  Nanoscale systems of metal atoms antiferromagnetically exchange coupled to
several magnetic impurities are shown to exhibit an unconventional re-entrant
competition between Kondo screening and indirect magnetic exchange interaction.
Depending on the atomic positions of the magnetic moments, the total
ground-state spin deviates from predictions of standard
Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida perturbation theory. The effect shows up on an
energy scale larger than the level width induced by the coupling to the
environment and is experimentally verifiable by studying magnetic field
dependencies.
