Impurity-induced resonant states in topological nodal-line semimetals

Nodal-line semimetals are characterized by a kind of topologically nontrivial bulk-band crossing, giving rise to almost flat surface states. Yet, a direct evidence of the surface states is still lacking. Here we study theoretically impurity effects in topological nodal-line semimetals based on the T-matrix method. It is found that for a bulk impurity, some in-gap states may be induced near the impurity site, while the visible resonant impurity state can only exist for certain strength of the impurity potentials. For a surface impurity, robust resonant impurity states exist in a wide range of impurity potentials. Such robust resonant states stem from the topological protected weak dispersive surface states, which can be probed by scanning tunneling microscopy, providing a strong signature of the topological surface states in the nodal-line semimetals.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Antiferromagnetic correlations and impurity broadening of NMR linewidths in cuprate superconductors

We study a model of a d-wave superconductor with strong potential scatterers in the presence of antiferromagnetic correlations and apply it to experimental nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results on Zn impurities in the superconducting state of YBCO. We then focus on the contribution of impurity-induced paramagnetic moments, with Hubbard correlations in the host system accounted for in Hartree approximation. We show that local magnetism around individual impurities broadens the line, but quasiparticle interference between impurity states plays an important role in smearing out impurity satellite peaks. The model, together with estimates of vortex lattice effects, provides a semi-quantitative description of the impurity concentration dependence of the NMR line shape in the superconducting state, and gives a qualitative description of the temperature dependence of the line asymmetry. We argue that impurity-induced paramagnetism and resonant local density of states effects are both necessary to explain existing experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 23 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Local spin polarization in underdoped cuprates with impurities

We present a theory of magnetic (Ni) and nonmagnetic (Zn) impurities substituted into planar Cu sites in the normal state of underdoped cuprates exhibiting a spin gap. Both types of impurities induce magnetic moments on neighboring Cu sites. In the case of Ni these moments partially screen the inherent impurity spin, resulting in an effective S=1/2 moment. The characteristic Kondo scale is found to have a power-law dependence on the coupling constant. We investigate the spatial shape of the impurity-induced spin density, taking into account the presence of short-ranged AF correlations, and calculate the ^{17}O NMR line broadening induced by impurity doping.Comment: To appear in: Physica C, Proceedings of ACS '9

Numerical Renormalization Group for Bosonic Systems and Application to the Subohmic Spin-Boson Model

We describe the generalization of Wilson's Numerical Renormalization Group method to quantum impurity models with a bosonic bath, providing a general non-perturbative approach to bosonic impurity models which can access exponentially small energies and temperatures. As an application, we consider the spin-boson model, describing a two-level system coupled to a bosonic bath with power-law spectral density, J(omega) ~ omega^s. We find clear evidence for a line of continuous quantum phase transitions for subohmic bath exponents 0<s<1; the line terminates in the well-known Kosterlitz-Thouless transition at s=1. Contact is made with results from perturbative renormalization group, and various other applications are outlined.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figs, (v2) final version as publishe

Exact results for the one-dimensional many-body problem with contact interaction: Including a tunable impurity

The one-dimensional problem of $N$ particles with contact interaction in the presence of a tunable transmitting and reflecting impurity is investigated along the lines of the coordinate Bethe ansatz. As a result, the system is shown to be exactly solvable by determining the eigenfunctions and the energy spectrum. The latter is given by the solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations which we establish for different boundary conditions in the presence of the impurity. These impurity Bethe equations contain as special cases well-known Bethe equations for systems on the half-line. We briefly study them on their own through the toy-examples of one and two particles. It turns out that the impurity can be tuned to lift degeneracies in the energies and can create bound states when it is sufficiently attractive. The example of an impurity sitting at the center of a box and breaking parity invariance shows that such an impurity can be used to confine asymmetrically a stationary state. This could have interesting applications in condensed matter physics.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication: some typos corrected, references and comments adde

Theory of STM Spectroscopy of Kondo Ions on Metal Surfaces

The conduction electron density of states nearby a single magnetic impurity, as measured recently by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), is calculated. It is shown that the Kondo effect induces a narrow Fano resonance as an intrinsic feature in the conduction electron density of states. The line shape varies with the distance between STM tip and impurity, in qualitative agreement with experiments, and is sensitive to details of the band structure. For a Co impurity the experimentally observed width and shift of the Kondo resonance are in accordance with those obtained from a combination of band structure and strongly correlated calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Size Dependent Magnetic Scattering", Pecs, Hungary, May 28 - June 1, 200

EPR of photochromic Mo3+ in SrTiO3

In single crystals of SrTiO_3, a paramagnetic center, characterized by S = 3/2 and hyperfine interaction with an I = 5/2 nuclear spin has been observed in the temperature range 4.2K-77K by means of EPR. The impurity center is attributed to Mo3+. No additional line splitting in the EPR spectrum due to the 105K phase transition has been observed. At 4.2K the following spin Hamiltonian parameters for this impurity ion were obtained: g = 1.9546\pm0.0010 and A = (32.0\pm0.05)\times10^-4 cm^-1.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Impurity-induced spin polarization and NMR line broadening in underdoped cuprates

We present a theory of magnetic (S=1) Ni and nonmagnetic Zn impurities in underdoped cuprates. Both types of impurities are shown to induce S=1/2 moments on Cu sites in the proximity of the impurity, a process which is intimately related to the spin gap phenomenon in cuprates. Below a characteristic Kondo temperature, the Ni spin is partially screened by the Cu moments, resulting in an effective impurity spin S=1/2. We further analyze the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasiya-Yosida-type response of planar Cu spins to a polarization of the effective impurity moments and derive expressions for the corresponding ^{17}O NMR line broadening. The peculiar aspects of recent experimental NMR data can be traced back to different spatial characteristics of Ni and Zn moments as well as to an inherent temperature dependence of local antiferromagnetic correlations.Comment: PRB B1 01June9

Hubbard chain with a Kondo impurity

A Bethe Ansatz solution of a (modified) Hubbard chain with a Kondo impurity of arbitrary spin S at a highly symmetric line of parameter space is proposed and explored. Our results confirm the existence of a strong-coupling (line of) fixed-point(s) with ferromagnetic Kondo coupling as first hypothetized by Furusaki and Nagaosa on the basis of perturbative renormalization group calculations. For on-site Hubbard repulsion and ferromagnetic Kondo exchange, the ground state has spin S-1/2, i.e., is a singlet when S=1/2. The contributions of the impurity to the magnetic susceptibility and low-temperature specific heat are discussed. While the Wilson ratio is unity in the half-filled band, it is found to be a function of density and interaction away from half-filling.Comment: 5 pages, Revte