X-boson cumulant approach to the topological Kondo insulators

Abstract

In this work we present a generalization of our previous work of the X-boson approach to the periodic Anderson model (PAM), adequate to study a novel class of intermetallic 4f and 5f orbitals materials: the topological Kondo insulators, whose paradigmatic material is the compound SmB6.For simplicity, we consider a version of the PAM on a 2D square lattice, adequate to describe Ce-based compounds in two dimensions. The starting point of the model is the 4f - Ce ions orbitals, with J = 5/2 multiplet, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Our technique works well for all of the parameters of the model and avoids the unwanted phase transitions of the slave boson mean field theory. We present a critical comparison of our results with those of the usual slave boson method, that has been intensively used to describe this class of materials. We also obtain a new valence first order transition which we attribute to the k⃗ dependence of the hybridization.