Quantitative comparison of Anderson impurity solvers applied to transport in quantum dots

We study the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM) using the equations of motion method (EOM), the non-crossing approximation (NCA), the one-crossing approximation (OCA), and Wilson's numerical renormalization group (NRG). We calculate the density of states and the linear conductance focusing on their dependence on the chemical potential and on the temperature paying special attention to the Kondo and Coulomb blockade regimes for a large range of model parameters. We report that some standard approximations based on the EOM technique display a rather unexpected poor behavior in the Coulomb blockade regime even at high temperatures. Our study offers a critical comparison between the different methods as well as a detailed compilation of the shortcomings and limitations due the approximations involved in each technique, thus allowing for a cost-benefit analysis of the different solvers that considers both numerical precision and computational performance.

Conductance and Kondo Interference beyond Proportional Coupling

The transport properties of nanostructured systems are deeply affected by the geometry of the effective connections to metallic leads. In this work we derive a conductance expression for a class of interacting systems whose connectivity geometries do not meet the Meir-Wingreen proportional coupling condition. As an interesting application, we consider a quantum dot connected coherently to tunable electronic cavity modes. The structure is shown to exhibit a well-defined Kondo effect over a wide range of coupling strengths between the two subsystems. In agreement with recent experimental results, the calculated conductance curves exhibit strong modulations and asymmetric behavior as different cavity modes are swept through the Fermi level. These conductance modulations occur, however, while maintaining robust Kondo singlet correlations of the dot with the electronic reservoir, a direct consequence of the lopsided nature of the device.

Time evolution with the density-matrix renormalization-group algorithm: a generic implementation for strongly correlated electronic systems

A detailed description of the time-step-targeting time evolution method within the density-matrix renormalization-group algorithm is presented. The focus of this publication is on the implementation of the algorithm and its generic application. The case of one-site excitations within a Hubbard model is analyzed as a test for the algorithm, using open chains and two-leg ladder geometries. The accuracy of the procedure in the case of the recently discussed holon-doublon photo excitations of Mott insulators is also analyzed. Performance and parallelization issues are discussed. In addition, the full open-source code is provided as supplementary material.

Tunable pseudogap Kondo effect and quantum phase transitions in Aharonov-Bohm interferometers

We study two quantum dots embedded in the arms of an Aharonov-Bohm ring threaded by a magnetic flux. This system can be described by an effective one-impurity Anderson model with an energy- and flux-dependent density of states. For specific values of the flux, this density of states vanishes at the Fermi energy, yielding a controlled realization of the pseudogap Kondo effect. The conductance and transmission phase shifts reflect a nontrivial interplay between wave interference and interactions, providing clear signatures of quantum phase transitions between Kondo and non-Kondo ground states.

Zero-field kondo splitting and quantum-critical transition in double quantum dots

Double quantum dots offer unique possibilities for the study of many-body correlations. A system containing one Kondo dot and one effectively noninteracting dot maps onto a single-impurity Anderson model with a structured (nonconstant) density of states. Numerical renormalization-group calculations show that, while band filtering through the resonant dot splits the Kondo resonance, the singlet ground state is robust. The system can also be continuously tuned to create a pseudogapped density of states and access a quantum-critical point separating Kondo and non-Kondo phases.