Emergence of electronic modes by doping Kondo insulators in the Kondo lattice and periodic Anderson models

Abstract

Heavy-fermion or Kondo lattice materials are considered to be typical strongly correlated systems, for which mean-field approximations have shown that the Coulomb interaction increases the effective mass and narrows the band gap. In this paper, to clarify interaction effects on the electronic excitation, the spectral function of the Kondo lattice and periodic Anderson models is studied around Kondo insulators in the strong-coupling regime, by using the non-Abelian dynamical density-matrix renormalization group method and perturbation theory. Upon doping a Kondo insulator, an electronic mode emerges in the Kondo insulating gap, exhibiting the momentum-shifted magnetic dispersion relation. Although the ground-state properties are similar to those of a doped band insulator, the emergence of the electronic mode reflecting spin-charge separation of the Kondo insulator is a crucial interaction effect that allows us to regard the Kondo-insulator--metal transition as a type of Mott transition. In addition, electronic modes emerge even in the high-energy regime by doping in the periodic Anderson model. These strong-correlation effects have not been expected in conventional mean-field approximations and would bring a different perspective on heavy-fermion or Kondo lattice systems.