arXiv subjects

Lars Fritz

Publications and source records attributed to Lars Fritz.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

The antiferromagnetic Ising model on the swedenborgite lattice

Geometrical frustration in spin systems often results in a large number of degenerate ground states. In this work we study the antiferromagnetic Ising model on the three dimensional swedenborgite lattice which is a specific stacking of Kagomé and triangular layers. The model contains two exchange couplings, one within the Kagomé layer, another one in between Kagomé and triangular layers. We determine the phase diagram with and without easy axis magnetic field and calculate the ground state degeneracy explicitly in terms of the residual entropy. At zero field we find two different ground state manifolds separated by a first order transition at T = 0 and equal exchange couplings. We also determine the T = 0 phase diagram in a magnetic field and find a rich phase diagram with both degenerate and non-degenerate phases depending on the field strength and out-of-plane coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Spin-liquid phase and order-by-disorder of classical Heisenberg spins on the swedenborgite lattice

Frustration refers to the inability to satisfy competing interactions simultaneously, often leading to a large number of degenerate ground states. This can suppress ordering tendencies, sometimes resulting in a spin liquid phase. An intrinsic effect lifting this degeneracy is entropic order-by-disorder. We present strong evidence that a classical nearest neighbor Heisenberg model on the swedenborgite lattice exhibits both an extended spin-liquid phase as well as entropic order-by-disorder choosing planar configurations after a first order transition. We argue that this observation renders magnetic insulators such as ${\rm{RBaCo}}_4{\rm{O}}_7$, where R denotes a rare earth atom, prime candidates for displaying spin liquid behavior and entropic order-by-disorder physics due to their large exchange constant.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Quantum criticality of quasi one-dimensional topological Anderson insulators

We present an analytic theory of quantum criticality in the quasi one-dimensional topological Anderson insulators of class AIII and BDI. We describe the systems in terms of two parameters $(g,χ)$ representing localization and topological properties, respectively. Surfaces of half-integer valued $χ$ define phase boundaries between distinct topological sectors. Upon increasing system size, the two parameters exhibit flow similar to the celebrated two parameter flow describing the class A quantum Hall insulator. However, unlike the quantum Hall system, an exact analytical description of the entire phase diagram can be given. We check the quantitative validity of our theory by comparison to numerical transfer matrix computations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Low-energy properties of fractional helical Luttinger liquids

We investigate the low-energy properties of (quasi) helical and fractional helical Luttinger liquids. In particular, we calculate the Drude peak of the optical conductivity, the density of states, as well as charge transport properties of the interacting system with and without attached Fermi liquid leads at small and large (compared to the gap) frequencies. For fractional wires, we find that the low energy tunneling density of states vanishes. The conductance of a fractional helical Luttinger liquid is non-integer. It is independent of the Luttinger parameters in the wire, despite the intricate mixing of charge and spin degrees of freedom, and only depends on the relative locking of charge and spin degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Quantum phase transitions and thermodynamics of the power-law Kondo model

We revisit the physics of a Kondo impurity coupled to a fermionic host with a diverging power-law density of states near the Fermi level, $ρ(ω) \sim |ω|^r$, with exponent $-1<r<0$. Using the analytical understanding of several fixed points, based partially on powerful mappings between models with bath exponents $r$ and $(-r)$, combined with accurate numerical renormalization group calculations, we determine thermodynamic quantities within the stable phases, and also near the various quantum phase transitions. Antiferromagnetic Kondo coupling leads to strong screening with a negative zero-temperature impurity entropy, while ferromagnetic Kondo coupling can induce a stable fractional spin moment. We formulate the quantum field theories for all critical fixed points of the problem, which are fermionic in nature and allow for a perturbative renormalization-group treatment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Interaction effects on almost flat surface bands in topological insulators

