Scaling theory of the Kondo screening cloud

A scaling form for the local susceptibility, derived from renormalization group arguments, is proposed. The scale over which the uniform part of this scaling form varies can be viewed as a definition of the Kondo "screening cloud" ∼ξK. The proposed scaling form interpolates between Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) results in the high-temperature limit T≫TK and Fermi liquid results in the low-temperature long-distance limit T≪TK, r≫ξK. The predicted form of the Knight shift is longer range at low temperatures, where the screening cloud has formed, than at high temperatures, where it has not. Using weak and strong coupling perturbation theory combined with large scale density matrix renormalization group results we study the validity of the finite size version of the scaling form at T=0. We explicitly extract a length scale proportional to the Kondo length scale ξK. The numerical results are in good agreement with the proposed scaling form and confirm the existence of the Kondo screening cloud.