Frustration-induced non-Fermi-liquid behavior in a three-impurity Kondo model

Abstract

A Kondo model for three spin-one-half impurities placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle is studied using the numerical renormalization-group method. The impurity spins can form two frustrated doublets which, because of the rotation symmetry, couple equally to the conduction band. Over a broad range of antiferromagnetic RKKY interaction strengths, this degeneracy drives the system to one of two novel, non-Fermi-liquid fixed points. Potential scattering is a relevant perturbation at one of these fixed points, but is marginal throughout the second regime.