The quantum phase transition from a spin-Peierls phase with a small Fermi
surface to a paramagnetic Luttinger-liquid phase with a large Fermi surface is
studied in the framework of a one-dimensional Kondo-Heisenberg model that
consists of an electron gas away from half filling, coupled to a spin-1/2 chain
by Kondo interactions. The Kondo spins are further coupled to each other with
isotropic nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic
Heisenberg interactions which are tuned to the Majumdar-Ghosh point. Focusing
on three-eighths filling and using the density-matrix renormalization-group
(DMRG) method, we show that the zero-temperature transition between the phases
with small and large Fermi momenta appears continuous, and involves a new
intermediate phase where the Fermi surface is not well defined. The
intermediate phase is spin gapped and has Kondo-spin correlations that show
incommensurate modulations. Our results appear incompatible with the local
picture for the quantum phase transition in heavy fermion compounds, which
predicts an abrupt change in the size of the Fermi momentum.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure