Quantum impurity in a Luttinger liquid: Exact solution of the Kane-Fisher model

A Luttinger liquid coupled to a quantum impurity describes a large number of physical systems. The Hamiltonian consists of left- and right-moving fermions interacting among themselves via a density-density coupling and scattering off a localized transmitting and reflecting impurity. We solve exactly the Hamiltonian by means of an incoming-outgoing scattering Bethe basis which properly incorporates all scattering processes. A related model, the weak-tunneling model, wherein the impurity is replaced by a tunnel junction, is solved by the same method. The consistency of the construction is established through a generalized Yang-Baxter relation. Periodic boundary conditions are imposed and the resulting Bethe ansatz equations are derived by means of the off-diagonal Bethe ansatz approach. We derive the spectrum of the model for all coupling constant regimes and calculate the impurity free energy. We discuss the low energy behavior of the systems for both repulsive and attractive interactions.

Figure 1

The amplitudes are related by applying the operators as depicted here. For consistency we require the amplitudes obtained by proceeding clockwise or counterclockwise are the same resulting in (23).