Search

We study the dissipative dynamics of a one-dimensional bosonic system described in terms of the bipartite Bose-Hubbard model with alternating gain and loss. This model exhibits the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry under some specific conditions and features a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry phase transition. It is characterized by an order parameter corresponding to the population imbalance between even and odd sites, similar to the continuous phase transitions in the Hermitian realm. In the noninteracting limit, we solve the problem exactly and compute the parameter dependence of the order parameter. The interacting limit is addressed at the mean-field level, which allows us to construct the phase diagram for the model. We find that both the interaction and dissipation rates induce a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry breaking. On the other hand, periodic modulation of the dissipative coupling in time stabilizes the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric regime. Our findings are corroborated numerically on a tight-binding chain with gain and loss., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

We study non-hermitian many-body physics in the interacting Hatano-Nelson model with open boundary condition. The violation of reciprocity, resulting from an imaginary vector potential, induces the non-hermitian skin-effect and causes exponential localization for all single particle eigenfunctions in the non-interacting limit. Nevertheless, the density profile of the interacting system becomes only slightly tilted relative to the average filling. The Friedel oscillations exhibit a beating pattern due to the modification of the Fermi wavenumber. The probability distribution of particles over any finite interval is the normal distribution, whose mean scales with the imaginary vector potential and the variance is symmetric to the center of the chain. This is confirmed by several numerically exact methods even for relatively small systems. These features are expected to be generic not only for fermions, which naturally repel each other due to Pauli's exclusion principle, but for interacting bosons as well. Our findings indicate that many-body effects can significantly alter and conceal the single particle properties and the skin effect in non-hermitian systems., 5 pages, 3 figures

We perform a comparative study for the magnetization dynamics within linear response theory of one and two dimensional massive Dirac electrons, after switching on either a real (hermitian) or an imaginary (non-hermitian) magnetic field. While hermitian dc magnetic fields polarize the spins in the direction of the external magnetic field, non-hermitian magnetic fields induce only off diagonal response. An imaginary dc magnetic field perpendicular to the mass term induces finite magnetization in the third direction only according to the right hand rule. This can be understood by analyzing the non-hermitian equation of motion of the spin, which becomes analogous to a classical particle in crossed electric and magnetic fields. Therein, the spin expectation value, the mass term and imaginary magnetic field play the role of the classical momentum, magnetic and electric field, respectively. The latter two create a drift velocity perpendicular to them, which gives rise to the off-diagonal component of the dc spin susceptibility, similarly to how the Hall effect develops in the classical description., 8 pages, 2 figures

We consider a PT-symmetric Fermi gas with an exceptional point, representing the critical point between PT-symmetric and symmetry broken phases. The low energy spectrum remains linear in momentum and is identical to that of a hermitian Fermi gas. The fermionic Green's function decays in a power law fashion for large distances, as expected from gapless excitations, albeit the exponent is reduced from $-1$ due to the quantum Zeno effect. In spite of the gapless nature of the excitations, the ground state entanglement entropy saturates to a finite value, independent of the subsystem size due to the non-hermitian correlation length intrinsic to the system. Attractive or repulsive interaction drives the system into the PT-symmetry broken regime or opens up a gap and protects PT-symmetry, respectively. Our results challenge the concept of universality in non-hermitian systems, where quantum criticality can be masked due to non-hermiticity., 8 pages, 5 figures

Magnetic impurities embedded in a metal are screened by the Kondo effect, signaled by the formation of an extended correlation cloud, the so-called Kondo or screening cloud. In a superconductor, the Kondo state turns into subgap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states, and a quantum phase transition occurs between screened and unscreened phases once the superconducting energy gap Δ exceeds sufficiently the Kondo temperature, T_{K}. Here we show that, although the Kondo state does not form in the unscreened phase, the Kondo cloud does exist in both quantum phases. However, while screening is complete in the screened phase, it is only partial in the unscreened phase. Compensation, a quantity introduced to characterize the integrity of the cloud, is universal, and shown to be related to the magnetic impurities' g factor, monitored experimentally by bias spectroscopy.

Linear response theory plays a prominent role in various fields of physics and provides us with extensive information about the thermodynamics and dynamics of quantum and classical systems. Here we develop a general theory for the linear response in non-Hermitian systems with non-unitary dynamics and derive a modified Kubo formula for the generalized susceptibility for arbitrary (Hermitian and non-Hermitian) system and perturbation. As an application, we evaluate the dynamical response of a non-Hermitian, one-dimensional Dirac model with imaginary and real masses, perturbed by a time-dependent electric field. The model has a rich phase diagram, and in particular, features a tachyon phase, where excitations travel faster than an effective speed of light. Surprisingly, we find that the dc conductivity of tachyons is finite, and the optical sum rule is exactly satisfied for all masses. Our results highlight the peculiar properties of the Kubo formula for non-Hermitian systems and are applicable for a large variety of settings.

The Lindhard function represents the basic building block of many-body physics and accounts for charge response, plasmons, screening, Friedel oscillation, RKKY interaction etc. Here we study its non-Hermitian version in one dimension, where quantum effects are traditionally enhanced due to spatial confinement, and analyze its behavior in various limits of interest. Most importantly, we find that the static limit of the non-Hermitian Lindhard function has no divergence at twice the Fermi wavenumber and vanishes identically for all other wavenumbers at zero temperature. Consequently, no Friedel oscillations are induced by a non-Hermitian, imaginary impurity to lowest order in the impurity potential at zero temperature. Our findings are corroborated numerically on a tight-binding ring by switching on a weak real or imaginary potential. We identify conventional Friedel oscillations or heavily suppressed density response, respectively., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics and transport of a PT-symmetric Luttinger liquid (LL) after an interaction quench. The system is prepared in domain wall initial state. After a quantum quench to spatially homogeneous, PT-symmetric LL, the domain wall develops into a flat central region that spreads out ballistically faster than the conventional Lieb-Robinson maximal speed. By evaluating the current inside the regular lightcone, we find a universal conductance $e^2/h$, insensitive to the strength of the PT-symmetric interaction. On the other hand, by repeating the very same time evolution with a hermitian LL Hamiltonian, the conductance is heavily renormalized by the hermitian interaction as $e^2/hK$ with $K$ the LL parameter. Our analytical results are tested numerically, confirming the universality of the conductance in the non-hermitian realm., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 2 pages of supplementary material

We introduce the notion of non-Abelian tensors, and use them to construct a general non-Abelian time evolving block decimation (NA-TEBD) scheme that uses an arbitrary number of Abelian and non-Abelian symmetries. Our approach increases the speed and memory storage efficiency of matrix product state based computations by several orders of magnitudes, and makes large bond dimensions accessible even on simple desktop architectures. We use it to study post-quench dynamics in the repulsive SU(3) Hubbard model, and to determine the time evolution of various local operators and correlation functions efficiently. Interactions turn algebraic charge relaxation into exponential, and suppress coherent quantum oscillations rapidly., Comment: 10 + 5 pages, 15 figures

For most chiralities, semiconducting nanotubes display topologically protected end states of multiple degeneracies. We demonstrate using density matrix renormalization group based quantum chemistry tools that the presence of Coulomb interactions induces the formation of robust end spins. These are the close analogues of ferromagnetic edge states emerging in graphene nanoribbons. The interaction between the two ends is sensitive to the length of the nanotube, its dielectric constant, as well as the size of the end spins: for $S=1/2$ end spins their interaction is antiferromagnetic, while for $S>1/2$ it changes from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic as the nanotube length increases. The interaction between end spins can be controlled by changing the dielectric constant of the environment, thereby providing a possible platform for two-spin quantum manipulations., 5 pages, 4 figures + supplementary material

We investigate the stability of a Luttinger liquid, upon suddenly coupling it to a dissipative environment. Within the Lindblad equation, the environment couples to local currents and heats the quantum liquid up to infinite temperatures. The single particle density matrix reveals the fractionalization of fermionic excitations in the spatial correlations by retaining the initial non-integer power law exponents, accompanied by an exponential decay in time with interaction dependent rate. The spectrum of the time evolved density matrix is gapped, which collapses gradually as $-\ln(t)$. The von Neumann entropy crosses over from the early time $-t\ln(t)$ behaviour to $\ln(t)$ growth for late times. The early time dynamics is captured numerically by performing simulations on spinless interacting fermions, using several numerically exact methods. Our results could be tested experimentally in bosonic Luttinger liquids., 8 pages, 3 figures

Semiconductors in the proximity of superconductors have been proposed to support phases hosting Majorana bound states. When the systems undergo a topological phase transition towards the Majorana phase, the spectral gap closes, then reopens, and the quasiparticle band spin polarization is inverted. We focus on two paradigmatic semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures and propose an all-electrical spectroscopic probe sensitive to the spin inversion at the topological transition. Our proposal relies on the indirect coupling of a time-dependent electric field to the electronic spin due to the strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the semiconductor. We analyze within linear response theory the dynamical correlation functions and demonstrate that some components of the susceptibility can be used to detect the nontrivial topological phases.

