Anderson impurity model

Abstract: The generalization of the Local Density Approximation (LDA) method for the systems with strong Coulomb correlations is presented which gives a correct description of the Mott insulators. The LDA+U method is based on the model hamiltonian approach and allows to take into account the non-sphericity of the Coulomb and exchange interactions. parameters. Orbital-dependent LDA+U potential gives correct orbital polarization and corresponding Jahn-Teller distortion. To calculate the spectra of the strongly correlated systems the impurity Anderson model should be solved with a many-electron trial wave function. All parameters of the many-electron hamiltonian are taken from LDA+U calculations. The method was applied to NiO and has shown good agreement with experimental photoemission spectra and with the oxygen Kα X-ray emission spectrum.

Abstract: A canonical transformation is used to relate the Anderson model of a localized magnetic moment in a dilute alloy to that of Kondo. In the limit of small $s\ensuremath{-}d$ mixing, which is the most favorable case for the occurrence of a moment, the two models are shown to be equivalent. The Anderson model thus has low-temperature anomalies similar to those previously discussed for the Kondo model.

Abstract: A new approach to correlated Fermi systems such as the Hubbard model, the periodic Anderson model etc. is discussed, which makes use of the limit of high spatial dimensions. This limit — which is wellknown in the case of classical as well as localized quantum spin models — is found to be very helpful also in the case of quantum mechanical models with itinerant degrees of freedom. Many investigations, which are prohibitively difficult in lower dimensions, become tractable in this limit. In particular, essential features of systems in d = 3, and even lower dimensions, are very well described by the results in d = ∞ or expansions around this limit. A brief review of the state-of-the-art is presented.

Abstract: How localized electrons interact with delocalized electrons is a central question to many problems in sold-state physics1,2,3. The simplest manifestation of this situation is the Kondo effect, which occurs when an impurity atom with an unpaired electron is placed in a metal2. At low temperatures a spin singlet state is formed between the unpaired localized electron and delocalized electrons at the Fermi energy. Theories predict4,5,6,7 that a Kondo singlet should form in a single-electron transistor (SET), which contains a confined ‘droplet’ of electrons coupled by quantum-mechanical tunnelling to the delocalized electrons in the transistor's leads. If this is so, a SET could provide a means of investigating aspects of the Kondo effect under controlled circumstances that are not accessible in conventional systems: the number of electrons can be changed from odd to even, the difference in energy between the localized state and the Fermi level can be tuned, the coupling to the leads can be adjusted, voltage differences can be applied to reveal non-equilibrium Kondo phenomena7, and a single localized state can be studied rather than a statistical distribution. But for SETs fabricated previously, the binding energy of the spin singlet has been too small to observe Kondo phenomena. Ralph and Buhrman8 have observed the Kondo singlet at a single accidental impurity in a metal point contact, but with only two electrodes and without control over the structure they were not able to observe all of the features predicted. Here we report measurements on SETs smaller than those made previously, which exhibit all of the predicted aspects of the Kondo effect in such a system.