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 …