Various promising qubit concepts have been put forward recently based on engineered superconductor (SC) subgap states like Andreev bound states, Majorana zero modes or the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (Shiba) states. The coupling of these subgap states via a SC strongly depends on their spatial extension and is an essential next step for future quantum technologies. Here we investigate the spatial extension of a Shiba state in a semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a SC for the first time. With detailed transport measurements and numerical renormalization group calculations we find a remarkable more than 50 nm extension of the zero energy Shiba state, much larger than the one observed in very recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements. Moreover, we demonstrate that its spatial extension increases substantially in magnetic field., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

While much is known about repulsive quantum impurity models, significantly less attention has been devoted to their attractive counterparts. This motivated us to study the attractive SU(N) Anderson impurity model. While for the repulsive case the phase diagram features mild N dependence and the ground state is always a Fermi liquid, in the attractive case a Kosterlitz-Thouless charge localization phase transition is revealed for N2. Beyond a critical value of attractive interaction, an abrupt jump appears in the number of particles at the impurity site, and a singular Fermi liquid state emerges, where the scattering of quasiparticles is found to exhibit power law behavior with fractional power. The capacity diverges exponentially at the quantum critical point, signaling the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.

We study quantum quenches in the $S=1$ Heisenberg spin chain and show that the dynamics can be described by the recently developed semi-semiclassical method based on particles propagating along classical trajectories but scattering quantum mechanically. We analyze the nonequilibrium time evolution of the distribution of the total spin in half of the system and compare the predictions of the semi-semiclassical theory with those of a non-Abelian time-evolving block decimation (TEBD) algorithm which exploits the SU(2) symmetry. We show that while the standard semiclassical approach using the universal low-energy scattering matrix cannot describe the dynamics, the hybrid semiclassical method based on the full scattering matrix gives excellent agreement with the first-principles TEBD simulation.

A Luttinger liquid (LL) describes low energy excitations of many interacting one dimensional systems, and exhibits universal response both in and out of equilibrium. We analyze its behaviour in the non-hermitian realm after quantum quenching to a PT-symmetric LL by focusing on the fermionic single particle density matrix. For short times, we demonstrate the emergence of unique phenomena, characteristic to non-hermitian systems, that correlations propagate faster than the conventional maximal speed, known as the Lieb-Robinson bound. These emergent supersonic modes travel with velocities that are multiples of the conventional light-cone velocity. This behaviour is argued to be generic for correlators in non-hermitian systems. In the long time limit, we find typical LL behaviour, extending the LL universality to the non-equilibrium non-hermitian case. Our analytical results are benchmarked numerically and indicate that the dispersal of quantum information is much faster in non-hermitian systems., 6+1 pages, 3 figures

We consider a double quantum dot in the Kondo regime, coupled to ferromagnetic electrodes in a parallel magnetization configuration, and investigate the influence of the leads’ spin polarization on the Kondo temperature. We perform a second order analytical scaling analysis and compare the results to numerical renormalization group (NRG) simulations. Under certain conditions, a crossover from the orbital and spin SU(4) to an orbital SU(2) Kondo effect is observed as the polarization is varied.

We study a one-dimensional Fermi gas in the presence of dissipative coupling to environment through the Lindblad equation. The dissipation involves energy exchange with the environment and favours the relaxation of electrons to excitations. After switching on the dissipation, the system approaches a steady state, which is described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. The fermionic single particle density matrix resembles deceivingly to that in a hermitian interaction quench. It decays inversely with the distance for short times due to the fermionic correlations in the initial state, which changes into a non-integer power law decay for late times, representing dissipation induced Luttinger liquid behaviour. However, the crossover between the two regions occurs due to dissipation induced damping, and is unrelated to the propagation of excitations. The velocity of information spreading is set by the dissipative coupling, and differs significantly from the original sound velocity. The thermodynamic entropy grows as $-t\ln t$ initially, and saturates to an extensive value. Our results can be tested experimentally in one-dimensional Dirac systems., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures + supplementary material

