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# Combinatorial interpretation of Haldane-Wu fractional exclusion statistics

## 1 Introduction

Statistics which are different from Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein ones become of much interest in various aspects. A recent example is given by Haldane-Wu fractional exclusion statistics (FES)  which is used to describe elementary excitations of a number of exactly solvable one-dimensional models of strongly correlated systems, and other models . This statistics is based on the statistical weight, which is a generalization of Yang-Yang  state counting as mentioned by Wu,

$$W_i=\frac{(z_i+(n_i1)(1\lambda ))!}{n_i!(z_i\lambda n_i(1\lambda ))!},$$
(1)
where the parameter $`\lambda `$ varies from $`\lambda =0`$ (Bose-Einstein) to $`\lambda =1`$ (Fermi-Dirac). This formula is a simple generalization and interpolation of Fermi and Bose statistical weights. While there is no physical meaning ascribed to $`\lambda `$ here, the physical interpretation of Eq. (1) is that the effective number of available single-particle states linearly depends on the number of particles,

$$z_i^f=z_i(1\lambda )(n_i1),z_i^b=z_i\lambda (n_i1),$$
(2)
for fermions and bosons, respectively. This is viewed as a defining feature of the fractional exclusion statistics.

In the present paper, we show that the equation which defines Haldane-Wu statistical distribution can be derived from a different statistical weight, which has a clear combinatorial and physical treatment. Also, we present exact solutions of this equation.

## 2 The combinatorics

A number of quantum states of $`n_i`$ identical particles occupying $`z_i`$ states, with up to $`q`$ particles in state, $`1qn_i`$, can be counted as follows.

We consider a configuration defined as that it has a maximal possible number of totally occupied states (exactly $`q`$ particles in state). A number of such totally occupied states is an integer part of $`n_i/q`$ which we denote by $`\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]`$. If $`q`$ is a divisor of $`n_i`$ we have identically $`\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]=n_i/q`$, so that the number of unoccupied states is $`z_i\frac{n_i}{q}`$. If $`q`$ is not a divisor of $`n_i`$ we have one partially occupied state, so that the number of unoccupied states is $`z_i\frac{n_i}{q}1`$. We write a combined formula of the statistical weight for both the cases as

$$W_i=\frac{\left(z_i+n_i\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]\right)!}{n_i!\left(z_i\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]l\right)!},$$
(3)
where $`l=0`$ or 1 if $`n_i/q`$ is integer or noninteger, respectively; $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},m`$.

In the particular cases, $`q=1`$ and $`q=n_i`$, we have $`\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]=n_i/q`$ and $`l=0`$ so that Eq. (3) reduces to Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistical weights, respectively,

$$W_i=\frac{z_i!}{n_i!(z_in_i)!},W_i=\frac{(z_i+n_i1)!}{n!(z_i1)!}.$$
(4)
As one can see, the effective number of available single-particle states derived from Eq. (3),

$$z_i^f=z_i\left(1\frac{1}{q}\right)n_i,z_i^b=z_i\frac{1}{q}n_i+1,$$
(5)
for fermions and bosons, respectively, is linear in $`n_i`$. With the identification of the parameters, $`1/q=\lambda `$, and the redefinition, $`z_iz_i(1\lambda )`$, the statistical weight (3) coincides with Haldane-Wu statistical weight (1), for the case of integer $`n_i/q`$. Consequently, the obtained statistical weight (3) corresponds to a kind of fractional exclusion statistics. To verify whether (3) leads to Haldane-Wu distribution we obtain below the equation which governs statistical distribution.

## 3 The distribution function

Starting with Eq. (3), we follow usual technique of statistical mechanics to derive the associated most-probable distribution of $`n_i`$.

The thermodynamical probability is $`W=W_i`$, and the entropy, $`S=k\mathrm{ln}W`$, can be calculated by using the approximation of big number of particles, $`n!n^ne^n`$ for big $`n`$. Assuming conservation of the total number of particles, $`N=n_i`$ and the total energy, $`E=n_i\epsilon _i`$, variational study of $`S`$ corresponding to an equilibrium state gives us

$`\delta S=k{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}[(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q}})\mathrm{ln}(n_i+z_i{\displaystyle \frac{n_i}{q}})\mathrm{ln}n_i`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{q}}\mathrm{ln}(z_i{\displaystyle \frac{n_i}{q}})\alpha \beta \epsilon _i]\delta n_i=0,`$ (6)
where $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are Lagrange multipliers, and we have used $`\left[\frac{n_i}{q}\right]\frac{n_i}{q}`$ and $`l=0`$ for big $`n_i`$. Using the notation $`\kappa =1/q`$ and inserting $`\alpha =\mu /kT`$ and $`\beta =1/kT`$ (obtained via an identification of $`S`$, at $`q=1`$, with the thermodynamical expression), we rewrite Eq. (3) as

$$\frac{(z_i+(1\kappa )n_i)^{1\kappa }(z_i\kappa n_i)^\kappa }{n_i}=\mathrm{exp}\frac{\epsilon _i\mu }{kT},\kappa =1,\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{3},\mathrm{}$$
(7)
To draw parallels with Haldane-Wu statistics below we make analytic continuation of the discrete parameter $`\kappa `$ assuming $`\kappa [0,1]`$. Under this condition, the derived distribution equation (7) does reproduce that of Haldane-Wu fractional exclusion statistics (Eq. (14) of ref. ), with $`\kappa =\lambda `$.

Below, we turn to consideration of properties and exact solutions of Eq. (7).

In general, Eq. (7) can not be solved exactly with respect to $`n_i`$. However, for $`\kappa =1`$ and $`\kappa 0`$ ($`\kappa n_i1`$), it becomes linear in $`n_i`$ and gives Fermi and Bose distributions, respectively. Also, we note that for $`\kappa =`$ 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 the equation contains a polynomial of degree up to 4 so that it can be solved exactly for all these cases.

A convenient expression for $`n_i`$ obeying Eq. (7) is given by

$$n_i=\frac{1}{w(x)+\kappa },$$
(8)
where we have redefined, $`n_i/z_in_i`$, $`x\mathrm{exp}[(\epsilon _i\mu )/kT]`$, and the function $`w(x)`$ satisfies

$$(1+w)^{(1\kappa )}w^\kappa =x.$$
(9)
Remarkably, exclusons which are ”close” to fermions can be described in terms of exclusons which are ”close” to bosons. In fact, we note that Eq. (7) is invariant under a set of transformations,

$$\kappa 1\kappa ,n_in_i,xx,$$
(10)
for $`\kappa 0,1`$. Therefore, if $`n_i(x,\kappa )`$ satisfies Eq. (7) then the function $`m_i=n_i(x,1\kappa )`$ satisfies the same equation. Thus, we obtain the following general relation

$$n_i(x,1\kappa )=n_i(x,\kappa ),\kappa 0,1.$$
(11)
We see that the distribution $`n_i`$ of exclusons for, e.g., $`\kappa =1/2000`$ can be obtained from that of ”dual” exclusons, with $`\kappa =11/200=199/2001`$.

The values $`\kappa =1`$ and $`\kappa 0`$ ($`\kappa n_i1`$) are the only two points of degeneration of Eq. (7). Hence, any ”deviation” from Fermi or Bose statistics is characterized by a sharp change of statistical properties, sending us to consideration of exclusons. Consequently, we can divide particles into three main types, genuine fermions, genuine bosons, and exclusons ($`\kappa ]0,1[`$), since their statistical distributions obey different non-degenerate equations.

A fixed point of the map $`\kappa 1\kappa `$ is $`\kappa =1/2`$. Hence it represents a special case worth to be considered separately. In this case, Eq. (7) allows an exact solution and the result is (positive root)

$$n_i=\frac{2}{\sqrt{1+4x^2}}=\frac{2}{\left(1+4\mathrm{exp}\frac{2(\epsilon _i\mu )}{kT}\right)^{1/2}}.$$
(12)
This distribution represents statistics with up to two particles in state, $`q=2`$ (semions).

We have obtained exact solutions (real roots) of Eq. (7) for $`\kappa =1/3`$ and 2/3 which we write as

$$n_i=\frac{3}{f+f^11},$$
(13)
where

$$f=\left[2\sqrt{y(y1)}+2y1\right]^{1/3},y=2\left(\frac{3x}{2}\right)^3\pm 1.$$
(14)
From Eqs. (13) and (14) one can see how exclusons with $`\kappa =1/3`$ (upper sign) are related to exclusons with $`\kappa =2/3`$ (lower sign) that agrees with Eq. (11). Also, for $`\kappa =1/4`$ and 3/4 we have obtained the following exact solutions (positive real roots):

$$n_i=\frac{4}{\sqrt{2g^{1/2}g+3}\pm g^{1/2}2},$$
(15)
where

$$g=\frac{3}{2}\left([z^2(z+2)]^{1/3}+[z(z+2)^2]^{1/3}\right)+1,z=\sqrt{3\left(\frac{4x}{3}\right)^4+1}1.$$
(16)
Plots of $`n_i(x)`$ for various $`\kappa `$ are presented in Fig. 1, from which one can see that these exclusons behave similar to fermions.

