Dimensionality-Changing Transition from a Non-Fermi Liquid to a Spin-Solid in a Multichannel Kondo Lattice

TL;DR

This paper investigates a phase transition in a multichannel Kondo lattice from a non-Fermi liquid to a spin-solid state, revealing a continuous transition with critical correlations and developing an RG framework for understanding it.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence of a dimensionality-changing quantum phase transition in a multichannel Kondo lattice using QMC simulations and an RG approach.

Findings

Evidence of a continuous phase transition from non-Fermi liquid to valence-bond solid.

Critical correlations exhibit power-law behavior at the transition.

Development of an RG scheme to analyze the universal properties of the transition.

Abstract

A multichannel Kondo system, where a single quantum spin couples to multiple channels of an electronic bath, provides one of the simplest examples of a zero-dimensional non-Fermi liquid. It is natural to ask: what happens when an extensive number of such systems are coupled together? A simple renormalization group argument implies that in a chain of SU(N) multichannel quantum systems, where each spin is coupled to its own bath of K channels, the individual spins dynamically decouple at low energy when N>K, resulting in a 'sliding' non-Fermi liquid. Using Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we find evidences of a continuous, 'dimensionality-changing' phase transition out of this non-Fermi liquid into a valence-bond solid phase as the intersite coupling is increased. Remarkably, at the critical point, correlations exhibit a power-law behavior even along the direction in which the spins are coupled, indicating the breakdown of dynamical decoupling at the transition. We also develop an RG scheme to understand the universal aspects of this transition.