We investigate the effects of spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and valley mixing on the transport and dynamical properties of a carbon nanotube (CNT) quantum dot in the Kondo regime. As these perturbations break the pseudo-spin symmetry in the CNT spectrum but preserve time-reversal symmetry, they induce a finite splitting Delta between formerly degenerate Kramers pairs. Correspondingly, a crossover from the SU (4) to the SU(2)-Kondo effect occurs as the strength of these symmetry breaking parameters is varied. Clear signatures of the crossover are discussed both at the level of the spectral function as well as of the conductance. In particular, we demonstrate numerically and support with scaling arguments that the Kondo temperature scales inversely with the splitting Delta in the crossover regime. In presence of a finite magnetic field, time reversal symmetry is also broken. We investigate the effects of both parallel and perpendicular fields (with respect to the tube's axis) and discuss the conditions under which Kondo revivals may be achieved. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Motivated by recent experiments in ultracold gases, we focus on the properties of the center of mass coordinate of an interacting one dimensional Fermi gas, displaying several distinct phases. While the variance of the center of mass vanishes in insulating phases such as phase separated and charge density wave phases, it remains finite in the metallic phase, which realizes a Luttinger liquid. By combining numerics with bosonization, we demonstrate that the autocorrelation function of the center of mass coordinate is universal throughout the metallic phase. It exhibits persistent oscillations and its short time dynamics reveal important features of the quantum liquid, such as the Luttinger liquid parameter and the renormalized velocity. The full counting statistics of the center of mass follows a normal distribution already for small systems. Our results apply to non-integrable systems as well and are within experimental reach for e.g. carbon nanotubes and cold atomic gases., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

Visualizing a tiny crystal Electrons repel each other. When confined to a small space, electrons can form an ordered, crystalline state called the Wigner crystal. Observing this fragile crystal is tricky because it requires extreme conditions—low temperatures and densities—and very noninvasive probes. Shapir et al. created such conditions in a carbon nanotube, which housed the electrons, and a second nanotube that scanned the first nanotube, serving as a probe. The measured electronic densities were consistent with theoretical predictions for small Wigner crystals of up to six electrons in one dimension. Science , this issue p. 870

This paper is a corrected version of Phys. Rev. B 95, 165404 (2017), which we have retracted because it contained a trivial but fatal sign error that lead to incorrect conclusions. --- We extend a recently-eveloped Fermi-liquid (FL) theory for the asymmetric single-impurity Anderson model [C. Mora $et al.$, Phys. Rev. B, 92, 075120 (2015)] to the case of an arbitrary local magnetic field. To describe the system's low-lying quasiparticle excitations for arbitrary values of the bare Hamiltonian's model parameters, we construct an effective low-energy FL Hamiltonian whose FL parameters are expressed in terms of the local level's spin-dependent ground-state occupations and their derivatives with respect to level energy and local magnetic field. These quantities are calculable with excellent accuracy from the Bethe Ansatz solution of the Anderson model. Applying this effective model to a quantum dot in a nonequilibrium setting, we obtain exact results for the curvature of the spectral function, $c_A$, describing its leading $\sim\varepsilon^2$ term, and the transport coefficients $c_V$ and $c_T$, describing the leading $\sim V^2$ and $\sim T^2$ terms in the nonlinear differential conductance. A sign change in $c_A$ or $c_V$ is indicative of a change from a local maximum to a local minimum in the spectral function or nonlinear conductance, respectively, as is expected to occur when an increasing magnetic field causes the Kondo resonance to split into two subpeaks. We find that the fields $B_A$, $B_T$ and $B_V$ at which $c_A$, $c_T$ and $c_V$ change sign, respectively, are all of order $T_K$, as expected, with $B_A = B_T = B_V = 0.75073\,T_K$ in the Kondo limit., Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures. Version 1 of this paper, published as Phys. Rev. B 95, 165404 (2017), contained a trivial but fatal sign error that lead to incorrect physical conclusions; it has therefore been retracted. Version 3 is a corrected version with major revisions, additional NRG data and different conclusions; it has been accepted for publication in PRB