Distributions of exclusons can be obtained from a different approach, based on the canonical statistical sum which implies the mean number of particles,

$$n=\frac{\underset{N=0}{\overset{q}{}}Nx^N}{\underset{N=0}{\overset{q}{}}x^N}.$$
(17)
This formula gives (exact) Fermi and Bose distributions for $`q=1`$ and $`q\mathrm{}`$, respectively, while for arbitrary $`q1`$ the sum is

$$n=\frac{x^{1+q}(1+q)x+q}{(x^{1+q}1)(x1)},q=1/\kappa .$$
(18)
In Fig. 2, we compare distributions (18) with exact solutions shown in Fig. 1. One can see that deviations become considerable as $`\kappa `$ goes to smaller values. However, we expect that near $`\kappa =0`$ there should be a better correspondence since one approaches the other interpolation endpoint (bosons). We treat (18) as an approximate result which is useful since it gives a single simple distribution formula for all exclusons, $`\kappa [0,1]`$.

A connection between the two approaches requires a deeper study which can be made elsewhere.

## 4 Conclusions

(i) The derived statistical weight (3) and Haldane-Wu statistical weight (1) lead to the same distribution equation (7);

(ii) Haldane-Wu parameter $`\lambda `$ acquires a physical meaning of an inverse of the maximal allowed occupation number in state, $`\lambda =1/q`$, similar to the inverse of the statistical factor as shown by Wu ;

(iii) Within fractional exclusion statistics, the generalized Pauli exclusion principle reads that a maximal allowed occupation number of identical particles in state is an integer, $`q=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$, i.e. $`n_i/z_i1/\lambda `$ as formulated by Wu . We stress that in our approach we use this principle as a basis to calculate statistical weight (3) rather than derive it a posteriori from the analysis of a statistical weight or distribution function;

(iv) While Haldane-Wu parameter $`\lambda `$ is assumed to vary continuously, the statistical parameter $`\kappa =1/q`$ runs over discrete set of values, $`\kappa =1,1/2,1/3,\mathrm{}`$ This may be an important difference since physically acceptable solutions of Eq. (7) may not exist for all values of $`\kappa ]0,1[`$, while $`\kappa =1,1/2,1/3,\mathrm{}`$ guarantees a polynomial structure of Eq. (7), with physically acceptable solutions;

(v) The equation (7), which defines statistical distribution of exclusons, $`\kappa ]0,1[`$, has a remarkable symmetry (10) which allows to interconnect solutions $`n_i`$ for $`\kappa `$ and $`1\kappa `$ due to Eq. (11).

In summary, we have shown that Haldane-Wu fractional exclusion statistics finds a natural combinatorial and physical interpretation in accord to Eq. (3), and presented exact solutions of Eq. (7).


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# 1 Introduction

## 1  Introduction

The existence of positive solutions to integral equations is an active research field and has important applications in the stability of feedback systems . In 1991, the number of positive solutions to the following integral equation

$$\phi (x)=_0^1k(x,y)\phi ^2(y)𝑑y$$
(1)
was discussed in . In this paper, we will study the number of positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to following more general integral equation

$$\phi (x)=_0^1k(x,y)\phi ^n(y)𝑑y$$
(2)
where

$$k(x,y)=\phi _1(x)\varphi _1(y)+\phi _2(x)\varphi _2(y),\phi _i(x)>0,\varphi _i(y)>0,0<x,y<1,i=1,2$$

are continuous functions on $`[0,1]`$, $`n`$ is a positive integer. We prove the following results: when $`n=1`$, either there does not exist, or there exist infinitely many positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$; when $`n2`$, there exist at least $`1`$, at most $`n+1`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$. Especially, when $`n`$ is an odd number greater than $`2`$, there exist at least $`1`$, at most $`n`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the cases: 1) $`n=1`$, there exist positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$; 2) $`n2`$, there exist exactly $`m(m\{1,2,\mathrm{},n+1\})`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$. Our results generalize the existing results in the literature, and their usefulness is shown by examples presented in this paper.

In essence, the number of positive solutions to $`(2)`$ can be transformed into determination of real roots of a certain polynomial, which is a century-long, albeit still active research area in mathematics. The classical Sturm method or Newton formula can be employed to determine the real root distribution of polynomials \[4-7\], but the Sturm method is inefficient in establishing discriminant systems for high-order polynomials with symbolic coefficients , and Newton formula involves in recursive procedure to determine the real roots, thus it is difficult to establish explicit criteria .

More recently, Yang et al. established the complete discrimination system for polynomials, which can give a set of explicit expressions based on the coefficients of polynomials to determine the root distribution of polynomials .

Let

$`f(x)=a_0x^n+a_1x^{n1}+\mathrm{}+a_nP^n,`$

the Sylvester matrix of $`f(x)`$ and its derivative $`f^{^{}}(x)`$

$`\left[\begin{array}{ccccccccc}a_0& a_1& a_2& \mathrm{}& a_{n1}& a_n& & & \\ 0& na_0& (n1)a_1& \mathrm{}& 2a_{n2}& a_{n1}& & & \\ & a_0& a_1& \mathrm{}& a_{n2}& a_{n1}& a_n& & \\ & 0& na_0& \mathrm{}& 3a_{n3}& 2a_{n2}& a_{n1}& & \\ & & & \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& & & \\ & & & \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& & & \\ & & & & a_0& a_1& a_2& \mathrm{}& a_n\\ & & & & 0& na_0& (n1)a_1& \mathrm{}& a_{n1}\end{array}\right]`$

is called the discrimination matrix of $`f(x)`$, denoted as $`Discr(f).`$

$`[D_1(f),D_2(f),\mathrm{},D_n(f)]`$

the even-order principal minor sequence of $`Discr(f)`$, is called the discriminant sequence of $`f(x)`$.

$`[sign(D_1),sign(D_2),\mathrm{},sign(D_n)]`$

is called the sign list of the discriminant sequence $`[D_1,D_2,\mathrm{},D_n]`$, where $`sign()`$ is the sign function, i.e.,

$$sign(x)=\{\begin{array}{cc}1\hfill & \text{if }x>0,\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{if }x=0,\hfill \\ 1\hfill & \text{if }x<0.\hfill \end{array}$$

Given a sign list $`[s_1,s_2,\mathrm{},s_n],`$ we can construct a revised sign list

$`[\epsilon _1,\epsilon _2,\mathrm{},\epsilon _n]`$

as follows:

$`1)`$If $`[s_i,s_{i+1},\mathrm{},s_{i+j}]`$ is a section of the given sign list and $`s_i0;s_{i+1}=s_{i+2}=\mathrm{}=s_{i+j1}=0;s_{i+j}0,`$ then replace the subsection consisting of all $`0`$ elements

$$[s_{i+1},s_{i+2},\mathrm{},s_{i+j1}]$$

by the following subsection with equal number of terms

$$[s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,s_i,\mathrm{}]$$

i.e.,$`\epsilon _{i+r}=(1)^{\left[{\displaystyle \frac{r+1}{2}}\right]}s_i,r=1,2,\mathrm{},j1.`$

$`2)`$Let $`\epsilon _k=s_k`$ for all other terms, i.e., all other terms remain the same.

Lemma 1  Given the polynomial with real coefficients $`f(x)=a_0x^n+a_1x^{n1}+\mathrm{}+a_nP^n.`$ If the number of sign changes in the revised sign list of its discriminant sequence is $`\nu ,`$ and the number of non-zero elements in the revised sign list is $`\mu ,`$ then the number of distinct real roots of $`f(x)`$ is $`\mu 2\nu .`$

Remark 1 The discriminant sequence of $`f(x)`$ can also be constructed by the principal minors of the Bezout matrix of $`f(x)`$ and $`f^{^{}}(x)`$ ; the number of distinct real roots of $`f(x)`$ can also be determined by the sign difference of Bezout matrix of $`f(x)`$ and $`f^{^{}}(x)`$ .

Remark 2 The complete discrimination system for polynomials can also be used to determine the number and the multiplicity of complex roots .

Yang and Xia also proposed a method to determine the number of positive (negative) roots of a polynomial , which is similar to Lemma 1 in principle, but is more efficient.

Lemma 2  Given the polynomial with real coefficients $`f(x)=a_0x^n+a_1x^{n1}+\mathrm{}+a_nP^n,`$ $`a_00,a_n0.`$ Let $`h(x)=f(x)`$ and $`\{d_1,d_2,\mathrm{},d_{2n+1}\}`$ be the sequence of the principal minors of the discrimination matrix $`Discr(h)`$ of $`h(x)`$. If the number of sign changes in the revised sign list of the sequence $`\{d_1d_2,d_2d_3,\mathrm{},d_{2n}d_{2n+1}\}`$ is $`\nu ,`$ and the number of non-zero elements in the revised sign list is $`\mu ,`$ then the number of distinct positive roots of $`f(x)`$ is $`\mu 2\nu .`$

## 2  Main Results

Consider the problem of determining the number of positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation of the following form

$$\phi (x)=_0^1k(x,y)\phi ^n(y)𝑑y$$
(3)
where

$$k(x,y)=\phi _1(x)\varphi _1(y)+\phi _2(x)\varphi _2(y),\phi _i(x)>0,\varphi _i(y)>0,0<x,y<1,i=1,2$$

are continuous functions on $`[0,1]`$,$`n`$ is a positive integer.

Denote

$$a_{ni,i}=C_n^i_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _1^{ni}(y)\phi _2^i(y)𝑑y,i=0,1,\mathrm{},n,$$

$$b_{ni,i}=C_n^i_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _1^{ni}(y)\phi _2^i(y)𝑑y,i=0,1,\mathrm{},n,$$

$$\alpha _i=b_{ni,i}a_{ni+1,i1},i=1,2,\mathrm{},n,\alpha _0=b_{n,0},\alpha _{n+1}=a_{0,n},$$

where $`C_n^i,i=0,1,\mathrm{},n,`$ stand for the combinatorial number. Our main result is as follows:

Theorem 1 When $`n=1`$, either there does not exist, or there exist infinitely many positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3). The necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ are $`a_{1,0}1<0`$ and $`(a_{1,0}1)(b_{0,1}1)a_{0,1}b_{1,0}=0.`$

Theorem 2 When $`n2`$, there exist at least $`1`$, at most $`n+1`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3). Especially, when $`n`$ is an odd number greater than $`2`$, there exist at least $`1`$, at most $`n`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Theorem 3 When $`n2`$, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of exactly $`m(m\{1,2,\mathrm{},n+1\})`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3) are: the number of sign changes $`\nu `$ in the revised sign list of the discriminant sequence of the polynomial $`f(s):=\underset{i=0}{\overset{n+1}{}}\alpha _is^{2(n+1i)}`$ and the number of its non-zero elements $`\mu `$ satisfy $`m=\frac{\mu 2\nu }{2}`$; or, equivalently, the number of sign changes $`\nu `$ in the revised sign list of the sequence $`\{d_1d_2,d_2d_3,\mathrm{},d_{2n+2}d_{2n+3}\}`$ and the number of its non-zero elements $`\mu `$ satisfy $`m=\frac{\mu 2\nu }{2},`$ where $`\{d_1,d_2,\mathrm{},d_{2n+3}\}`$ is the sequence of the principal minors of the discriminant matrix $`Discr(h)`$ of $`h(s):=\underset{i=0}{\overset{n+1}{}}\alpha _i(s)^{n+1i}`$.

Specifically, when $`n=2`$, denote

$$p=\frac{\alpha _1}{\alpha _0},r=\frac{\alpha _2}{\alpha _0},t=\frac{\alpha _3}{\alpha _0}<0,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1=p^23r,\mathrm{\Delta }_2=rp^2+3tp4r^2,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_3=4r^3+18rtp+p^2r^24p^3t27t^2,$$

$$[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]=[1,p,p\mathrm{\Delta }_1,\mathrm{\Delta }_1\mathrm{\Delta }_2,\mathrm{\Delta }_2\mathrm{\Delta }_3,t\mathrm{\Delta }_3^2].$$
(4)
then we have

Corollary 1 There exist at least $`1`$, at most $`3`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (1).

Corollary 2 The necessary and sufficient conditions for the integral equation (1) to have exactly $`3`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ are $`p<0,\mathrm{\Delta }_1>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_2>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_3>0.`$

Corollary 3 The necessary and sufficient conditions for the integral equation (1) to have exactly $`2`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ are $`p<0,\mathrm{\Delta }_1>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_2>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_3=0.`$

Corollary 4 The necessary and sufficient conditions for the integral equation (1) to have exactly $`1`$ positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ are $`p0,`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_10,`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_20,`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3<0.`$

Remark 3 If $`n`$ is even, the integral equation (3) does not have any negative solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Remark 4 If $`n`$ is odd, since $`\phi (x)`$ is a positive solution in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3) if and only if $`\phi (x)`$ is a negative solution in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3), thus, when $`n=1`$, the integral equation (3) either does not have, or has infinitely many negative solutions in $`C[0,1]`$; when $`n`$ is odd and greater than $`2`$, the integral equation (3) has at least $`1`$, at most $`n`$ negative solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Remark 5 When $`n=1,`$ the necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of negative solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3) are the same as in Theorem 1. When $`n`$ is odd and greater than $`2`$, the necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of exactly $`m(m\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\})`$ negative solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3) are the same as in Theorem 3.

Remark 6 Our method can be extended to the case when the integral kernel $`k(x,y)`$ is taken as $`\underset{i=1}{\overset{l}{}}\phi _i(x)\varphi _i(y)`$, where $`\phi _i(x)>0,\varphi _i(y)>0,`$ $`0<x,y<1,i=1,2,\mathrm{},l,`$ are continuous functions on $`[0,1]`$.

Remark 7 The conclusions in  are equivalent to Corollaries 1,2,3 above.

## 3  Proof of the Theorems

Proof of Theorem 1 When $`n=1`$, the integral equation (3) becomes

$$\phi (x)=_0^1k(x,y)\phi (y)𝑑y$$
(5)
Thus, we have

$$\phi (x)=\phi _1(x)_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi (y)𝑑y+\phi _2(x)_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi (y)𝑑y$$

If $`\phi (x)`$ is a positive solution in $`C[0,1]`$ to equation (5), then $`\phi (x)`$ can be expressed as $`\phi (x)=\lambda _1\phi _1(x)+\lambda _2\phi _2(x),`$ where $`\lambda _1>0,\lambda _2>0`$ are coefficients to be determined. Taking it into equation (5), we get the following system of algebraic equations

$$\{\begin{array}{c}a_{1,0}\lambda _1+a_{0,1}\lambda _2=\lambda _1\\ b_{1,0}\lambda _1+b_{0,1}\lambda _2=\lambda _2\end{array}$$
(6)
where $`a_{1,0}=_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _1(y)𝑑y,`$ $`a_{0,1}=_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _2(y)𝑑y,`$ $`b_{1,0}=_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _1(y)𝑑y,`$ $`b_{0,1}=_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _2(y)𝑑y.`$ Apparently, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the system of algebraic equations (6) to have positive solutions $`\lambda _1,\lambda _2`$ are $`a_{1,0}1<0`$, and $`(a_{1,0}1)(b_{0,1}1)a_{0,1}b_{1,0}=0.`$ Moreover, if $`\phi (x)`$ is a positive solution to equation (5), then, obviously, for any positive constant number $`c,c\phi (x)`$ is also a positive solution to equation (5). Thus, there are infinitely many positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$ to equation (5). This completes the proof.

Lemma 3 The system of equations

$$\{\begin{array}{c}a_{n,0}x^n+a_{n1,1}x^{n1}y+a_{n2,2}x^{n2}y^2+\mathrm{}+a_{1,n1}xy^{n1}+a_{0,n}y^n=x\\ b_{n,0}x^n+b_{n1,1}x^{n1}y+b_{n2,2}x^{n2}y^2+\mathrm{}+b_{1,n1}xy^{n1}+b_{0,n}y^n=y\end{array}$$
(7)
$$a_{ni,i}>0,b_{ni,i}>0,i=0,1,2,\mathrm{},n.$$

has at least $`1`$, at most $`n+1`$ (at most $`n`$, when $`n`$ is odd) positive solutions, where $`n2.`$

Proof Let

$$p(x,y)=\frac{x}{a_{n,0}x^n+a_{n1,1}x^{n1}y+\mathrm{}+a_{0,n}y^n},q(x,y)=\frac{y}{b_{n,0}x^n+b_{n1,1}x^{n1}y+\mathrm{}+b_{0,n}y^n},$$

$$x>0,y>0,$$

then

$$p(\kappa x,\kappa y)=\frac{1}{\kappa ^{n1}}p(x,y),q(\kappa x,\kappa y)=\frac{1}{\kappa ^{n1}}q(x,y),\kappa >0.$$

Let

$$E=\{x|p(x,1)=q(x,1)\},$$

then the number of positive solutions to the system of equations (7) is equal to the number of elements in $`E`$. In fact, if $`(x,y)`$ is a positive solution to (7), then

$$p(x,y)=q(x,y)=1,$$

thus $`\frac{x}{y}E.`$ Conversely, if $`xE,`$ since $`n2,`$ it is easy to verify that $`(\sqrt[n1]{p(x,1)}x,\sqrt[n1]{p(x,1)})`$ is a positive solution to (7).

