Kondo screening of a magnetic impurity in p -wave magnets

We present a theoretical study of the Kondo effect for a spin-[Formula: see text] magnetic impurity embedded in an unconventional [Formula: see text]-wave magnet, employing the variational method and Hirsch-Fye Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Our work investigates how the host’s unique electronic structure, governed by the spin-dependent hopping ([Formula: see text]) and the s-d exchange interaction coefficient ([Formula: see text]), regulates Kondo screening and spatial correlations. We find that [Formula: see text] minimally impacts the host’s density of states (DOS). In contrast, the introduction of [Formula: see text] dramatically affects the host system: it splits the Van Hove singularity at the band center [Formula: see text] into two peaks, significantly reducing the DOS. This DOS reduction makes Kondo screening more difficult, leading to a rapid decrease in the Kondo binding energy. The p-wave structure imposes unique spatial fingerprints on the Kondo screening cloud. Crucially, the spatial decay law transitions from [Formula: see text] (observed when only [Formula: see text] is present) to a distinct [Formula: see text] law upon introducing [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, the [Formula: see text] term reflects the host’s broken SU[Formula: see text] symmetry by inducing off-diagonal spin correlations [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], along with complex periodicity (beat phenomena) in the spin-spin correlation functions. These unique spatial features establish the Kondo screening cloud as a sensitive, non-local probe for detecting and identifying this novel unconventional magnetic state.