We propose a scheme to realize the Kondo model with tunable anisotropy using alkaline-earth atoms in an optical lattice. The new feature of our setup is Floquet engineering of interactions using time-dependent Zeeman shifts, that can be realized either using state-dependent optical Stark shifts or magnetic fields. The properties of the resulting Kondo model strongly depend on the anisotropy of the ferromagnetic interactions. In particular, easy-plane couplings give rise to Kondo singlet formation even though microscopic interactions are all ferromagnetic. We discuss both equilibrium and dynamical properties of the system that can be measured with ultracold atoms, including the impurity spin susceptibility, the impurity spin relaxation rate, as well as the equilibrium and dynamical spin correlations between the impurity and the ferromagnetic bath atoms. We analyze the nonequilibrium time evolution of the system using a variational non-Gaussian approach, which allows us to explore coherent dynamics over both short and long timescales, as set by the bandwidth and the Kondo singlet formation, respectively. In the quench-type experiments, when the Kondo interaction is suddenly switched on, we find that real-time dynamics shows crossovers reminiscent of poor man's renormalization group flow used to describe equilibrium systems. For bare easy-plane ferromagnetic couplings, this allows us to follow the formation of the Kondo screening cloud as the dynamics crosses over from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic behavior. On the other side of the phase diagram, our scheme makes it possible to measure quantum corrections to the well-known Korringa law describing the temperature dependence of the impurity spin relaxation rate. Theoretical results discussed in our paper can be measured using currently available experimental techniques.

We use a semiclassical approach to study out of equilibrium dynamics and transport in quantum systems with massive quasiparticle excitations having internal quantum numbers. In the universal limit of low energy quasiparticles, the system is described in terms of a classical gas of colored hard-core particles. Starting from an inhomogeneous initial state, in this limit we give analytic expressions for the space and time dependent spin density and spin current profiles. Depending on the initial state, the spin transport is found to be ballistic or diffusive. In the ballistic case we identify a `second front' that moves more slowly than the maximal quasiparticle velocity. Our analytic results also capture the diffusive broadening of this ballistically propagating front. To go beyond the universal limit, we study the effect of non-trivial scattering processes in the $O(3)$ non-linear sigma model by performing Monte Carlo simulations, and observe local equilibration around the second front in terms of the densities of the particle species., published version

Quantum critical systems derive their finite temperature properties from the influence of a zero temperature quantum phase transition. The paradigm is essential for understanding unconventional high-Tc superconductors and the non-Fermi liquid properties of heavy fermion compounds. However, the microscopic origins of quantum phase transitions in complex materials are often debated. Here we demonstrate experimentally, with support from numerical renormalization group calculations, a universal crossover from quantum critical non-Fermi liquid behavior to distinct Fermi liquid ground states in a highly controllable quantum dot device. Our device realizes the non-Fermi liquid two-channel Kondo state, based on a spin-1/2 impurity exchange-coupled equally to two independent electronic reservoirs. Arbitrarily small detuning of the exchange couplings results in conventional screening of the spin by the more strongly coupled channel for energies below a Fermi liquid scale T*. We extract a quadratic dependence of T* on gate voltage close to criticality and validate an asymptotically exact description of the universal crossover between strongly correlated non-Fermi liquid and Fermi liquid states., Comment: Text and supplementary information. Text: 14 pages, 3 figures. Supplementary information: 11 pages, 6 figures

We investigate the spin-resolved transport properties, such as the linear conductance and the tunnel magnetoresistance, of a double quantum dot device attached to ferromagnetic leads and look for signatures of SU(4) symmetry in the Kondo regime. We show that the transport behavior greatly depends on the magnetic configuration of the device, and the spin-SU(2) as well as the orbital and spin-SU(4) Kondo effects become generally suppressed when the magnetic configuration of the leads varies from the antiparallel to the parallel one. Furthermore, a finite spin polarization of the leads lifts the spin degeneracy and drives the system from the SU(4) to an orbital-SU(2) Kondo state. We analyze in detail the crossover and show that the Kondo temperature between the two fixed points has a non-monotonic dependence on the degree of spin polarization of the leads. In terms of methods used, we characterize transport by using a combination of analytical and numerical renormalization group approaches., 13 pages, 11 figures

We construct a Fermi liquid theory to describe transport in a superconductor-quantum dot- normal metal junction close to the singlet-doublet (parity changing) transition of the dot. Though quasiparticles do not have a definite charge in this chargeless Fermi liquid, in case of particle-hole symmetry, a mapping to the Anderson model unveils a hidden U(1) symmetry and a corresponding pseudo-charge. In contrast to other correlated Fermi-liquids, the back scattering noise reveals an effective charge equal to the charge of Cooper pairs, $e^* = 2e$. In addition,we find a strong suppression of noise when the linear conductance is unitary, even for its non-linear part., 5 pages, 4 figures and 5 pages of supplementary material with 3 figures

