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Quantum criticality in systems of local moments interacting with itinerant electrons has become an important and diverse field of research. Here we review recent results which concern (a) quantum phase transitions in single-impurity Kondo and Anderson models and (b) quantum phase transitions in heavy-fermion lattice models which involve critical quasiparticles. For (a) the focus will be on impurity models with a pseudogapped host density of states and their applications, e.g., in graphene and other Dirac materials, while (b) is devoted to strong-coupling behavior near antiferromagnetic quantum phase transitions, with potential applications in a variety of heavy-fermion metals.

Quantum criticality in systems of local moments interacting with itinerant electrons has become an important and diverse field of research. Here we review recent results which concern (a) quantum phase transitions in single-impurity Kondo and Anderson models and (b) quantum phase transitions in heavy-fermion lattice models which involve critical quasiparticles. For (a) the focus will be on impurity models with a pseudogapped host density of states and their applications, e.g., in graphene and other Dirac materials, while (b) is devoted to strong-coupling behavior near antiferromagnetic quantum phase transitions, with potential applications in a variety of heavy-fermion metals.

The complement system is one of the major components of humoral innate immunity, acting as one of the first lines of defence against microbes, but new roles in inflammatory and immunological processes are emerging. The placenta undergoes an intense process of tissue remodelling which leads to the activation of the complement (C) system resulting in the release of potentially destructive activation products that need to be neutralized. The protection of the foetus against maternal C activation products is achieved by the surface expression of regulators. The liver is the main source of the plasma C components although extra-hepatic synthesis in several tissues and organs has been documented. The data collected recently indicate that trophoblast cells are able to secrete C3 and C4 and the recognition molecule C1q, contributing to the local synthesis at the placental level. Besides trophoblast cells, decidual endothelial cells acquire the ability to synthesize and express C1q on the cell surface. All these observations support the role of C1q in the placental development and its importance in trophoblast endovascular and interstitial invasion. In conclusion it is increasingly evident that a new role of complement and in particular C1q in the processes of tissue homeostasis as well as is in inflammation and infection is now emerging.

When a system of correlated electrons is embedded in a dissipative environment, new emergent phenomena might occur due to the interplay of correlation and dissipation. Here we focus on quantum impurity systems with coupling to a bosonic bath. For the theoretical investigation we introduce the bosonic numerical renormalization group method which has been initially set up for the spin-boson model. The role of both correlations and dissipation is described in the context of two-electron transfer systems. We also discuss prospects for the investigation of lattice models of correlated electrons with coupling to a dissipative bath.

When a system of correlated electrons is embedded in a dissipative environment, new emergent phenomena might occur due to the interplay of correlation and dissipation. Here we focus on quantum impurity systems with coupling to a bosonic bath. For the theoretical investigation we introduce the bosonic numerical renormalization group method which has been initially set up for the spin-boson model. The role of both correlations and dissipation is described in the context of two-electron transfer systems. We also discuss prospects for the investigation of lattice models of correlated electrons with coupling to a dissipative bath.

Abstract.: When a system of correlated electrons is embedded in a dissipative environment, new emergent phenomena might occur due to the interplay of correlation and dissipation. Here we focus on quantum impurity systems with coupling to a bosonic bath. For the theoretical investigation we introduce the bosonic numerical renormalization group method which has been initially set up for the spin-boson model. The role of both correlations and dissipation is described in the context of two-electron transfer systems. We also discuss prospects for the investigation of lattice models of correlated electrons with coupling to a dissipative bath.

Abstract:: We consider a Kondo impurity coupled to a fermionic host with a power-law density of states near the Fermi level, ρ(ε) ∼ |ε|r, with exponent r < 0. Using both perturbative renormalization group (poor man's scaling) and numerical renormalization group methods, we analyze the phase diagram of this model for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kondo coupling. Both sectors display non-trivial behavior with several stable phases separated by continuous transitions. In particular, on the ferromagnetic side there is a stable intermediate-coupling fixed point with universal properties corresponding to a fractional ground-state spin.

Abstract:: We discuss the ground state magnetic phase diagram of the Hubbard model off half filling within the dynamical mean-field theory. The effective single-impurity Anderson model is solved by Wilson's numerical renormalization group calculations, adapted to symmetry broken phases. We find a phase separated, antiferromagnetic state up to a critical doping for small and intermediate values of U, but could not stabilize a Néel state for large U and finite doping. At very large U, the phase diagram exhibits an island with a ferromagnetic ground state. Spectral properties in the ordered phases are discussed.