We consider ferromagnetic instabilities of two-dimensional helical Dirac fermions hosted on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators. We investigate ways to increase the role of interactions by means of modifying the bulk properties which in turn changes both the surface Dirac theory and the screening of interactions. We discuss both the long-ranged part of the Coulomb interactions controlled by the dimensionless coupling constant $α= e^{2}/(\hbar εv_{F}^{\mathrm{surf}})$ as well as the effects of local interactions parametrized by the ratio $U_{\mathrm{surf}}/D_{\mathrm{surf}}$ of a local interaction on the surface, $U_{\mathrm{surf}}$, and the surface bandwidth, $D_{\mathrm{surf}}$. If large compared to 1, both mechanisms can induce spontaneously surface ferromagnetism, thereby gapping the surface Dirac metal and inducing an anomalous quantum Hall effect. We investigate two mechanisms which can naturally lead to small Fermi velocities $v_{F}^{\mathrm{surf}}$ and a corresponding small bandwidth $D_{\mathrm{surf}}$ at the surface when the bulk band gap is reduced. The same mechanisms can, however, also lead to an enhanced screening of surface interactions. While in all considered cases the long-ranged part of the Coulomb interaction is screened efficiently, $α\lesssim 1$, we discuss situations, where $U_{\mathrm{surf}}/D_{\mathrm{surf}}$ becomes \emph{parametrically}\ large compared to 1, thus inducing surface magnetism.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Kondo effect with diverging hybridization: possible realization in graphene with vacancies

We investigate Kondo physics in a host with a strongly diverging density of states. This study is motivated by a recent work on vacancies in the graphene honeycomb lattice, whose density of states is enhanced at low energies due to potential scattering. The generalized quantum impurity model describing the vacancy is shown to support a spin-1/2 (doublet) Kondo phase. The special role played by a diverging host density of states is examined in detail, with distinctive signatures associated with the powerlaw Kondo effect shown to appear in thermodynamic quantities and the scattering t matrix, with a strongly enhanced Kondo temperature. Although the effective Kondo model supports a novel stable phase characterized by strong renormalized particle-hole asymmetry, we find that this phase cannot in fact be accessed in the full Anderson model. In the more realistic case where the divergence in the host density of states is cut off at low energies, a crossover is generated between pristine powerlaw Kondo physics and a regular Kondo strong coupling state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

The skyrmion lattice phase in three dimensional chiral magnets from Monte Carlo simulations

Chiral magnets, such as MnSi, display a rich finite temperature phase diagram in an applied magnetic field. The most unusual of the phases encountered is the so called A-phase characterized by a triangular lattice of skyrmion tubes. Its existence cannot be captured within a mean-field treatment of a Landau-Ginzburg functional but thermal fluctuations to Gaussian order are required to stabilize it. In this note we go beyond Gaussian order in a fully non-perturbative study of a three dimensional lattice spin model using classical Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that the A-phase is indeed stabilized by thermal fluctuations and furthermore we reproduce the full phase diagram found in experiment. The thermodynamic signatures of the helimagnetic transition upon cooling from the paramagnet are qualitatively consistent with experimental findings and lend further support to the Brazovskii scenario which describes a fluctuation driven first order transition due to the abundance of soft modes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

The Physics of Kondo Impurities in Graphene

This article summarizes our understanding of the Kondo effect in graphene, primarily from a theoretical perspective. We shall describe different ways to create magnetic moments in graphene, either by adatom deposition or via defects. For dilute moments, the theoretical description is in terms of effective Anderson or Kondo impurity models coupled to graphene's Dirac electrons. We shall discuss in detail the physics of these models, including their quantum phase transitions and the effect of carrier doping, and confront this with existing experimental data. Finally, we point out connections to other quantum impurity problems, e.g., in unconventional superconductors, topological insulators, and quantum spin liquids.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Kondo effect on the surface of 3D topological insulators: Signatures in scanning tunneling spectroscopy

