Interaction-induced local moments in parallel quantum dots within the functional renormalization group approach

Abstract

We propose a version of the functional renormalization-group (fRG) approach, which is, due to including Litim-type cutoff and switching off (or reducing) the magnetic field during fRG flow, capable of describing a singular Fermi-liquid (SFL) phase, formed due to the presence of local moments in quantum dot structures. The proposed scheme allows one to describe the first-order quantum phase transition from the ``singular'' to the ``regular'' paramagnetic phase with applied gate voltage to parallel quantum dots, symmetrically coupled to leads, and shows sizable spin splitting of electronic states in the SFL phase in the limit of vanishing magnetic field $H\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$; the calculated conductance shows good agreement with the results of the numerical renormalization group. Using the proposed fRG approach with the counterterm, we also show that for asymmetric coupling of the leads to the dots the SFL behavior similar to that for the symmetric case persists, but with occupation numbers, effective energy levels, and conductance changing continuously through the quantum phase transition into the SFL phase.