Characterization of a correlated topological Kondo insulator in one dimension

TL;DR

This paper studies how anisotropy and electron correlations influence the phase stability of a one-dimensional topological Kondo insulator, revealing a phase transition to a Nél state driven by Coulomb interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of the anisotropic p-wave Kondo-Heisenberg model using DMRG, showing the emergence of a Nél state due to Coulomb interactions, extending understanding of topological Kondo insulators.

Findings

Phase transition from Haldane to Nél state with increasing Coulomb interaction.

Anisotropy induces a Nél state above a critical Coulomb interaction.

Entanglement spectrum and spin profile clarify phase structures.

Abstract

We investigate the ground-state of a p-wave Kondo-Heisenberg model introduced by Alexandrov and Coleman with an Ising-type anisotropy in the Kondo interaction and correlated conduction electrons. Our aim is to understand how they affect the stability of the Haldane state obtained in the SU(2) symmetric case without the Hubbard interaction. By applying the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm and calculating the entanglement entropy we show that in the anisotropic case a phase transition occurs and a N\'eel state emerges above a critical value of the Coulomb interaction. These findings are also corroborated by the examination of the entanglement spectrum and the spin profile of the system which clarify the structure of each phase.