Magnetic Impurity Affected by Spin-Orbit Coupling: Behavior near a Topological Phase Transition

TL;DR

This study uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations to explore how spin-orbit coupling influences magnetic impurities at the edges of topological insulators, revealing unique local and nonlocal behaviors near phase transitions.

Contribution

It uncovers the interplay between Kane-Mele spin-orbit effects and impurity interactions, highlighting their impact on magnetic and spectral properties at topological edges.

Findings

Spin-orbit coupling alters impurity magnetic moments.

Spectral densities are affected by topological edge states.

Nonlocal correlations are influenced by the helical nature of the insulator.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of spin-orbit coupling on the behavior of magnetic impurity at the edge of a zigzag graphene ribbon by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. A peculiar interplay of Kane-Mele type spin-orbit and impurity-host coupling is found to affect local properties such as the impurity magnetic moment and spectral densities. The special helical nature of the topological insulator on the edge is found to affect nonlocal quantities, such as the two-particle and spin-spin correlation functions linking electrons on the impurity with those in the conduction band.