Spin-flavor separation and non-Fermi-liquid behavior in the multichannel Kondo problem: A large-Napproach

Abstract

We present an analytical solution of a SU(N)×SU(M) generalization of the multichannel single-impurity Kondo model in the limit N→∞, M→∞, with γ=M/N fixed. Non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the single electron Green function and of the local spin and flavor susceptibilities occurs in both regimes, N≤M and N>M, with leading critical exponents identical to those found in the conformal field theory solution for all N and M (with M≥2). We explain this remarkable agreement and connect it to ‘‘spin-flavor separation,’’ the essential feature of the non-Fermi-liquid, fixed point.