We extend a recently-developed Fermi-liquid (FL) theory for the asymmetric single-impurity Anderson model [C. Mora et al., Phys. Rev. B, 92, 075120 (2015)] to the case of an arbitrary local magnetic field. To describe the system's low-lying quasiparticle excitations for arbitrary values of the bare Hamiltonian's model parameters, we construct an effective low-energy FL Hamiltonian whose FL parameters are expressed in terms of the local level's spin-dependent ground-state occupations and their derivatives with respect to level energy and local magnetic field. These quantities are calculable with excellent accuracy from the Bethe Ansatz solution of the Anderson model. Applying this effective model to a quantum dot in a nonequilibrium setting, we obtain exact results for the curvature of the spectral function, $c_A$, describing its leading $\sim \varepsilon^2$ term, and the transport coefficients $c_V$ and $c_T$, describing the leading $\sim V^2$ and $\sim T^2$ terms in the nonlinear differential conductance. A sign change in $c_A$ or $c_V$ is indicative of a change from a local maximum to a local minimum in the spectral function or nonlinear conductance, respectively, as is expected to occur when an increasing magnetic field causes the Kondo resonance to split into two subpeaks. Surprisingly, we find that the fields $B_A$ and $B_V$ at which $c_A$ and $c_V$ change sign are parametrically different, with $B_A$ of order $T_K$ but $B_V$ much larger. In fact, in the Kondo limit $c_V$ never vanishes, implying that the conductance retains a (weak) zero-bias maximum even for strong magnetic field and that the two finite-bias conductance side peaks caused by the Zeeman splitting of the local level do not emerge from zero bias voltage.

We consider the SU(3) attractive Anderson model, which can be realized in a triple-dot system, coupled to external leads that support chiral edge modes, and study its spectral and transport properties using the renormalization group approach. At the symmetric point, where the average occupation is 〈(n〉 = 3/2, a resonance develops in the spectral functions, which differs significantly from the regular Kondo effect, and corresponds to trionic processes between states with zero and triple occupation of the dot system.

The two-channel Kondo impurity model realizes a local non-Fermi liquid state with finite residual entropy. The competition between the two channels drives the system to an impurity quantum critical point. We show that the out-of-time-ordered (OTO) commutator for the impurity spin reveals markedly distinct behaviour depending on the low energy impurity state. For the one channel Kondo model with Fermi liquid ground state, the OTO commutator vanishes for late times, indicating the absence of the butterfly effect. For the two channel case, the impurity OTO commutator is completely temperature independent and saturates quickly to its upper bound 1/4, and the butterfly effect is maximally enhanced. These compare favourably to numerics on spin chain representation of the Kondo model. Our results imply that a large late time value of the OTO commutator does not necessarily diagnose quantum chaos., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

When a quantum dot is embedded into a superconducting environment, it leads to the formations of localized Shiba states inside the gap. If the Coulomb interaction is sufficiently small, the Shiba states consist of a pair of singlet states and a doublet, that compete for the ground state and induce a quantum phase transition. In the presence of an external microwave field, the Shiba energy spectrum is significantly modified. Moreover, the transmission of the cavity inherits features that can pinpoint the exact location of the quantum critical point. In terms of methods used, our analytical calculations are supplemented by state of the art numerical renormalization group calculations.When a quantum dot is embedded into a superconducting environment, it leads to the formations of localized Shiba states inside the gap. If the Coulomb interaction is sufficiently small, the Shiba states consist of a pair of singlet states and a doublet, that compete for the ground state and induce a quantum phase transition. In the presence of an external microwave field, the Shiba energy spectrum is significantly modified. Moreover, the transmission of the cavity inherits features that can pinpoint the exact location of the quantum critical point. In terms of methods used, our analytical calculations are supplemented by state of the art numerical renormalization group calculations.

Double quantum dots are proving themselves to be an excellent test bed for many-body physics. These artificial atoms now demonstrate a phenomenon in which the capacitive coupling between them causes the spin and charge degrees of freedom of the electrons in the system to become entangled—the so-called SU(4) Kondo effect.

