Quantum impurity models from conformal field theory

Abstract

The coupling between localized magnetic moments and itinerant electrons presents a plethora of interesting physics. The low-energy physics of some quantum impurity systems can be described using conformal field theory (CFT). In this paper, the connection between quantum impurity models and CFT is further strengthened as we construct a class of exactly solvable models with ground states given by CFT correlators. The method developed here is completely analytical and can be applied to fermions with an arbitrary number of colors and multiple impurities. Numerical calculations are performed to characterize certain aspects of our models for which we do not have analytical results.