Phase transitions in the pseudogap Anderson and Kondo models: Critical dimensions, renormalization group, and local-moment criticality
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The pseudogap Kondo problem, describing quantum impurities coupled to fermionic quasiparticles with a pseudogap density of states ρ(ω) ∝|ω|r shows a rich zero-temperature phase diagram, with different screened and free moment phases and associated transitions. We analyze both the particle-hole symmetric and asymmetric cases using renormalization group techniques. In the vicinity of r=0, which plays the role of a lower-critical dimension, an expansion in the Kondo coupling is appropriate. In contrast, r=1 is the upper-critical dimension in the absence of particle-hole symmetry, and here insight can be gained using an expansion in the hybridization strength of the Anderson model. As a by-product, we show that the particle-hole symmetric strong-coupling fixed point for r<1 is described by a resonant level model, and corresponds to an intermediate-coupling fixed point in the renormalization group language. Interestingly, the value r=1/2 plays the role of a second lower-critical dimension in the particle-hole symmetric case, and there we can make progress by an expansion performed around a resonant level model. The different expansions allow a complete description of all critical fixed points of the models and can be used to compute a variety of properties near criticality, describing universal local-moment fluctuations at these impurity quantum phase transitions.
Details
Original language | English |
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Article number | 214427 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-24 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics |
Volume | 70 |
Issue number | 21 |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2004 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |