Room Temperature Kondo effect in atom-surface scattering: dynamical 1/N approach

Abstract

The Kondo effect may be observable in some atom-surface scattering experiments, in particular, those involving alkaline-earth atoms. By combining Keldysh techniques with the NCA approximation to solve the time-dependent Newns-Anderson Hamiltonian in the infinite-U limit, Shao, Nordlander and Langreth found an anomalously strong surface-temperature dependence of the outgoing charge state fractions. Here we employ the dynamical 1/N expansion with finite Coulomb interaction U to provide a more realistic description of the scattering process. We test the accuracy of the 1/N expansion in the spinless N = 1 case against the exact independent-particle solution. We then compare results obtained in the infinite-U limit with the NCA approximation and recover qualitative features found previously. Finally, we analyze the realistic situation of Ca atoms with U = 5.8 eV scattered off Cu(001) surfaces. Although the presence of the doubly-ionized Ca species can change the absolute scattered positive Ca yields, the temperature dependence is qualitatively the same as that found in the infinite-U limit. One of the main difficulties that experimentalists face in attempting to detect this effect is that the atomic velocity must be kept small enough to reduce possible kinematic smearing of the metal's Fermi surface.

15 pages, 10 Postscript figures; references and typos corrected

References in corpus (5)

• Kondo Physics in a Single Electron Transistor
• The Anderson Model out of Equilibrium: Non-Crossing-Approximation Approach to Transport through a Quantum Dot
• Spectral Properties of the Anderson Impurity Model, Comparison of Numerical Renormalization Group and Non--Crossing Approximation
• Many Body Theory of Charge Transfer in Hyperthermal Atomic Scattering
• Memory Loss and Auger Processes in a Many Body Theory of Charge Transfer

Cited by in corpus (9)

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• Generalization of the Time-Dependent Numerical Renormalization Group Method to Finite Temperatures and General Pulses
• Time-Dependent Numerical Renormalization Group Method for Multiple Quenches: Application to General Pulses and Periodic Driving
• Many-body theory of the neutralization of strontium ions on gold surfaces
• Thermally Enhanced Neutralization in Hyperthermal Energy Ion Scattering
• Dynamical 1/N approach to time-dependent currents through quantum dots
• Pseudo-particle approach for charge-transferring molecule-surface collisions
• Mixed-valence correlations in charge-transferring atom-surface collisions