We investigate the scattering off dilute magnetic impurities placed on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators. In the low-temperature limit, the impurity moments are Kondo-screened by the surface-state electrons, despite their exotic locking of spin and momentum. We determine signatures of the Kondo effect appearing in quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns as recorded by scanning tunneling spectroscopy, taking into account the full energy dependence of the T matrix as well as the hexagonal warping of the surface Dirac cones. We identify a universal energy dependence of the QPI signal at low scanning energies as the fingerprint of Kondo physics, markedly different from the signal due to non-magnetic or static magnetic impurities. Finally, we discuss our results in the context of recent experimental data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Interaction dominated transport and Coulomb drag in bilayer graphene

We investigate interaction effects in transport phenomena in bilayer graphene (BLG). For the minimal conductivity in pristine BLG, we find that the conductivity assumes a constant value in the limit $T\to 0$, with the first correction being $\propto \sqrt{T}$. This has to be contrasted from the standard $1/T^2$ in Fermi liquids (neglecting additional logarithms and above all disorder). We furthermore study the Coulomb drag resistivity between two BLGs in the whole range from deep within the Fermi liquid regime all the way to the charge neutrality (CN) point. We find that in the Fermi liquid regime drag behaves very similarly to drag in a standard two-dimensional electron gas. In contrast to monolayer graphene, we find no saturation of drag as a function of the distance $d$ for realistic parameters. In the vicinity of CN, we find an interesting interplay between interaction effects and disorder, like in the case of monolayer graphene. Here the drag resistivity strongly depends upon the ratio of the corresponding scattering times.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Shear viscosity and spin diffusion in a two-dimensional Fermi gas

We investigate the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity and spin diffusion in a two-dimensional Fermi gas with contact interactions, as realized in ultra-cold atomic gases. We describe the transport coefficients in terms of a Boltzmann equation and present a full numerical solution for the degenerate gas. In contrast to previous works we take the medium effects due to finite density fully into account. This effect reduces the viscosity to entropy ratio, $η/s$, by a factor of three, and similarly for spin diffusion. The trap averaged viscosity agrees well with recent measurements by Vogt et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 070404 (2012)].

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Kinetic theory of Coulomb drag in two monolayers of graphene: from the Dirac point to the Fermi liquid regime

We theoretically investigate Coulomb drag in a system of two parallel monolayers of graphene. Using a Boltzmann equation approach we study a variety of limits ranging from the non-degenerate interaction dominated limit close to charge neutrality all the way to the Fermi liquid regime. In the non-degenerate limit we find that the presence of the passive layer can largely influence the conductivity of the active layer despite the absence of drag. This induces a non-trivial temperature behavior of the single layer conductivity and furthermore suggests a promising strategy towards increasing the role of inelastic scattering in future experiments. For small but finite chemical potential we find that the drag resistivity varies substantially as a function of the ratio of inelastic and elastic scattering. We find that an extrapolation from finite chemical potential to zero chemical potential and to the clean system is delicate and the order of limits matters. In the Fermi liquid regime we analyze drag as a function of temperature $T$ and the distance $d$ between the layers and compare our results to existing theoretical and experimental results. In addition to the conventional $1/d^4$-dependence with an associated $T^2$-behavior we find there is another regime of $1/d^5$-dependence where drag varies in linear-in-$T$ fashion. The relevant parameter separating these two regimes is given by $\bar{d}=T d/v_F$ ($v_F$ is the Fermi velocity), where $\bar{d} \ll1$ corresponds to $T^2$-behavior, while $\bar{d}\gg1$ corresponds to $T$-behavior.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

The fate of topological-insulator surface states under strong disorder

Three-dimensional topological insulators feature Dirac-like surface states which are topologically protected against the influence of weak quenched disorder. Here we investigate the effect of surface disorder beyond the weak-disorder limit using large-scale numerical simulations. We find two qualitatively distinct regimes: Moderate disorder destroys the Dirac cone and induces diffusive metallic behavior at the surface. Even more remarkably, for strong surface disorder a Dirac cone reappears, as new weakly disordered "surface" states emerge in the sample beneath the disordered surface layer, which can be understood in terms of an interface between a topological and an Anderson insulator. Together, this demonstrates the drastic effect of disorder on topological surface states, which cannot be captured within effective two-dimensional models for the surface states alone.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Quantum-Critical transport at a semimetal-to-insulator transition on the honeycomb lattice

