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Spin gaps in two models of strongly correlated electron systems

University of British Columbia

Two aspects of strongly correlated electron systems are studied in this thesis. Hubbard-type models are thought to be at the basis of high-critical-temperature superconductivity. One interaction which has not had much study is the nearest-neighbour hopping of on-site singlet pairs. We refine earlier renormalization group arguments and, using the density-matrix renormalization group method, numerically confirm their prediction that a spin gap opens at infinitesimal pair-hopping amplitude V > 0 in the one-dimensional tight-binding model. We also find a phase separation transition at a finite V > 0 as well as a spin-gap transition at a finite V < 0. The exotic magnetic behaviour of heavy-fermion materials involves an interplay between the screening of local moments from each other and the formation of a magnetic state of long range order. While the single-impurity Kondo Hamiltonian is thought to model some aspects of this behaviour, the properties of the Kondo lattice model away from half-filling are largely unknown. We determine the presence of a spin-gap region in the phase diagram of the one-dimensional Heisenberg-Kondo lattice model and make predictions about certain concealed dimerization order parameters.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-03

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6803

Physics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace