Validity of the local self-energy approximation: Application to coupled quantum impurities

We examine the quality of the local self-energy approximation, applied here to models of multiple quantum impurities coupled to an electronic bath. The local self-energy is obtained by solving a single-impurity Anderson model in an effective medium that is determined self-consistently, similar to the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) for correlated lattice systems. By comparing to exact results obtained by using the numerical renormalization group, we determine situations where “impurity-DMFT” is able to capture the physics of highly inhomogeneous systems and those cases where it fails. For two magnetic impurities separated in real space, the onset of the dilute limit is captured, but RKKY-dominated interimpurity singlet formation cannot be described. For parallel quantum dot devices, impurity-DMFT succeeds in capturing the underscreened Kondo physics by self-consistent generation of a critical pseudogapped effective medium. However, the quantum phase transition between high- and low-spin states upon tuning interdot coupling cannot be described.