Lieb-Schultz-Mattis constraints for the insulating phases of the one-dimensional SU(N) Kondo lattice model

The nature of the insulating phases of the SU(N)-generalization of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model is investigated by means of non-perturbative approaches. By extending the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) argument to multi-component fermion systems with translation and global SU(N) symmetries, we derive two indices which depend on the filling and the “SU(N)-spin” (representation) of the local moments. These indices strongly constrain possible insulating phases; for instance, when the local moments transform in the N-dimensional (defining) representation of SU(N), a featureless Kondo insulator is possible only at filling f= 1-1/N. To obtain further insight into the insulating phases suggested by the LSM argument, we derive low-energy effective theories by adding an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange interaction among the local moments [the SU(N) Kondo-Heisenberg model]. A conjectured global phase diagram of the SU(N) Kondo lattice model as a function of the filling and the Kondo coupling is then obtained by a combination of different analytical approaches.