Kinks in the Kondo problem

Abstract

We find the exact quasiparticle spectrum for the continuum Kondo problem of $k$ species of electrons coupled to an impurity of spin $S$. In this description, the impurity becomes an immobile quasiparticle sitting on the boundary. The particles are ``kinks'', which can be thought of as field configurations interpolating between adjacent wells of a potential with $k+1$ degenerate minima. For the overscreened case $k>2S$, the boundary has this kink structure as well, which explains the non-integer number of boundary states previously observed. Using simple arguments along with the consistency requirements of an integrable theory, we find the exact elastic $S$-matrix for the quasiparticles scattering among themselves and off of the boundary. This allows the calculation of the exact free energy, which agrees with the known Bethe ansatz solution.