Suppose $`xE,`$ by $`p(x,1)=q(x,1)`$, we have

$$b_{n,0}x^{n+1}+(b_{n1,1}a_{n,0})x^n+(b_{n2,2}a_{n1,1})x^{n1}+\mathrm{}+(b_{0,n}a_{1,n1})xa_{0,n}=0$$

Namely

$$\alpha _0x^{n+1}+\alpha _1x^n+\alpha _2x^{n1}+\mathrm{}+\alpha _nx+\alpha _{n+1}=0$$
(8)
where

$$\alpha _i=b_{ni,i}a_{ni+1,i1},i=1,2,\mathrm{},n,\alpha _0=b_{n,0},\alpha _{n+1}=a_{0,n},$$

Since $`\alpha _0=b_{n,0}>0,\alpha _{n+1}=a_{0,n}<0,`$ equation (8) has at least $`1`$, at most $`n+1`$ positive roots. Especially, when $`n>2`$ and is odd, since equation (8) has at least $`1`$ negative root, it has at most $`n`$ positive roots. This completes the proof.

Proof of Theorems 2 and 3 When $`n2`$, since

$$\begin{array}{cc}\phi (x)\hfill & =_0^1k(x,y)\phi ^n(y)𝑑y\hfill \\ & =\phi _1(x)_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi ^n(y)𝑑y+\phi _2(x)_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi ^n(y)𝑑y\hfill \end{array}$$

similar to the proof of Theorem 1, the positive solution $`\phi (x)`$ in $`C[0,1]`$ to the integral equation (3) can be expressed as $`\phi (x)=\lambda _1\phi _1(x)+\lambda _2\phi _2(x),`$ where $`\lambda _1>0,\lambda _2>0`$ are coefficients to be determined. Taking it into equation (3), by a simple but lengthy calculation, we see that $`\lambda _1,\lambda _2`$ should be positive solutions to the following system of algebraic equations

$$\{\begin{array}{c}a_{n,0}\lambda _1^n+a_{n1,1}\lambda _1^{n1}\lambda _2+a_{n2,2}\lambda _1^{n2}\lambda _2^2+\mathrm{}+a_{1,n1}\lambda _1\lambda _2^{n1}+a_{0,n}\lambda _2^n=\lambda _1\\ b_{n,0}\lambda _1^n+b_{n1,1}\lambda _1^{n1}\lambda _2+b_{n2,2}\lambda _1^{n2}\lambda _2^2+\mathrm{}+b_{1,n1}\lambda _1\lambda _2^{n1}+b_{0,n}\lambda _2^n=\lambda _2\end{array}$$
(9)
where

$$a_{ni,i}=C_n^i_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _1^{ni}(y)\phi _2^i(y)𝑑y,i=0,1,\mathrm{},n,$$

$$b_{ni,i}=C_n^i_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _1^{ni}(y)\phi _2^i(y)𝑑y,i=0,1,\mathrm{},n.$$

By Lemma 3, we complete the proof of Theorem 2.

Moreover, from the proof of Lemma 3, we know that finding the positive solutions to the system of algebraic equations (9) or (7) can be transformed into finding the positive solutions to equation (8). Applying Lemmas 1 and 2 to equation (8), we complete the proof of Theorem 3.

Proof of Corollaries 1,2,3,4 Some notations in this proof are defined in Section 2.

Corollary 1 is a direct consequence of Theorem 2.

When $`n=2`$, equation (8) becomes

$$\alpha _0x^3+\alpha _1x^2+\alpha _2x+\alpha _3=0$$
(10)
By a direct computation, we know that the discriminant sequence $`[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]`$ of the polynomial $`f(s):=\alpha _0s^6+\alpha _1s^4+\alpha _2s^2+\alpha _3`$ is determined by (4) (up to a positive factor).

Since $`t<0,`$ it is easy to see that the number of sign changes $`\nu `$ in the revised sign list of $`[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]`$ and the number of its non-zero elements $`\mu `$ satisfy $`6=\mu 2\nu `$ if and only if the revised sign list of $`[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]`$ is $`[1,1,1,1,1,1],`$ which is equivalent to $`p<0,\mathrm{\Delta }_1>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_2>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_3>0.`$ This completes the proof of Corollary 2.

Similarly, the number of sign changes $`\nu `$ in the revised sign list of $`[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]`$ and the number of its non-zero elements $`\mu `$ satisfy $`4=\mu 2\nu `$ if and only if the revised sign list of $`[D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4,D_5,D_6]`$ is $`[1,1,1,1,0,0],`$ which is equivalent to $`p<0,\mathrm{\Delta }_1>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_2>0,\mathrm{\Delta }_3=0.`$ This completes the proof of Corollary 3.

Combining Corollaries 1,2,3, we get Corollary 4.

## 4  Some Illustrative Examples

Example 1 Consider the integral equation

$$\phi (x)=_0^1(\frac{6}{5}xy+\frac{3}{5}y)\phi (y)𝑑y,0x1$$
(11)
Let

$$\phi _1(x)=\frac{6}{5}x,\varphi _1(y)=y,\phi _2(x)=\frac{3}{5},\varphi _2(y)=y.$$

Then, it is easy to get $`a_{1,0}=b_{1,0}=\frac{2}{5},a_{0,1}=b_{0,1}=\frac{3}{5}.`$ The conditions in Theorem 1 are met. Hence, there are infinitely many positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$. In fact, $`\phi (x)=c(\frac{6}{5}x+\frac{3}{5}),c>0`$ are such solutions.

Remark 8 From the proof of theorems and the example above, we can see that, for a given integral equation, we can not only determine the number of its positive solutions, but also find the positive solutions explicitly by solving the algebraic equation (8).

Example 2 Consider the integral equation

$$\begin{array}{cc}\phi (x)=\hfill & _0^1[18\mathrm{max}\{\epsilon ,2x+1+\epsilon \}+\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\epsilon }{3},\frac{1}{3}(2x1+\epsilon )\}\hfill \\ & \times \mathrm{max}\{6,272y130\}]\phi ^n(y)dy,0x1,\hfill \end{array}$$
(12)
where $`\epsilon 0,n=1`$ or $`2.`$

Let

$$\phi _1(x)=\mathrm{max}\{\epsilon ,2x+1+\epsilon \},\varphi _1(y)=18,$$

$$\phi _2(x)=\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\epsilon }{3},\frac{1}{3}(2x1+\epsilon )\},\varphi _2(y)=\mathrm{max}\{6,272y130\}.$$

When $`n=1`$, using the notations in Section 2 and by a simple computation, we can get

$$a_{1,0}=_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _1(y)𝑑y=18\epsilon +\frac{9}{2},a_{0,1}=_0^1\varphi _1(y)\phi _2(y)𝑑y=6\epsilon +\frac{3}{2};$$

$$b_{1,0}=_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _1(y)𝑑y=40\epsilon +\frac{3}{2},b_{0,1}=_0^1\varphi _2(y)\phi _2(y)𝑑y=\frac{40}{3}\epsilon +\frac{145}{18}.$$

Since $`a_{1,0}1>0,`$ the conditions in Theorem 1 are not met. Thus, equation (12) does not have any positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Similarly, when $`n=2`$, by a simple computation, we can get

$$a_{2,0}=3+9\epsilon +18\epsilon ^2,a_{1,1}=6\epsilon +12\epsilon ^2,a_{0,2}=\frac{1}{3}+\epsilon +2\epsilon ^2;$$

$$b_{2,0}=1+3\epsilon +40\epsilon ^2,b_{1,1}=\frac{154}{9}\epsilon +\frac{80}{3}\epsilon ^2,b_{0,2}=2+\frac{145}{27}\epsilon +\frac{40}{9}\epsilon ^2;$$

$$\alpha _0=b_{2,0}=1+3\epsilon +40\epsilon ^2,\alpha _1=b_{1,1}a_{2,0}=\frac{26}{3}\epsilon ^2+\frac{73}{9}\epsilon 3,$$

$$\alpha _2=b_{0,2}a_{1,1}=\frac{68}{9}\epsilon ^2\frac{17}{27}\epsilon +2,\alpha _3=a_{0,2}=2\epsilon ^2\epsilon \frac{1}{3}.$$

Let

$$p=\frac{\alpha _1}{\alpha _0},r=\frac{\alpha _2}{\alpha _0},t=\frac{\alpha _3}{\alpha _0};$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1=p^23r,\mathrm{\Delta }_2=rp^2+3tp4r^2,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_3=4r^3+18rtp+p^2r^24p^3t27t^2,$$

we have (up to a positive factor)

$$p=1+2.7037\epsilon +2.8889\epsilon ^2,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1=65.959\epsilon ^2+94.716\epsilon ^321.593\epsilon +327.26\epsilon ^4+1,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_2=702.22\epsilon ^41291.9\epsilon ^5+255.78\epsilon ^32356.3\epsilon ^678.517\epsilon ^226.207\epsilon +1,$$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_3=127.778\epsilon 1.4371\times 10^5\epsilon ^623275.0\epsilon ^41.0374\times 10^5\epsilon ^563.724\epsilon ^21222.6\epsilon ^3.$$

By numerical computations, it is easy to get

The real roots of $`p=0`$ are $`1.2197`$ and $`0.2838;`$

The real roots of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=0`$ are $`0.041426`$ and $`0.45024;`$

The real roots of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2=0`$ are $`0.70495`$ and $`0.034952;`$

The real roots of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3=0`$ are $`0.21287`$ and $`0.03143.`$

Hence, by Corollaries 2,3,4, it is easy to know that there exists a positive number $`r_00.03143`$ (note here the difference between the exactness of the conditions in Corollaries 2,3,4 and the inexactness of the numerical computations above), such that: when $`0\epsilon <r_0`$, equation (12) has 3 positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$; when $`\epsilon =r_0`$, equation (12) has 2 positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$; when $`\epsilon >r_0`$, equation (12) has 1 positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Remark 9 The case when $`n=2`$ in the example above has also been studied in . Our result here is completely consistent with the result in .

Example 3 Consider the integral equation (12) in the example above. When $`n=3,\epsilon `$ is $`2`$ or $`0.2`$, determine the number of its positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

Similar to Example 2, when $`n=3`$, using the notations in Section 2 and by a simple computation, we can get

$$a_{3,0}=\frac{9}{4}+9\epsilon +\frac{27}{2}\epsilon ^2+18\epsilon ^3,a_{2,1}=3\epsilon +\frac{27}{2}\epsilon ^2+18\epsilon ^3,$$

$$a_{1,2}=\frac{9}{2}\epsilon ^2+6\epsilon ^3+\epsilon ,a_{0,3}=\frac{2}{3}\epsilon ^3+\frac{1}{12}+\frac{1}{3}\epsilon +\frac{1}{2}\epsilon ^2;$$

$$b_{3,0}=\frac{3}{4}+3\epsilon +\frac{9}{2}\epsilon ^2+40\epsilon ^3,b_{2,1}=\epsilon +\frac{163}{6}\epsilon ^2+40\epsilon ^3,$$

$$b_{1,2}=\frac{299}{18}\epsilon ^2+\frac{40}{3}\epsilon ^3+6\epsilon ,b_{0,3}=\frac{163}{54}\epsilon ^2+\frac{287}{540}+2\epsilon +\frac{37}{27}\epsilon ^3.$$

$$\alpha _0=\frac{3}{4}+3\epsilon +\frac{9}{2}\epsilon ^2+40\epsilon ^3,\alpha _1=8\epsilon +\frac{41}{3}\epsilon ^2+22\epsilon ^3\frac{9}{4},$$

$$\alpha _2=\frac{28}{9}\epsilon ^2\frac{14}{3}\epsilon ^3+3\epsilon ,\alpha _3=\frac{40}{27}\epsilon ^2+\frac{287}{540}+\epsilon \frac{125}{27}\epsilon ^3,$$

$$\alpha _4=\frac{2}{3}\epsilon ^3\frac{1}{12}\frac{1}{3}\epsilon \frac{1}{2}\epsilon ^2.$$

Hence, when $`\epsilon =2`$, we have $`\alpha _0s^8+\alpha _1s^6+\alpha _2s^4+\alpha _3s^2+\alpha _4=344.75s^8+212.42s^618.889s^440.431s^28.0833.`$ By a simple computation, the revised sign list of its discriminant sequence is

$$[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1].$$

By Theorem 3, equation (12) has only 1 positive solution in $`C[0,1]`$.

When $`\epsilon =0.2`$, we have $`\alpha _0s^8+\alpha _1s^6+\alpha _2s^4+\alpha _3s^2+\alpha _4=1.85s^83.1273s^6+0.68711s^4+0.63519s^20.17533.`$ By a simple computation, the revised sign list of its discriminant sequence is

$$[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1].$$

By Theorem 3, equation (12) has 3 positive solutions in $`C[0,1]`$.

References

1  C. Corduneanu, Integral Equations and Stability of Feedback Systems, Springer-Verlag, London and New York, 1973.

2  R. Courant and D. Hilbert, Methods of Mathematical Physics, Interscience Publishing Company, New York, 1953.

3  P. Yao, On the number of positive solutions to an integral equation with rank 2 kernel, Journal of Mathematical Physics, 1991,11: 274-279.

4  F. R. Gantmacher, The Theory of Matrices, Chelsea, New York, 1960.

5  W. H. Greub, Linear Algebra, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1967.

6  L. Yang, X. R. Hou and Z. B. Zeng, A complete discrimination system for polynomials. Science in China, E-39: 628-646, 1996

7  L. Yang, J. Z. Zhang and X. R. Hou, Nonlinear Algebraic Equations and Machine Proving(Nonlinear Science Series), Shanghai Science and Education Press, Shanghai, 1996.

8  L. Yang and B. C. Xia, Explicit criterion to determine the number of positive roots of a polynomial. Mathematics-Mechanization Research Preprints, 15: 134-145, 1997.


text:
# Low temperature transport through a quantum dot: finite-𝑈 results and scaling behavior

## I Introduction

The Kondo effect, a phenomenon discovered in the late 30s in diluted magnetic alloys, plays a crucial role in the low temperature properties of many strongly correlated systems, such as Ce, Y and U compounds. Very recently Kondo-like phenomena were also observed in the low-temperature transport properties of quantum dot devices,  opening new opportunities to control the Kondo effect experimentally, and starting a new field of research.

A quantum dot device consists of a small sized quantum dot (QD) weakly connected by tunnel barriers to two electrodes, called source and drain. In this system the QD may be considered as an artificial atom, in which a well defined number of electrons, $`n`$, is confined. The energy required to add a new electron to the QD is $`U=e^2/2C`$, where $`C`$ is the capacitance of the QD itself. The energy $`U`$ is determined by the Coulomb repulsion between two electrons in the QD and thus it scales with the inverse of the dot dimensions. Therefore, in small sized QD, $`U`$ is usually larger than the coupling to the leads. An important aspect of a QD device is that the energy of electrons in the dot can be tuned by a gate voltage. Increasing the gate voltage, the energy necessary to add a new electron decreases, eventually making the addition possible. Thus it was shown that, at low temperature, the transport of electrons through the QD is allowed only at those values of the gate voltage at which the state with $`n`$ electrons is realized and that with $`n+1`$ electrons becomes suddenly energetically accessible (Coulomb blockade).

The idea that Kondo-like phenomena should appear in such a system at very low temperature can be traced back to 1988. In that year it was recognized that the Anderson model, introduced in 1961 to describe a magnetic impurity in a metal, could also be applied to a QD coupled to its leads. Soon afterwards several theoretical studies have been devoted to analyze the properties of such a system (see e.g. Refs. ). It was predicted that at very low temperature ($`TT_K`$, where TK is the Kondo temperature) a narrow peak should appear in the local density of states, close to the Fermi level. Thus, states belonging to opposite electrodes should mix easier than at high temperature ($`TT_K`$), and the conductance should increase. In addition, the Kondo anomalies were predicted to appear only for odd $`n`$,  and thus only if the total spin of the electrons in the QD, $`S`$, is half integer. These predictions are now confirmed by several experimental results. The Kondo temperature of QD devices is however very small (usually less than a few hundred mK) compared to the one of diluted magnetic alloys (usually a few K). Recently,  in some QD devices Kondo anomalies have been observed for even $`n`$ as well; it is believed that these deviations from the even/odd $`n`$ effect are related to the formation of integer spin states with $`S1`$.

In the present paper we will focus our attention on those QD devices for which the Kondo effect occurs only for odd $`n`$. The transport properties of such a QD device have been calculated by using many different approaches, such as the equations of motion method, the non-crossing approximation (NCA) and the exact numerical renormalization group (NRG) technique. Within the NRG it was possible to calculate the conductance as a function of the gate voltage, and thus to obtain – in the case $`S=1/2`$ – the even/odd effect in very good agreement with experimental results. Similar results were also obtained with the approximate equations of motion method and with the NCA. The latter method was applied to low temperature transport of a QD in the infinite $`U`$ limit and thus the even/odd alternation effect was obtained for $`n`$ switching from $`n=0`$ to $`n=1`$.

Even if approximated, the NCA can be easily extended to models in which the realistic levels structure of the QD is kept into account (i.e. in the presence of several levels and possibly of an external magnetic field), thus becoming a very convenient method for a direct comparison to transport properties of real QD devices. As a matter of fact, the NCA was used with success to study, e.g., orbital degeneracy effects in diluted magnetic alloys. However, in the case of QD devices, it is first necessary to go beyond the $`U\mathrm{}`$ condition, which does not account for the even/odd effect for all values of $`n`$.

In the present work we apply the finite-$`U`$ NCA method to the QD device system, modeled by the spin-1/2 Anderson model. We calculate the conductance as a function of the position of the QD level, and study the system in the empty orbital, mixed valence and Kondo regimes. Our results are in good agreement with the exact numerical renormalization group ones. In particular, we obtain the correct behavior of the conductance both in the high temperature regime, $`TT_K`$, in which the conductance shows the Coulomb blockade peaks, and the low temperature regime, $`T<T_K`$, where the conductance increases for odd $`n`$ due to the Kondo effect.

The paper is organized as follows. In section II we describe the model Hamiltonian and give a short introduction to the finite-$`U`$ NCA. In section III we show and discuss the numerical results, in particular the linear-response conductance, which we compare to exact results and to experimental data. In section IV we study the scaling behavior of the conductance as a function of temperature, and we suggest an empirical formula which is valid both in the Fermi-liquid and in the $`TT_K`$ temperature regime, where the conductance has a logarithmic behavior.

## II Model and method

### A Hamiltonian

In order to describe a quantum dot (QD) coupled with its leads we adopt the Anderson Hamiltonian

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{(𝐤,\sigma )S,D}{}}\epsilon _𝐤c_{𝐤\sigma }^{}c_{𝐤\sigma }+\epsilon _0{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma }{}}d_\sigma ^{}d_\sigma +Un_dn_d`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{(𝐤,\sigma )S,D}{}}(V_{𝐤\sigma }c_{𝐤\sigma }^{}d_\sigma +h.c.).`$ (2)
Here $`c_{𝐤\sigma }^{}`$ ($`c_{𝐤\sigma }`$) creates (destroys) a conduction electron with momentum k and spin $`\sigma `$ in one of the two leads, which we label with S (source) and D (drain); $`d_\sigma ^{}`$ ($`d_\sigma `$) creates (destroys) an electron with spin $`\sigma `$ on the quantum dot; $`\epsilon _0`$ is the energy of a single electron localized on the QD and $`U`$ is the Coulomb interaction among electrons in the dot; $`n_{d\sigma }=d_\sigma ^{}d_\sigma `$ is the number of electrons operator for a given spin in the QD; $`V_{𝐤\sigma }`$ is the hybridization between the leads and the QD states, whose modulus is supposed to be k-independent, with $`|V_{𝐤\sigma }|=V_{S(D)}`$ for $`(𝐤,\sigma )S(D)`$. The lead-dot coupling strengths are given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{S(D)}\pi V_{S(D)}^2\underset{𝐤}{}\delta (\epsilon \epsilon _𝐤).$$
(3)
It was shown – through a unitary transformation of the band states – that the Hamiltonian (1) is equivalent to a two band Anderson model in which the first band does not interact with the QD, and the second is coupled to the quantum dot states through the hybridization $`V=\sqrt{V_S^2+V_D^2}`$. Thus the problem of calculating the transport properties of Hamiltonian (1) is reduced to the problem of calculating the spectral properties of the one band Anderson model, provided that the actual lead-dot coupling strength is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_S+\mathrm{\Gamma }_D=\pi N(\epsilon _F)V^2,$$
(4)
where $`N(\epsilon _F)`$ is the density of states (per spin) of the leads at the Fermi level, $`\epsilon _F`$. It is reasonable to approximate the conduction bands of the leads with those of a non interacting two dimensional Fermi gas. Thus the density of states (DOS) per spin may be written as $`N(\epsilon )=1/2D`$, where $`D`$ is one half of the band-width, therefore $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\pi V^2/2D`$.

The main difference between the Anderson model used in the ordinary Kondo problem and the one used here is the following. In the present model the energy difference $`\epsilon _0\epsilon _F`$ is not fixed, but, on the contrary, it can be tuned by a gate voltage $`V_g`$, coupled to the QD through a capacitor. From now on we set the Fermi level $`\epsilon _F=0`$. In first approximation, we can assume that $`\epsilon _0`$ increases linearly with $`eV_g`$ (with common conventions for the sign of gate voltage). Thus the equilibrium thermodynamic properties of the system described by the Hamiltonian (1) are functions of two external parameters: the temperature $`T`$ and the gate voltage $`V_g`$.

### B Linear response conductance

In the linear response regime ($`V_{SD}V_g`$, where $`V_{SD}`$ is the source-drain voltage), the conductance of the system QD+leads, G, may be written in a Landauer-like form

$$\mathrm{G}(T,V_g)=\frac{2e^2}{h}_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{\pi }\mathrm{Im}\{G^R(\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta )\}\right)\left(\frac{f}{\epsilon }\right)d\epsilon ,$$
(5)
where for simplicity we assume that the couplings to the leads are symmetric ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_S=\mathrm{\Gamma }_D`$). Here $`f`$ is the Fermi distribution function and $`G^R(\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ is the retarded local Green function, i.e. the Fourier transform of $`G^R(t)\text{i}\mathrm{\Theta }(t)\{d(t),d^{}(0)\}`$ .

The quantity Im $`\left\{G^R(\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta )\right\}`$ in Eq. (5) is proportional to the local density of states, $`\rho (\epsilon )`$, defined as

$$\rho (\epsilon )\frac{1}{\pi }\mathrm{Im}\left\{G^R(\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta )\right\}.$$
(6)
We point out that the effects of the Coulomb interaction among electrons in the QD are contained in the local density of states. The main purpose of this work is thus to calculate $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ as a function of temperature and gate voltage, and the resulting linear conductance.

### C Number of electrons

The low temperature transport properties of a mesoscopic system such as the QD+leads previously described are characterized by the phenomenon of charge quantization. When Coulomb blockade occurs the number of electrons in the QD is a fixed integer. This number can be changed by raising the voltage of the gate electrode. In this way the energy of the electrons in the QD is lowered with respect to the Fermi energy in the leads. The change in energy necessary to add a new electron is $`U`$. This may be seen as the energy required to charge the QD, $`e^2/2C`$, where $`C`$ is the capacitance of the QD. Thus the average number of electrons on the QD, $`n`$, with

$$n=N_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}d\epsilon f(\epsilon )\rho (\epsilon ),$$
(7)
is an important quantity in this problem (here $`N`$ is the degeneracy of $`\epsilon _0`$ and in the present case $`N=2`$). The number of electrons is — like the conductance — a function of the local density of states.

### D Finite-$`U`$ non-crossing approximation

In order to calculate $`\rho (\epsilon )`$, the local DOS for the single impurity Anderson model, we adopt the finite-$`U`$ non-crossing approximation (UNCA) approach, an extension of the non-crossing approximation (NCA) to the finite $`U`$ Anderson model. We point out that a finite $`U`$ treatment is necessary in order to calculate the correct behavior of the conductance as a function of the gate voltage (and thus of the number of electrons on the QD).

The NCA is a diagrammatic technique introduced for the Anderson model in the $`U\mathrm{}`$ limit. The main idea of the NCA is that the self energy can be expanded in a series of diagrams of order $`V^2/N`$, where $`N`$ is the degeneracy of the local level, usually large for Kondo impurities in diluted magnetic alloys (e.g. $`N=6`$ for Ce impurities). The non-crossing diagrams are summed up to all orders, and the first neglected diagrams are of order $`(V^2/N)^2`$. The NCA was proved to be successful already for $`N=2`$. Thus it was applied with good results also to the spin-1/2 $`U\mathrm{}`$ Anderson model out of equilibrium, e.g. it was used to calculate the behavior of the conductance as a function of the chemical potential in the QD+leads problem.

The NCA and the UNCA lead to a set of integral equations for the self energy, which have to be solved self-consistently. The number of equations depends on the number of many body states for the electrons in the QD. If $`U`$ is finite there are four possible manybody states, namely $`|0,0`$ (with energy $`\epsilon =0`$), $`|1,`$ and $`|1,`$ (degenerate, with energy $`\epsilon =\epsilon _0`$), and $`|2,`$ (with energy $`\epsilon =2\epsilon _0+U`$). For each state a self energy and a ionic propagator are introduced. Thus we have three self energies, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ and three propagators, $`G_0`$, $`G_1`$, $`G_2`$ (due to spin degeneracy $`G_1=G_1=G_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$). The UNCA equations may then be written as

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _D^D}d\epsilon f(\epsilon )G_1(\omega +\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta ),`$ (8)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _D^D}d\epsilon [1f(\epsilon )]G_0(\omega \epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta )+`$ (10)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _D^D}d\epsilon f(\epsilon )G_2(\omega +\epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta ),`$
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _D^D}d\epsilon [1f(\epsilon )]G_1(\omega \epsilon +\mathrm{i}\eta ),`$ (11)
with

$`G_0(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta \mathrm{\Sigma }_0(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )\right]^1,`$ (12)
$`G_1(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta \epsilon _0\mathrm{\Sigma }_1(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )\right]^1,`$ (13)
$`G_2(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta 2\epsilon _0U\mathrm{\Sigma }_2(\omega +\mathrm{i}\eta )\right]^1.`$ (14)
In the infinite $`U`$ limit, the double occupation state is forbidden, and $`G_2`$ may be neglected.