We develop a hybrid semiclassical method to study the time evolution of one dimensional quantum systems in and out of equilibrium. Our method handles internal degrees of freedom completely quantum mechanically by a modified time evolving block decimation method, while treating orbital quasiparticle motion classically. We can follow dynamics up to timescales well beyond the reach of standard numerical methods to observe the crossover between pre-equilibrated and locally phase equilibrated states. As an application, we investigate the quench dynamics and phase fluctuations of a pair of tunnel coupled one dimensional Bose condensates. We demonstrate the emergence of soliton-collision induced phase propagation, soliton-entropy production and multistep thermalization. Our method can be applied to a wide range of gapped one-dimensional systems., published version

We consider a strongly correlated quantum dot, tunnel coupled to two superconducting leads and capacitively coupled to a single mode microwave cavity. When the superconducting gap is the largest energy scale, multiple Shiba states are formed inside the gap. The competition of these states for the ground state signals a quantum phase transition. We demonstrate that photonic measurements can be used to probe such localized Shiba states. Moreover, the quantum phase transition can be pinpointed exactly from the sudden change in the transmission signal. Calculations were performed using the numerical renormalization group approach., 9 pages, 8 figures

When a strongly correlated quantum dot is tunnel-coupled to a superconductor, it leads to the formation of Shiba bound states inside the superconducting gap. They have been measured experimentally in a superconductor-quantum dot-normal lead setup. Side coupling the quantum dot to a topological superconducting wire that supports Majorana bound states at its ends, drastically affects the structure of the Shiba states and induces supplementary in-gap states. The anomalous coupling between the Majorana bound states and the quantum dot gives rise to a characteristic imbalance in the spin resolved spectral functions for the dot operators. These are clear fingerprints for the existence of Majorana fermions and they can be detected experimentally in transport measurements. In terms of methods employed, we have used analytical approaches combined with the numerical renormalization group approach., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the Wigner crystal states in confined semiconducting carbon nanotubes. We show by robust scaling arguments as well as by detailed semi-microscopic calculations that the effective exchange interaction has an SU(4) symmetry, and can reach values even as large as $J\sim 100 {\rm \,K}$ in weakly screened, small diameter nanotubes, close to the Wigner crystal - electron liquid crossover. Modeling the nanotube carefully and analyzing the magnetic structure of the inhomogeneous electron crystal, we recover the experimentally observed 'phase boundaries' of Deshpande and Bockrath [V. V. Deshpande and M. Bockrath, Nature Physics $\mathbf 4$, 314 (2008)]. Spin-orbit coupling only slightly modifies these phase boundaries, but breaks the spin symmetry down to SU(2)$\times$SU(2), and in Wigner molecules it gives rise to interesting excitation spectra, reflecting the underlying SU(4) as well as the residual SU(2)$\times$SU(2) symmetries., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures

We investigate the effects of spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and valley mixing on the transport and dynamical properties of a carbon nanotube (CNT) quantum dot in the Kondo regime. As these perturbations break the pseudo-spin symmetry in the CNT spectrum but preserve time-reversal symmetry, they induce a finite splitting $\Delta$ between formerly degenerate Kramers pairs. Correspondingly, a crossover from the SU(4) to the SU(2)-Kondo effect occurs as the strength of these symmetry breaking parameters is varied. Clear signatures of the crossover are discussed both at the level of the spectral function as well as of the conductance. In particular, we demonstrate numerically and support with scaling arguments, that the Kondo temperature scales inversely with the splitting $\Delta$ in the crossover regime. In presence of a finite magnetic field, time reversal symmetry is also broken. We investigate the effects of both parallel and perpendicular fields (with respect to the tube's axis), and discuss the conditions under which Kondo revivals may be achieved., Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures

The longitudinal and spin Hall conductances of an electron gas with Rashba?Dresselhaus spin?orbit interaction, confined to a quasi-one-dimensional Aharonov?Bohm ring, are studied as functions of disorder and magnetic flux. The system is mapped onto a one-dimensional virtual lattice and is described, in a tight binding approximation, by a Hamiltonian that depends parametrically on the nearest neighbour hopping integral t, the Rashba spin?orbit coupling VR, the Dresselhaus spin?orbit coupling VD and an Anderson-like, on-site disorder energy strength W. Numerical results are obtained within a spin dependent Landauer?B?ttiker formalism.

Using strong coupling Eliashberg formalism for a two-band model, the superconductivity in MgB 2 is analyzed. We calculated the temperature dependence for physical quantities of relevant importance for understanding the superconductivity mechanism in this simple compound. We performed calculations for the order parameter, density of states and spin relaxation. Our theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental data available.

We investigate the temperature dependence of the penetration depth λ(T) in MgB2 in the framework of the two-bands model using the Eliashberg formalism. We also study the influence of the impurities lifetime on the temperature dependence of λ(T). By direct comparison of the experimental data with theoretical results, a practical method to determine the orientation of the crystal is proposed.

