The one-dimensional Kondo lattice model at quarter-filling

Abstract

We revisit the problem of the quarter-filled one-dimensional Kondo lattice model, for which the existence of a dimerized phase and a non-zero charge gap had been reported in Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{90}, 247204 (2003). Recently, some objections were raised claiming that the system is neither dimerized nor has a charge gap. In the interest of clarifying this important issue, we show that these objections are based on results obtained under conditions in which the dimer order is artificially suppressed. We use the incontrovertible dimerized phase of the Majumdar-Ghosh point of the $J_{1}-J_{2}$ Heisenberg model as a paradigm with which to illustrate this artificial suppression. Finally, by means of extremely accurate DMRG calculations, we show that the charge gap is indeed non-zero in the dimerized phase.