Photo-emission signatures of coherence breakdown in Kondo alloys: dynamical mean-field theory approach

Abstract

We study the Kondo alloy model on a square lattice using dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) for Kondo substitution and disorder effects, together with static mean-field approximations. We computed and analyzed photoemission properties as a function of electronic filling $n_c$, Kondo impurity concentration $x$, and strength of Kondo temperature $T_K$. We provide a complete description of the Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) signals expected in the paramagnetic Kondo phases. By analyzing the Fermi surface, we observe the Lifshitz-like transition predicted previously for strong $T_K$ at $x=n_c$ and we discuss the evolution of the dispersion from the dense coherent to the dilute Kondo regimes. At smaller $T_K$, we find that this transition marking the breakdown of coherence at $x=n_c$ becomes a crossover. However, we identify another transition at a smaller concentration $x^\star$ where the effective mass continuously vanishes. $x^\star$ separates the one-branch and the two-branches ARPES dispersions characterizing respectively dilute and dense Kondo paramagnetic regimes. The $x-T_K$ phase diagrams are also described, suggesting that the transition at $x^\star$ might be experimentally observable since magnetically ordered phases are stabilized at much lower $T_K$. Fermi surface reconstructions in antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic phases are also discussed.