Thermoelectrics of a two-channel charge Kondo circuit: Role of electron-electron interactions in a quantum point contact

Abstract

In this Letter we investigate the properties of a quantum impurity model in the presence of additional many-body interactions between mobile carriers. The fundamental question which is addressed here is how the interactions in the charge and spin sectors of an itinerant system affect the quantum impurity physics in the vicinity of the intermediate coupling fixed point. To illustrate the general answer to this question we discuss a two-channel charge Kondo circuit model. We show that the electron-electron interactions resulting in the formation of a massive spin mode in an itinerant electron subset drive the system away from the unstable non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) fixed point to the stable Fermi-liquid (FL) regime. We discuss the thermoelectric response as a benchmark for the NFL-FL crossover. © 2022 American Physical Society.