Resolving the nonequilibrium Kondo singlet in energy- and position-space using quantum measurements

The Kondo effect, a hallmark of strong correlation physics, is characterized by the formation of an extended cloud of singlet states around magnetic impurities at low temperatures. While many implications of the Kondo cloud's existence have been verified, the existence of the singlet cloud itself has not been directly demonstrated. We suggest a route for such a demonstration by considering an observable that has no classical analog, but is still experimentally measurable: singlet weights, or projections onto particular entangled two-particle states. Using approximate theoretical arguments, we show that it is possible to construct highly specific energy- and position-resolved probes of Kondo correlations. Furthermore, we consider a quantum transport setup that can be driven away from equilibrium by a bias voltage. There, we show that singlet weights are enhanced by voltage even as the Kondo effect is weakened by it. This exposes a patently nonequilibrium mechanism for the generation of Kondo-like entanglement that is inherently different from its equilibrium counterpart.

Automated summary

Researchers have proposed a method to indirectly demonstrate the existence of Kondo cloud by measuring singlet weights, and discussed the nonequilibrium mechanism in a quantum transport setup. This reveals a distinct nonequilibrium mechanism for generating Kondo-like entanglement compared to its equilibrium counterpart.