Inelastic electron relaxation rates caused by Spin M/2 Kondo Impurities

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin M/2 Kondo impurities influence inelastic electron relaxation rates in nonequilibrium conditions, revealing that coupling to hot electrons increases relaxation rates through spin correlations.

Contribution

It generalizes previous S=1/2 Kondo impurity results to arbitrary spin M/2 systems, providing a broader understanding of energy relaxation in disordered wires.

Findings

Increased inelastic relaxation rates due to hot electron coupling.

Relation of relaxation rates to spin--spin correlation functions.

Generalization of previous S=1/2 impurity results.

Abstract

We study a spin S=M/2--Kondo system coupled to electrons in an arbitrary nonequilibrium situation above Kondo temperature. Coupling to hot electrons leads to an increased inverse lifetime of pseudo particles, related to the Korringa width. This in turn is responsible for the increased inelastic relaxation rates of the electronic system. The rates are related to spin--spin correlation functions which are determined using a projection operator formalism. The results generalize recent findings for S=1/2--Kondo impurities which have been used to describe energy relaxation experiments in disordered mesoscopic wires.