Molecular Kondo effect in flat-band lattices

TL;DR

This paper investigates how flat bands in the Lieb lattice alter the Kondo effect, transforming it into a two-electron molecular problem with distinct thermodynamic and dynamical properties.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a molecular Kondo effect in flat-band lattices, showing how flat bands suppress dispersive electron participation in Kondo singlet formation.

Findings

Flat bands quench dispersive electron participation in Kondo screening.

The Kondo problem reduces to a two-electron molecular Kondo problem.

Impurity contributions differ from conventional Kondo systems without flat bands.

Abstract

The Kondo effect of a single magnetic impurity embedded in the Lieb lattice is studied by the numerical renormalization group. When the band flatness is present in the local density of states, it quenches the participation of all dispersive electrons in the Kondo singlet formation, and reduces the many-body Kondo problem to a two-electron molecular Kondo problem. The two-electron analog of the many-body Kondo singlet, a quantum entanglement of two spins, is stable at low temperature, and the impurity contributions to thermodynamical and dynamical quantities are qualitatively different from that obtained in the conventional Kondo effect in systems without flat bands. The existence conditions of the molecular Kondo effect in narrow band systems are also discussed.