In this paper we study transport properties of electrons on the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. We consider a half-filled system in the vicinity of a symmetry-breaking transition from a semimetallic phase towards an insulating phase with either charge density or spin density wave order. The effect of either order is to break the sublattice inversion symmetry which induces a finite gap for the electronic single-particle excitations. Phenomenologically, such a scenario is described in the framework of a Gross-Neveu theory. We analyze two related formulations of the model by means of (i) a controlled renormalization group calculation and (ii) the large-N method, both of which in combination with a Boltzmann transport equation. We determine the quantum-critical conductivity and also discuss crossover behavior from quantum critical behavior into the insulating and/or the semimetallic phases. We find that at asymptotically low temperatures the quantum-critical conductivity is given by a temperature independent universal number. Over a large temperature window the temperature independent quantum critical conductivity is masked by a logarithmically temperature dependent contribution due to the marginally irrelevant long-range Coulomb interaction. We discuss possible origins of this peculiarity in the two complementary formulations of the model. Furthermore, we consider possible relations of our findings to recent experiments, with a special emphasis on the quantum-critical-to-insulator crossover. We find that our results are in remarkably good qualitative and quantitative agreement with a recent analysis of the data sets under the hypothesis of an underlying gap in the single-particle spectrum.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Topological insulators in magnetic fields: Quantum Hall effect and edge channels with non-quantized θ-term

We investigate how a magnetic field induces one-dimensional edge channels when the two-dimensional surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators become gapped. The Hall effect, measured by contacting those channels, remains quantized even in situations where the θ-term in the bulk and the associated surface Hall conductivities, σ_{xy}^S, are not quantized due to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. The quantization arises as the θ-term changes by \pm 2 πn along a loop around n edge channels. Model calculations show how an interplay of orbital and Zeeman effects leads to quantum Hall transitions, where channels get redistributed along the edges of the crystal. The network of edges opens new possibilities to investigate the coupling of edge channels.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Two-channel pseudogap Kondo and Anderson models: Quantum phase transitions and non-Fermi liquids

We discuss the two-channel Kondo problem with a pseudogap density of states, $ρ(\w)\propto|\w|^r$, of the bath fermions. Combining both analytical and numerical renormalization group techniques, we characterize the impurity phases and quantum phase transitions of the relevant Kondo and Anderson models. The line of stable points, corresponding to the overscreened non-Fermi liquid behavior of the metallic $r=0$ case, is replaced by a stable particle-hole symmetric intermediate-coupling fixed point for $0 \rmax$, this non-Fermi liquid phase disappears, and instead a critical fixed point with an emergent spin--channel symmetry appears, controlling the quantum phase transition between two phases with stable spin and channel moments, respectively. We propose low-energy field theories to describe the quantum phase transitions, all being formulated in fermionic variables. We employ epsilon expansion techniques to calculate critical properties near the critical dimensions $r=0$ and $r=1$, the latter being potentially relevant for two-channel Kondo impurities in neutral graphene. We find the analytical results to be in excellent agreement with those obtained from applying Wilson's numerical renormalization group technique.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Fractional impurity moments in two-dimensional non-collinear magnets

We study dilute magnetic impurities and vacancies in two-dimensional frustrated magnets with non-collinear order. Taking the triangular-lattice Heisenberg model as an example, we use quasiclassical methods to determine the impurity contributions to the magnetization and susceptibility. Most importantly, each impurity moment is not quantized, but receives non-universal screening corrections due to local relief of frustration. At finite temperatures, where bulk long-range order is absent, this implies an impurity-induced magnetic response of Curie form, with a prefactor corresponding to a fractional moment per impurity. We also discuss the behavior in an applied magnetic field, where we find a singular linear-response limit for overcompensated impurities, and propose experiments to test our theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