Overscreened Kondo fixed point in S = 1 spin liquid

Abstract

We propose a possible realization of the overscreened Kondo impurity problem by a magnetic s = 1/2 impurity embedded in a two-dimensional S = 1 U(1) spin liquid with a Fermi surface. This problem contains an interesting interplay between non-Fermi-liquid behavior induced by a U(1) gauge field coupled to fermions and a non-Fermi-liquid fixed point in the overscreened Kondo problem. Using a large-N expansion together with an expansion in the dynamical exponent of the gauge field, we find that the coupling to the gauge field leads to weak but observable changes in the physical properties of the system at the overscreened Kondo fixed point. We discuss the extrapolation of this result to a physical case and argue that the realization of overscreened Kondo physics could lead to observations of effects due to gauge fields.