Exactly solvable Kondo problem in the open $t-J$ chains

TL;DR

This paper presents an exactly solvable model of a boundary magnetic impurity in $t-J$ chains, shedding light on the Kondo effect in strongly correlated systems and revealing complex impurity behaviors and residual entropy dependencies.

Contribution

It introduces a solvable $t-J$ chain model with a boundary impurity, allowing analysis of both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kondo effects in strongly correlated hosts.

Findings

Both Kondo coupling and scalar potential influence low-temperature spin dynamics.

Impurity spin splits into two ghost spins due to coupling effects.

Residual entropy depends strongly on interactions, indicating complex local spin configurations.

Abstract

We study the problem of a boundary magnetic impurity coupled with the solvable $t-J$ chains. Our model provides a good start point to understand the Kondo problem in a Luttinger liquid as well as in a strongly correlated host. The Kondo coupling constant $J$ can take arbitrary values, which allows us to study the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kondo problems simultaneously. It is shown that both the Kondo coupling and the scalar potential effectively reconcile the spin dynamics at low temperatures. Generally, the impurity spin is split into two ghost spins via coupling effect. The residual entropy, which can be exactly derived for the present model, is strongly interaction-dependent. This hints the local spin configuration is very complicated and very different from that in the conventional Kondo problem. An unscreening phenomenon in the antiferromagnetic regime is found, which reveals the impurity potential plays an important role for the Kondo problem in a strongly correlated host. The low temperature specific heat is calculated in the framework of local Landau-Luttinger liquid theory.