No Arabic abstract
We analyze the crossover from Kondo to weak-link regime by means of a model of tunable bond impurities in the middle of a spin-1/2 XXZ Heisenberg chain. We study the Kondo screening cloud and estimate the Kondo length by combining perturbative renormalization group approach with the exact numerical calculation of the integrated real-space spin-spin correlation functions. We show that, when the spin impurity is symmetrically coupled to the two parts of the chain with realistic values of the Kondo coupling strengths and spin-parity symmetry is preserved, the Kondo length takes values within the reach of nowadays experimental technology in ultracold-atom setups. In the case of non-symmetric Kondo couplings and/or spin parity broken by a nonzero magnetic field applied to the impurity, we discuss how Kondo screening redistributes among the chain as a function of the asymmetry in the couplings and map out the shrinking of the Kondo length when the magnetic field induces a crossover from Kondo impurity to weak-link physics.
We consider the Kondo effect in Y-junctions of anisotropic XY models in an applied magnetic field along the critical lines characterized by a gapless excitation spectrum. We find that, while the boundary interaction Hamiltonian describing the junction can be recasted in the form of a four-channel, spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Kondo Hamiltonian, the number of channels effectively participating in the Kondo effect depends on the chain parameters, as well as on the boundary couplings at the junction. The system evolves from an effective four-channel topological Kondo effect for a junction of XX-chains with symmetric boundary couplings into a two-channel one at a junction of three quantum critical Ising chains. The effective number of Kondo channels depends on the properties of the boundary and of the bulk. The XX-line is a critical line, where a four-channel topological Kondo effect can be recovered by fine-tuning the boundary parameter, while along the line in parameter space connecting the extreme regimes, XX-line and the critical Ising point the junction is effectively equivalent to a two-channel topological Kondo Hamiltonian. Using a renormalization group approach, we determine the flow of the boundary couplings, which allows us to define and estimate the critical couplings and Kondo temperatures of the different Kondo (pair) channels. Finally, we study the local transverse magnetization in the center of the Y-junction, eventually arguing that it provides an effective tool to monitor the onset of the two-channel Kondo effect.
Exact diagonalization of finite spin-1/2 chains with periodic boundary conditions is applied to the ground state (gs) of chains with ferromagnetic (F) exchange $J_1 < 0$between first neighbors, antiferromagnetic (AF) exchange $J_2 = alpha J_1 > 0$between second neighbors, and axial anisotropy $0 le Delta le 1$. In zero field, the gs is in the $S_z = 0$ sector for the relevant parameters and is doubly degenerate at multiple points $gamma_m = (alpha_m, Delta_m)$ in the $alpha$, $Delta$ plane. Degeneracy under inversion at sites or spin parity or both leads, respectively, to a bond order wave (BOW), to staggered magnetization or to vector chiral (VC) order. Exact results up to $N = 28$ spins directly yield order parameters and spin correlation functions whose weak N dependencies allow inferences about infinite chains. The high-spin gs at $J_2 = 0$ changes discontinuously at $gamma_1 = (-1/4, 1)$ to a singlet in the isotropic ($Delta = 1$) chain. The transition from high to low spin $S(alpha, Delta)$ is continuous for $ Delta < Delta_B = 0.95 pm 0.01$ on the degeneracy line $alpha_1(Delta)$. The gs has staggered magnetization between $Delta_A = 0.72$ and $Delta_B$, and a BOW for $Delta < Delta_A$. When both inversion and spin parity are reversed at $gamma_m$, the correlation functions $C(p)$ for spins separated by $p$ sites are identical. $C(p)$ minima are shifted by $pi/2$ from the minima of VC order parameters at separation $p$, consistent with right and left-handed helices along the z axis and spins in the xy plane. Degenerate gs of finite chains are related to quantum phase diagrams of extended $alpha$, $Delta$ chains, with good agreement for order parameters along the line $alpha_1(Delta)$.
The static structure factor S(q) of frustrated spin-1/2 chains with isotropic exchange and a singlet ground state (GS) diverges at wave vector q_m when the GS has quasi-long-range order (QLRO) with periodicity 2pi/q_m but S(q_m) is finite in bond-order-wave (BOW) phases with finite-range spin correlations. Exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations of S(q) indicate a decoupled phase with QLRO and q_m = pi/2 in chains with large antiferromagnetic exchange between second neighbors. S(q_m) identifies quantum phase transitions based on GS spin correlations.
The ground state spin-wave excitations and thermodynamic properties of two types of ferrimagnetic chains are investigated: the alternating spin-1/2 spin-5/2 chain and a similar chain with a spin-1/2 pendant attached to the spin-5/2 site. Results for magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and specific heat are obtained through the finite-temperature Lanczos method with the aim in describing available experimental data, as well as comparison with theoretical results from the semiclassical approximation and the low-temperature susceptibility expansion derived from Takahashis modified spin-wave theory. In particular, we study in detail the temperature vs. magnetic field phase diagram of the spin-1/2 spin-5/2 chain, in which several low-temperature quantum phases are identified: the Luttinger Liquid phase, the ferrimagnetic plateau and the fully polarized one, and the respective quantum critical points and crossover lines.
Applying the (infinite) density-matrix renormalisation group technique, we explore the effect of an explicit dimerisation on the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1 $XXZ$ chain with single-ion anisotropy $D$. We demonstrate that the Haldane phase between large-$D$ and antiferromagnetic phases survives up to a critical dimerisation only. As a further new characteristic the dimerisation induces a direct continuous Ising quantum phase transition between the large-$D$ and antiferromagnetic phases with central charge $c=1/2$, which terminates at a critical end-point where $c=7/10$. Calculating the critical exponents of the order parameter, neutral gap and spin-spin-correlation function, we find $beta=1/8$ (1/24), $ u=1$ (5/9), and $eta=1/4$ (3/20), respectively, which proves the Ising (tricritical Ising) universality class in accordance with field-theoretical predictions.