A non-perturbative treatment of quantum impurity problems in real lattices

of Dissertation Historically, the RKKY or indirect exchange, interaction has been accepted as being able to be described by second order perturbation theory. A typical universal expression is usually given in this context. This approach, however, fails to incorporate many body effects, quantum fluctuations, and other important details. In Chapter 2, a novel numerical approach is developed to tackle these problems in a quasi-exact, non-perturbative manner. Behind the method lies the main concept of being able to exactly map an n-dimensional lattice problem onto a 1-dimensional chain. The density matrix renormalization group algorithm is then employed to solve the newly cast Hamiltonian. In the following chapters, it is demonstrated that conventional RKKY theory does not capture the crucial physics. It is found that the Kondo effect, i.e. the screening of an impurity spin, tends to dominate over a ferromagnetic interaction between impurity spins. Furthermore, it is found that the indirect exchange interaction does not decay algebraically. Instead, there is a crossover upon increasing JK , where impurities favor forming their own independent Kondo states after just a few lattice spacings. This is not a trivial result, as one may naively expect impurities to interact when their conventional Kondo clouds overlap. The spin structure around impurities coupled to the edge of a 2D topological insulator is investigated in Chapter 7. Modeled after materials such as silicine, germanene, and stanene, it is shown with spatial resolution of the lattice that the specific impurity placement plays a key role. Effects of spin-orbit interactions are also discussed. Finally, in the last chapter, transition metal complexes are studied. This really shows the power and versatility of the method developed throughout the work. The spin states of an iron atom in the molecule FeN4C10 are calculated and compared to DFT, showing the importance of inter-orbital coulomb interactions. Using dynamical DMRG, the density of states for the 3d-orbitals can also be obtained.