Once this system of six equations is solved, it is possible to express all the physical quantities in terms of the ionic resolvents. In particular the retarded local Green function may be evaluated by analytic continuation from the corresponding imaginary time propagator, which may be written as

$`G(\mathrm{i}\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z}}{\displaystyle _C}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}z}{2\pi \mathrm{i}}}\text{e}^{z/k_BT}\times `$ (16)
$`\left[G_0(z)G_1(z+\mathrm{i}\omega )+G_1(z)G_2(z+\mathrm{i}\omega )\right],`$
where $`Z`$ is the QD partition function, i.e.

$$Z=_C\frac{\mathrm{d}z}{2\pi \mathrm{i}}\text{e}^{z/k_BT}\left[G_0(z)+G_1(z)+G_2(z)\right]$$
(17)
Finally, the local density of states of the QD can be obtained from the retarded local Green function through Eq. (6).

The NCA and the UNCA break down below a temperature $`T^{}`$, which in the Kondo regime is much smaller than $`T_K`$. Below this temperature spurious features show up, e.g., in the local density of states. It is known that the exact results are recovered with the inclusion of vertex corrections, within a set of integral equations which are numerically heavier than Eqs. (8-14). This is, however, beyond the purpose of the present paper. Here we will use the UNCA without vertex diagrams. We will see that, nevertheless, we can reproduce fairly well both the high and low temperature regimes, and that (above $`T^{}`$) the local DOS calculated with the UNCA is in good agreement with the exact numerical renormalization group (NRG) results.

## III Numerical results

We solve the self-consistent UNCA equations, and calculate the local DOS, by using the fast Fourier transforms technique. From $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ we then obtain the Landauer conductance and the number of electrons as a function of the temperature and of the position of the QD level, $`\epsilon _0`$, proportional to $`V_g`$.

### A Local density of states

The local density of states is shown in Fig. 1 as a function of the energy. The ratio $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }2.85>1`$, and thus the model describes the system in the Kondo regime. For simplicity, we show the results for the particle-hole symmetric Anderson model ($`U=2\epsilon _0`$). The Kondo temperature may be estimated from Haldane formula,

$$k_BT_K(U\mathrm{\Gamma }/2)^{1/2}\text{exp}\left[\pi \epsilon _0(\epsilon _0+U)/(2U\mathrm{\Gamma })\right],$$
(18)
and in the present case we find $`k_BT_K0.06`$ meV.

In the high temperature limit ($`TT_K`$, Fig. 1a), the local density of states shows two broad resonances. The first one is located at energy $`\epsilon =E(n=1)E(n=0)\epsilon _0`$, the energy required to put the first electron in the QD. The second resonance appears at $`\epsilon =E(n=2)E(n=1)\epsilon _0+U`$, the energy required to add an additional electron. The shape of the resonance peaks is Lorentzian. The origin of the peak broadening is mainly the coupling QD-leads measured by the width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, although a small thermal contribution is present since $`k_BT\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

As the temperature decreases, a peak – which is the fingerprint of the Kondo effect – appears close to the Fermi level. The height of the peak increases on decreasing the temperature. Figure 1 shows that for $`TT_K`$ the height of the Kondo peak tends to a maximum value, i.e. $`\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }\rho (\epsilon _F=0)1`$, which is reached exactly only at $`T=0`$. At $`k_BT=2.6\times 10^4`$ meV ($`T/T_K0.01`$, Fig. 1d) we find $`\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }\rho (0)0.98`$.

The evolution of $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ as a function of temperature is in fairly good agreement with the NRG results. In the very large $`U`$ limit we find results consistent with those obtained by using the NCA method with infinite $`U`$.

### B Linear-response conductance

The linear response conductance G and the average number of electrons $`n`$ are shown in Fig. 2 as a function of $`\epsilon _0`$. For $`\epsilon _0<U/2`$, when the number of electrons in the dot is $`n1`$, there are three relevant regimes of interest: the Kondo (K) regime $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<\epsilon _0<U/2`$, the mixed valence (MV) regime $`|\epsilon _0|<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and the empty orbital (EO) regime $`\epsilon _0<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. In the opposite case $`\epsilon _0>U/2`$, when the number of electrons in the QD is $`n1`$, it is convenient to discuss the various regimes in terms of holes; thus the Kondo regime exists for $`U/2<\epsilon _0<U\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the mixed valence regime for $`|\epsilon _0U|<\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and the empty orbital regime with $`n2`$ occurs for $`\epsilon _0>U+\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. These regimes are schematically indicated in Fig. 2b.

In the Kondo regime, we can extimate the Kondo temperature from Haldane formula, Eq. (18). We find $`k_BT_K10^510^2`$ meV for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.094`$ (Fig. 2a) and $`k_BT_K0.0620.161`$ meV for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.35`$ (Fig. 2b).

Figure 2a shows the results obtained for $`k_BT0.5\mathrm{\Gamma }k_BT_K`$. In this limit it was shown that the conductance has narrow peaks every time the average number of electrons in the QD increases by one. The peaks are separated by valleys in which the conductance is almost zero. This behavior (which is due to the Coulomb blockade) is well reproduced in Fig. 2a. The peaks reach about

$`e^2/h`$, as expected from Coulomb blockade theory in the limit $`k_BT\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and have a width of about $`2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. This broadening is due to tunneling, while the thermal broadening is negligible. The line shape is almost Lorentzian. If the temperature is raised so much that $`k_BT\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the height of the peaks becomes much smaller than $`e^2/h`$ and their width is controlled by thermal broadening only.

Figure 2b shows G and $`n`$ for $`TT_K`$. In this regime, experiments  show that the valleys tend to raise when the number of electrons in the QD is odd, and remain almost unchanged when the number of electrons in the QD is even. In the very low temperature limit, the valleys with an odd number of electrons evolve into a plateau at $`\mathrm{G}2e^2/h`$. This behavior is the manifestation of the Kondo effect in the mesoscopic transport properties of the QD+leads system. Figure 2b shows that when $`n1`$ the conductance calculated with the UNCA tends to $`\mathrm{G}=2e^2/h`$, while a valley appears for $`n0`$ and $`n2`$. Thus the Kondo regime is well described by the adopted method. The average number of electrons in Fig. 2b has a regular increase and does not have well defined plateaux as in Fig. 2a, due to the larger value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

Thus we have shown that the UNCA can describe well

both the Coulomb blockade and the Kondo effect. The results can be compared with the exact NRG calculations. Agreement is very good in the Kondo regime, down to $`T0.01T_K`$. In the mixed valence and empty orbital regimes the agreement decreases. At low temperature the UNCA breaks down and a spurious peak appears in the local DOS, close to the Fermi level, as discussed for the usual NCA in Ref. . Within the parameters and the temperature chosen in Fig. 2b, this happens approximately for $`\epsilon _0<0.5`$ meV and $`\epsilon _0>1.5`$ meV. In this region the conductance calculated with the UNCA is much larger than the exact NRG result. Therefore from now on we will plot the conductance only for the values of $`T`$ and $`\epsilon _0`$ for which the UNCA is reliable.

The linear-response conductance is shown in Fig. 3 as a function of $`\epsilon _0`$ and for several different temperatures. The results are shown for two different choices of the tunneling width: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.35`$ meV (Fig. 3a) and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.275`$ meV (Fig. 3b). In the Kondo regime, we estimate the Kondo temperature by using Haldane formula, and find $`k_BT_K0.0620.161`$ meV for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.35`$ meV and $`k_BT_K0.0300.134`$ meV for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.275`$ meV.

Figure 3a shows that at high temperature ($`k_BT>\mathrm{\Gamma }k_BT_K`$) there are two Coulomb blockade peaks at energy $`\epsilon _00`$ and $`\epsilon _0U`$, the maximum value of the conductance being $`\mathrm{G}0.5e^2/h`$. As the temperature decreases, the Coulomb blockade peaks become closer to each other, and ideally merge into a plateau at $`T=0`$. This is due to the fact that the energy $`\epsilon _0`$ itself is renormalized by the many body effects, through the real part of the self energy. At very low temperature we see that $`\mathrm{G}2e^2/h`$ (with maximum deviation of $`10\%`$) in the region in which the number of electrons is odd $`(n1)`$.

