ABSTRACT
We consider a spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain coupled via a Kondo interaction to two-dimensional Dirac fermions. The Kondo interaction is irrelevant at the decoupled fixed point, leading to the existence of a Kondo-breakdown phase and a Kondo-breakdown critical point separating such a phase from a heavy Fermi liquid. We reach this conclusion on the basis of a renormalization group analysis, large-N calculations as well as extensive auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We extract quantities such as the zero-bias tunneling conductance which will be relevant to future experiments involving adatoms on semimetals such as graphene.
ABSTRACT
Motivated by recent STM experiments, we explore the magnetic field induced Kondo effect that takes place at symmetry protected level crossings in finite Co adatom chains. We argue that the effective two-level system realized at a level crossing acts as an extended impurity coupled to the conduction electrons of the substrate by a distribution of Kondo couplings at the sites of the chain. Using auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations, which quantitatively reproduce the field dependence of the zero-bias signal, we show that a proper Kondo resonance is present at the sites where the effective Kondo coupling dominates. Our modeling and numerical simulations provide a theoretical basis for the interpretation of the STM spectrum in terms of level crossings of the Co adatom chains.
