability of dots (in our case, nanotubes) compared with atomic impurities renders new classes of Kondo-like effects accessible. Our nanotube devices differ from previous systems in which Kondo effects have been observed, in that they are one-dimensional quantum dots with three-dimensional metal (gold) reservoirs. This allows us to observe Kondo resonances for very large electron number (N) in the dot, and approaching the unitary limit (where the transmission reaches its maximum possible value). Moreover, we detect a previously unobserved Kondo effect, occurring for even values of N in a magnetic field.Comment: 7 pages, pdf onl

A gentle introduction to the functional renormalization group: the Kondo effect in quantum dots

The functional renormalization group provides an efficient description of the interplay and competition of correlations on different energy scales in interacting Fermi systems. An exact hierarchy of flow equations yields the gradual evolution from a microscopic model Hamiltonian to the effective action as a function of a continuously decreasing energy cutoff. Practical implementations rely on suitable truncations of the hierarchy, which capture nonuniversal properties at higher energy scales in addition to the universal low-energy asymptotics. As a specific example we study transport properties through a single-level quantum dot coupled to Fermi liquid leads. In particular, we focus on the temperature T=0 gate voltage dependence of the linear conductance. A comparison with exact results shows that the functional renormalization group approach captures the broad resonance plateau as well as the emergence of the Kondo scale. It can be easily extended to more complex setups of quantum dots.Comment: contribution to Les Houches proceedings 2006, Springer styl

Nonequilibrium Singlet-Triplet Kondo Effect in Carbon Nanotubes

The Kondo-effect is a many-body phenomenon arising due to conduction electrons scattering off a localized spin. Coherent spin-flip scattering off such a quantum impurity correlates the conduction electrons and at low temperature this leads to a zero-bias conductance anomaly. This has become a common signature in bias-spectroscopy of single-electron transistors, observed in GaAs quantum dots as well as in various single-molecule transistors. While the zero-bias Kondo effect is well established it remains uncertain to what extent Kondo correlations persist in non-equilibrium situations where inelastic processes induce decoherence. Here we report on a pronounced conductance peak observed at finite bias-voltage in a carbon nanotube quantum dot in the spin singlet ground state. We explain this finite-bias conductance anomaly by a nonequilibrium Kondo-effect involving excitations into a spin triplet state. Excellent agreement between calculated and measured nonlinear conductance is obtained, thus strongly supporting the correlated nature of this nonequilibrium resonance.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

Orbital Kondo effect in carbon nanotubes

Progress in the fabrication of nanometer-scale electronic devices is opening new opportunities to uncover the deepest aspects of the Kondo effect, one of the paradigmatic phenomena in the physics of strongly correlated electrons. Artificial single-impurity Kondo systems have been realized in various nanostructures, including semiconductor quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and individual molecules. The Kondo effect is usually regarded as a spin-related phenomenon, namely the coherent exchange of the spin between a localized state and a Fermi sea of electrons. In principle, however, the role of the spin could be replaced by other degrees of freedom, such as an orbital quantum number. Here we demonstrate that the unique electronic structure of carbon nanotubes enables the observation of a purely orbital Kondo effect. We use a magnetic field to tune spin-polarized states into orbital degeneracy and conclude that the orbital quantum number is conserved during tunneling. When orbital and spin degeneracies are simultaneously present, we observe a strongly enhanced Kondo effect, with a multiple splitting of the Kondo resonance at finite field and predicted to obey a so-called SU(4) symmetry.Comment: 26 pages, including 4+2 figure