Universality and Scaling in a Charge Two-Channel Kondo Device

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Apr 15;116(15):157202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.157202. Epub 2016 Apr 13.

Abstract

We study a charge two-channel Kondo model, demonstrating that recent experiments [Z. Iftikhar et al, Nature (London) 526, 233 (2015)] realize an essentially perfect quantum simulation-not just of its universal physics, but also nonuniversal effects away from the scaling limit. Numerical renormalization group (RG) calculations yield conductance line shapes encoding RG flow to a critical point involving a free Majorana fermion. By mimicking the experimental protocol, the experimental curve is reproduced quantitatively over 9 orders of magnitude, although we show that far greater bandwidth/temperature separation is required to obtain the universal result. Fermi liquid instabilities are also studied: In particular, our exact analytic results for nonlinear conductance provide predictions away from thermal equilibrium, in the regime of existing experiments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't