Abstract:: We have studied the critical behaviour of a doped Mott insulator near the metal-insulator transition for the infinite-dimensional Hubbard model using a linearized form of dynamical mean-field theory. The discontinuity in the chemical potential in the change from hole to electron doping, for U larger than a critical value U c, has been calculated analytically and is found to be in good agreement with the results of numerical methods. We have also derived analytic expressions for the compressibility, the quasiparticle weight, the double occupancy and the local spin susceptibility near half-filling as functions of the on-site Coulomb interaction and the doping.

Abstract:: 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.

Abstract:: We show analytically that, under certain assumptions, the periodic Anderson model and the Hubbard model become equivalent within the dynamical mean field theory for quasiparticle weight Z → 0. A scaling relation is derived which is validated numerically using the numerical renormalization group at zero temperature and quantum Monte Carlo simulations at finite temperatures. Our results show that the ƒ-electrons of the half-filled periodic Anderson model with nearest neighbor hybridization get localized at a finite critical interaction strength U c, also at zero temperature. This transition is equivalent to the Mott-transition in the Hubbard model.

Abstract:: The Mott-Hubbard metal-insulator transition is studied within a simplified version of the Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT) in which the coupling between the impurity level and the conduction band is approximated by a single pole at the Fermi energy. In this approach, the DMFT equations are linearized, and the value for the critical Coulomb repulsion can be calculated analytically. For the symmetric single-band Hubbard model at zero temperature, the critical value is found to be given by 6 times the square root of the second moment of the free (U=0) density of states. This result is in good agreement with the numerical value obtained from the Projective Selfconsistent Method and recent Numerical Renormalization Group calculations for the Bethe and the hypercubic lattice in infinite dimensions. The generalization to more complicated lattices is discussed. The “linearized DMFT” yields plausible results for the complete geometry dependence of the critical interaction.

PROBLEM: May anti‐phospholipid or other autoantibodies interfere with trophoblast‐endothelial cells interaction in women with unexplained pregnancy losses?

Abstract: The O(3) symmetric Anderson model is an example of a system which has a stable low energy marginal Fermi liquid fixed point for a certain choice of parameters. It is also exactly equivalent, in the large U limit, to a localized model which describes the spin degrees of freedom of the linear dispersion two channel Kondo model. We first use an argument based on conformal field theory to establish this precise equivalence with the two channel model. We then use the numerical renormalization group (NRG) approach to calculate both one-electron and two-electron response functions for a range of values of the interaction strength U. We compare the behaviours about the marginal Fermi liquid and Fermi liquid fixed points and interpret the results in terms of a renormalized Majorana fermion picture of the elementary excitations. In the marginal Fermi liquid case the spectral densities of all the Majorana fermion modes display a |ω| dependence on the lowest energy scale, and in addition the zero Majorana mode has a delta function contribution. The weight of this delta function is studied as a function of the interaction U and is found to decrease exponentially with U for large U. Using the equivalence with the two channel Kondo model in the large U limit, we deduce the dynamical spin susceptibility of the two channel Kondo model over the full frequency range. We use renormalized perturbation theory to interpret the results and to calculate the coefficient of the lnω divergence found in the low frequency behaviour of the T = 0 dynamic susceptibility.

PROBLEM: Trophoblasts and endothelial cells represent a potential target for antibodies in women with recurrent spontaneous abortions. These antibodies have been shown to be associated with anti‐phospholipid antibodies. Are they also present in women with unexplained pregnancy losses in the absence of anti‐phospholipid antibodies?

Recently, a functional integral representation was proposed by Weller [1], in which the fermionic fields strictly satisfy the constraint of no double occupancy at each lattice site. This is achieved by introducing spin dependent Bose fields. The functional integral method is applied to the single impurity Anderson model both in the Kondo and mixed-valence regime. Thef-electron Green's function and susceptibility are calculated using an Ising-like representation for the Bose fields. We discuss the difficulty to extract a spectral function from the knowledge of the imaginary time Green's function. The results are compared with NCA calculations.

The numerical renormalization group method is applied to an Anderson impurity with an energy dependent coupling to the conduction band. We describe how the discrete spectra resulting from the numerical calculation can be reliably smoothed using a continued fraction expansion. The investigations are connected with the study of models in infinite spatial dimensions.

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