The same behavior is shown in Fig. 3b. Here we choose a smaller value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, so that the Kondo temperature is smaller. At high temperature we see again the two Coulomb blockade peaks, located at $`\epsilon _00`$ and $`\epsilon _0U`$. At very low temperature the peaks approach each other and tend to the maximum value $`2e^2/h`$. However in this case the deviation from the limiting value is larger (about $`25\%`$). This is due to the fact that, because of the smaller $`T_K`$, down at $`T0.01T_K`$ (about the lowest temperature that can be reached before the UNCA breaks down) we have $`\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }\rho (0)0.75`$ instead of $`\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }\rho (0)=1`$. Nevertheless, Fig. 3b reproduces the theoretical NRG calculations in the Kondo regime at several different temperatures, see e.g. Fig. 3 in Ref. , Fig. 2 in Ref. , and Fig. 2a of Ref. . In addition, at high temperature Fig. 3b provides very good results in the whole range of $`\epsilon _0`$.

It is worth to remind that when $`k_BT>\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the peak broadening is mainly due to thermal effects. Thus, when we start from the high temperature regime and lower the temperature, at first the peak width decreases. This effect is shown in Fig. 3b. On the contrary, when $`k_BT\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the broadening is about $`2\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, in agreement with experimental results. If the Kondo temperature is negligibly small, lowering the temperature below $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/k_B`$ does not produce any further change in the peak width. However, if the Kondo temperature is finite, as soon as $`k_BTk_BT_K\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the two peaks tend to become broader, and merge in a single large peak at zero temperature. This effect is shown in Fig. 3.

The UNCA results in Fig. 3 can be directly compared to the experimental measurements of the linear conductance vs the gate voltage. The curves in Fig. 3 reproduce very well the experiments described in Refs. , in which the measurement of the Kondo effect in the equilibrium conductance of a QD+leads system is reported. Agreement is satisfactory for the temperature dependence and the broadening of the peaks, and it covers the whole range of electron occupancy $`0n2`$.

## IV Scaling behavior

In diluted magnetic alloys, the low temperature ($`TT_K`$) resistivity, $`\rho (T)`$, follows a universal scaling law, i.e. $`\rho /\rho _0=F(T/T_K)`$, where $`\rho _0\rho (T=0)`$ and $`F(x)`$ is a function independent on system-related parameters. This happens because at low temperature and in the Kondo regime there is only one relevant energy scale, $`k_BT_K`$. Similar scaling properties have been reported for the low temperature conductance of QD devices, and carbon nanotubes. For a QD device described by the spin-1/2 Anderson model the universal function $`\mathrm{G}/\mathrm{G}_0`$ was recently calculated by using the NRG.  Here we calculate the same function by using the UNCA, and compare our results with the NRG calculations and experimental data.

### A Universal curves

The conductance calculated with the UNCA is shown in in Fig. 4 as a function of $`T/T_K`$. The different set of points correspond to different choices of $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the Kondo regime ($`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.6`$ corresponds to the particle-hole symmetric point, that is $`\epsilon _0=U/2=1`$ meV in Fig. 3b). The conductance is normalized to G$`{}_{0}{}^{}`$G$`(T_0,V_g)`$, where $`T_0`$ is the lowest temperature which can be reached before the UNCA breaks down. In order to achieve a universal behavior we define the Kondo temperature such that G$`(T_K)=\mathrm{G}_0/2`$, as often done. The relative deviation from ideal result in the Kondo region for $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, that is $`\delta =(\text{G}_02e^2/h)/(2e^2/h)`$, depends on the choice of the parameters (we find $`2\%<|\delta |<25\%`$). Figure 4 shows that the conductance follows the universal behavior in a fairly large range of temperatures. Departures from this universality are observed only for $`TT_K`$, as

expected. We point out that at very low temperature ($`T/T_K1`$) the universal curve has the expected Fermi liquid behavior, i.e. $`(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{G}_0)/\mathrm{G}_0T^2`$, while at higher temperature ($`T/T_K1`$) the conductance is proportional to $`\text{ln }(T/T_K)`$.

The universal curve of the conductance calculated with the UNCA is similar to NRG results for the ordinary Kondo problem (see e.g. Fig. 4 of Ref.  or Fig. 12 of Ref. ) and to NRG results for the conductance in QD devices (see Figs. 4 and 7a of Ref. ).

### B Comparison with experiments

The universal curve calculated here can be directly compared with existing measurements of the conductance. In this section we will compare in particular with the experimental data taken from Ref. . In Fig. 5 we show G$`/\mathrm{G}_0`$ vs $`T/T_K`$, and plot both the experimental points and our UNCA curve. In Ref.  the experimental data were normalized to $`\mathrm{G}_0`$, the value of the conductance at the lowest temperature for which a measurement exists, and the Kondo temperature was defined as the temperature such that G$`(T_K)=\mathrm{G}_0/2`$.

We found the best agreements between UNCA and experiments for the choice $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.27`$. Figure 5 shows that the crossover from the logarithmic behavior to the low temperature Fermi liquid regime is reproduced fairly well by the conductance calculated by using the UNCA.

### C Interpolation formula

In order to extract the Kondo temperature from experimental data, it has become very common to fit the data with the empirical formula

$$\mathrm{G}(T)=\mathrm{G}_0\left(\frac{T_K^{}^2}{T^2+T_K^{}^2}\right)^s$$
(19)
where $`T_K^{}=T_K/\sqrt{2^{1/s}1}`$ and G$`(T_K)=\mathrm{G}_0/2`$. This formula reproduces well NRG results for $`T<T_K`$ and has a single fitting parameter, $`s`$. However, in the intermediate temperatures regime ($`TT_K`$) the exact conductance is proportional to ln$`(T/T_K)`$, as NRG calculations show, and this behavior is not explicitly accounted for in formula (19). Here we propose an alternative phenomenological formula, which (a) is still quite simple, (b) reproduces fairly well the calculated conductance in the whole temperature regime and (c) shows explicitly the logarithmic behavior in the intermediate temperature regime. Our formula has two fitting parameters instead of one.

We notice that at very low temperature, in the Fermi liquid regime ($`TT_K`$), the conductance should show the Fermi liquid $`T^2`$ behavior,

$$\mathrm{G}=\mathrm{G}_0\left(1\alpha \frac{T^2}{T_K^2}\right),$$
(20)
where $`\alpha `$ is a parameter. Instead, at higher temperatures ($`TT_K`$) a logarithmic behavior is expected

$$\mathrm{G}\mathrm{G}_0\mathrm{ln}(T/T_K).$$
(21)
A function that satisfies both requirements is the following

$$\frac{\mathrm{G}}{\mathrm{G}_0}=\left(1+a\mathrm{ln}\left[1+b\left(\frac{T}{T_K}\right)^2+c\left(\frac{T}{T_K}\right)^4\right]\right)^1,$$
(22)
where $`a`$, $`b`$, and $`c`$ are dimensionless parameters to be determined with best fit techniques. By defining $`T_K`$ as the temperature such that G$`(T_K)=\mathrm{G}_0/2`$, we find $`a=1/\mathrm{ln}(1+b+c)`$. Thus there are only two fitting parameters in our formula.

In Fig. 6 we show the results of a fit for the choice $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }=3.6`$. The empirical formula reproduces extremely well the UNCA results for the values $`b=43.4`$, $`c=10.25`$. These parameters slightly depend, of course, on the choice of $`\epsilon _0/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and of the other UNCA parameters. Thus Eq. (22) reproduces the correct behavior, and it is physically correct both in the $`TT_K`$ and $`TT_K`$ regime. We notice that the fourth order term is required to reproduce the behavior of the conductance in the intermediate temperature regime, while the $`T^2`$ term is required to reproduce the low temperature Fermi liquid behavior.

## V Conclusion

In the present work we have calculated the conductance of a system made of a quantum dot coupled to two leads, described by the spin-1/2 Anderson model. We adopted the finite-$`U`$ non-crossing approximation method (UNCA), which allowed us to calculate the conductance for the Anderson model with finite Coulomb repulsion. Thus we were able to study the conductance as a function of temperature and gate voltage. We have shown that the results obtained with this method are in good agreement with those obtained by using the exact numerical renormalization group (NRG). In addition we reproduced both the Coulomb blockade and the Kondo effect in quantum dots. Inclusion of a finite Coulomb correlation is important in order to describe correctly the experimental results in the whole regime of electron occupancies. The comparison with experimental data of Ref.  is fairly good, for what concerns both temperature and gate voltage dependence. Finally we have suggested a simple phenomenological formula which fits UNCA results both in the logarithmic and in the Fermi-liquid temperature regions, reproducing very well also the crossover between them.

Although the spin-1/2 Anderson model can be solved by using the exact NRG, we believe that the UNCA is more suitable than NRG for extension to realistic systems, e.g. for taking into account the effects of the electronic structure of the dots, and thus we point out that the UNCA method can become an important tool to interpret the experiments. Possible applications are, for example, in the explanation of the Kondo effect in quantum dots for integer spin and the Kondo effect in carbon nanotubes.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank S. De Franceschi for helpful discussions and for a critical reading of the manuscript, and J. Schmalian for useful correspondence concerning his UNCA code. The numerical calculations were partly performed at the Computing Center of Collegio Borromeo in Pavia, whose support is gratefully acknowledged.