Toward an exact quantum many-body treatment of Kondo correlation in magnetic impurities

The Kondo effect is a prototypical quantum phenomenon arising from the interaction between localized electrons in a magnetic impurity and itinerant electrons in a metallic host. Although this phenomenon has served as the testing ground for quantum many-body methods for decades, the precise description of Kondo physics with material specificity remains challenging. Here, we present a systematic ab initio approach to converge toward an exact zero-temperature electronic treatment of Kondo correlations. Across a series of 3d transition metals, we extracted Kondo temperatures matching subtle experimental trends, with accuracy exceeding that of standard models. We further obtained microscopic insight into the origin of these trends. More broadly, we demonstrate the possibility to start from fully ab initio many-body simulations and push toward the realm of converged predictions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2026-07-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq7402
Primary Topic
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Toward an exact quantum many-body treatment of Kondo correlation in magnetic impurities

Huanchen Zhai, Linqing Peng, Tianyu Zhu, Zhi‐Hao Cui et al.
Science
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
article

Toward an exact quantum many-body treatment of Kondo correlation in magnetic impurities

Huanchen Zhai, Linqing Peng, Tianyu Zhu, Zhi‐Hao Cui, Garnet Kin‐Lic Chan, Runze Chi
article en

Abstract

The Kondo effect is a prototypical quantum phenomenon arising from the interaction between localized electrons in a magnetic impurity and itinerant electrons in a metallic host. Although this phenomenon has served as the testing ground for quantum many-body methods for decades, the precise description of Kondo physics with material specificity remains challenging. Here, we present a systematic ab initio approach to converge toward an exact zero-temperature electronic treatment of Kondo correlations. Across a series of 3d transition metals, we extracted Kondo temperatures matching subtle experimental trends, with accuracy exceeding that of standard models. We further obtained microscopic insight into the origin of these trends. More broadly, we demonstrate the possibility to start from fully ab initio many-body simulations and push toward the realm of converged predictions.

ScienceVol. 393(6810)
California Institute of Technology (US), Yale University (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
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Toward an exact quantum many-body treatment of Kondo correlation in magnetic impurities — Huanchen Zhai, Linqing Peng, et al. · Science (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS