Curie-Weiss susceptibility in strongly correlated electron systems

TL;DR

This paper explains the Curie-Weiss magnetic response in transition metals using the Anderson model, showing how strong electron correlations and screening lead to this behavior above the Kondo temperature.

Contribution

It demonstrates, for the first time, how quantum dynamics of strong correlations produce Curie-Weiss susceptibility in a microscopic model.

Findings

Curie-Weiss susceptibility arises from strong correlations and screening.

Behavior occurs above the Kondo temperature under specific conditions.

Quantitative criteria for the Curie-Weiss law are established.

Abstract

The genesis of the Curie-Weiss magnetic response observed in most transition metals that are Fermi liquids at low temperatures has been an enigma for decades and has not yet been fully explained from microscopic principles. We show on the single-impurity Anderson model how the quantum dynamics of strong electron correlations leads to the Curie-Weiss magnetic susceptibility sufficiently above the Kondo temperature. Such behavior has not yet been demonstrated and can be observed only when the bare interaction is substantially screened (renormalized) and a balance between quantum and thermal fluctuations is kept. We set quantitative criteria for the existence of the Curie-Weiss law.