A path integral approach is used to derive a closed analytical expression for the Kondo temperature of the SU(4) symmetrical Anderson model. In contrast to the SU(2) case, the prefactor of the Kondo temperature is found to display a peculiar orbital energy (gate voltage) dependence, reflecting the presence of various SU(4) mixed valence fixed points. Our analytical expressions are tested against and confirmed by numerical renormalization group computations., 4 pages, 5 figures and Suppl. Material

We investigate the equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport through a quantum dot in the Kondo regime, embedded between a normal metal and a topological superconductor supporting Majorana bound states at its end points. We find that the Kondo physics is significantly modified by the presence of the Majorana modes. When the Majorana modes are coupled, aside from the Kondo scale $T_K$, a new energy scale $T^*\ll T_K$ emerges, that controls the low energy physics of the system. At low temperatures, the ac-conductance is suppressed for frequencies below $T^*$, while the noise spectrum acquires a $\sim \omega^3$ dependence. At high temperatures, $T \gg T_K$, the regular logarithmic dependence in the differential conductance is also affected. Under non-equilibrium conditions, and in particular in the $\{T, B\}\to 0$ limit, the differential conductance becomes negative. These findings indicate that the changes in transport may serve as clues for detecting the Majorana bound states in such systems. In terms of methods used, we characterize the transport by using a combination of perturbative and renormalization group approaches., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures

We analyze the phase diagram associated with a pair of magnetic impurities trapped in a superconducting host. The natural interplay between Kondo screening, superconductivity and exchange interactions leads to a rich array of competing phases, whose transitions are characterized by discontinuous changes of the total spin. Our analysis is based on a combination of numerical renormalization group techniques as well as semi-classical analytics. In addition to the expected screened and unscreened phases, we observe a new molecular doublet phase where the impurity spins are only partially screened by a single extended quasiparticle. Direct signatures of the various Shiba molecule states can be observed via RF spectroscopy., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures

We generalize Nozi\`eres' Fermi-liquid theory for the low-energy behavior of the Kondo model to that of the single-impurity Anderson model. In addition to the electrons' phase shift at the Fermi energy, the low-energy Fermi-liquid theory is characterized by four Fermi-liquid parameters: the two given by Nozi\`eres that enter to first order in the excitation energy, and two additional ones that enter to second order and are needed away from particle-hole symmetry. We express all four parameters in terms of zero-temperature physical observables, namely the local charge and spin susceptibilities and their derivatives with respect to the local level position. We determine these in terms of the bare parameters of the Anderson model using Bethe Ansatz and Numerical Renormalization Group (NRG) calculations. Our low-energy Fermi-liquid theory applies throughout the crossover from the strong-coupling Kondo regime via the mixed-valence regime to the empty-orbital regime. From the Fermi-liquid theory, we determine the conductance through a quantum dot symmetrically coupled to two leads in the regime of small magnetic field, low temperature and small bias voltage, and compute the coefficients of the $\sim B^2$, $\sim T^2$, and $\sim V^2$ terms \textit{exactly} in terms of the Fermi-liquid parameters. The coefficients of $T^2$, $V^2$ and $B^2$ are found to change sign during the Kondo to empty-orbital crossover. The crossover becomes universal in the limit that the local interaction is much larger than the level width. For completeness, we also compute the shot noise and discuss the resulting Fano factor., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures

We investigate the finite-frequency thermal transport through a quantum dot subject to strong interactions, by providing an exact, nonperturbative formalism that allows us to carry out a systematic analysis of the thermopower at any frequency. Special emphasis is put on the dc and high-frequency limits. We demonstrate that, in the Kondo regime, the ac thermopower is characterized by a universal function that we determine numerically., 8 pages, 8 figures

When a single magnetic adatom is deposited on a surface of a metal, it affects the charge and spin texture of the electron gas surrounding it. The screening of the local moment by conduction electrons gives rise to the Kondo effect. Here we investigate the effect of the Rashba spin orbit coupling on the local magnetization density of states (LMDOS) around a Cobalt impurity on a Au(111) surface in a magnetic field. We show that the in-plane component of the LMDOS is exclusively associated with the Rashba spin orbit interaction. This observation can be experimentally exploited to confirm the presence of the Rashba effect on surfaces, such as Au(111), by performing spin-polarized STM measurements around the Kondo impurity., 7 pages, 5 figures