Superconductivity in Ce- and U-based "122" heavy-fermion compounds

This review discusses the heavy-fermion superconductivity in Ce- and U-based compounds crystallizing in the body-centered tetragonal ThCr2Si2 structure. Special attention will be paid to the theoretical background of these systems which are located close to a magnetic instability.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures. Invited topical review (special issue on "Recent Developments in Superconductivity") Metadata and references update

Kondo effect in coupled quantum dots: a Non-crossing approximation study

The out-of-equilibrium transport properties of a double quantum dot system in the Kondo regime are studied theoretically by means of a two-impurity Anderson Hamiltonian with inter-impurity hopping. The Hamiltonian, formulated in slave-boson language, is solved by means of a generalization of the non-crossing approximation (NCA) to the present problem. We provide benchmark calculations of the predictions of the NCA for the linear and nonlinear transport properties of coupled quantum dots in the Kondo regime. We give a series of predictions that can be observed experimentally in linear and nonlinear transport measurements through coupled quantum dots. Importantly, it is demonstrated that measurements of the differential conductance ${\cal G}=dI/dV$, for the appropriate values of voltages and inter-dot tunneling couplings, can give a direct observation of the coherent superposition between the many-body Kondo states of each dot. This coherence can be also detected in the linear transport through the system: the curve linear conductance vs temperature is non-monotonic, with a maximum at a temperature $T^*$ characterizing quantum coherence between both Kondo states.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figure

Two-Particle-Self-Consistent Approach for the Hubbard Model

Even at weak to intermediate coupling, the Hubbard model poses a formidable challenge. In two dimensions in particular, standard methods such as the Random Phase Approximation are no longer valid since they predict a finite temperature antiferromagnetic phase transition prohibited by the Mermin-Wagner theorem. The Two-Particle-Self-Consistent (TPSC) approach satisfies that theorem as well as particle conservation, the Pauli principle, the local moment and local charge sum rules. The self-energy formula does not assume a Migdal theorem. There is consistency between one- and two-particle quantities. Internal accuracy checks allow one to test the limits of validity of TPSC. Here I present a pedagogical review of TPSC along with a short summary of existing results and two case studies: a) the opening of a pseudogap in two dimensions when the correlation length is larger than the thermal de Broglie wavelength, and b) the conditions for the appearance of d-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional Hubbard model.Comment: Chapter in "Theoretical methods for Strongly Correlated Systems", Edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer Verlag, (2011) 55 pages. Misprint in Eq.(23) corrected (thanks D. Bergeron

Neutron Scattering Studies of spin excitations in hole-doped Ba0.67K0.33Fe2As2 superconductor

We report inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals of superconducting Ba0.67K0.33Fe2As2 (Tc = 38 K). In addition to confirming the resonance previously found in powder samples, we find that spin excitations in the normal state form longitudinally elongated ellipses along the QAFM direction in momentum space, consistent with density functional theory predictions. On cooling below Tc, while the resonance preserves its momentum anisotropy as expected, spin excitations at energies below the resonance become essentially isotropic in the in-plane momentum space and dramatically increase their correlation length. These results suggest that the superconducting gap structures in Ba0.67Ka0.33Fe2As2 are more complicated than those suggested from angle resolved photoemission experiments

Electrodynamics of Correlated Electron Materials

We review studies of the electromagnetic response of various classes of correlated electron materials including transition metal oxides, organic and molecular conductors, intermetallic compounds with $d$- and $f$-electrons as well as magnetic semiconductors. Optical inquiry into correlations in all these diverse systems is enabled by experimental access to the fundamental characteristics of an ensemble of electrons including their self-energy and kinetic energy. Steady-state spectroscopy carried out over a broad range of frequencies from microwaves to UV light and fast optics time-resolved techniques provide complimentary prospectives on correlations. Because the theoretical understanding of strong correlations is still evolving, the review is focused on the analysis of the universal trends that are emerging out of a large body of experimental data augmented where possible with insights from numerical studies.Comment: 78 pages, 55 figures, 984 reference

Factors associated with flea infestation among the different rodent species in Mbulu and Karatu districts, northern Tanzania

Flea infection with the bacterium, Yersinia pestis is acquired from reservoirs which include several rodents and other small mammals.  In areas that are endemic of plague, reservoirs of Y. pestis and various flea vectors are responsible for perpetuating existence of the disease.  The objective of this cross sectional study was to investigate the magnitude and factors associated with flea infestation among different rodent species of northern Tanzania, where outbreaks of plague have been recently reported. House rodents were trapped with box traps, while field and forest rodents were trapped with Sherman live traps. Fleas were removed from the rodents by using shoe-shining brush and were identified to genus level. Among the captured rodents, Rattus rattus (26.5%), Lophuromys flavopunctatus (16.5%), Praomys delectorum (16.2%) and Mastomys natalensis (32.3%) were most abundant rodent species, accounting for 91% of all species. Altogether, 805 fleas belonging to nine species were collected from 61% of the captured rodents. The most common fleas were Xenopsylla spp.; Dinopsyllus spp and Ctenophthalmus spp. Fleas were found to be highly abundant in M. natalensis, R. rattus, P. delectorum and L. flavopunctatus. Most of rodents were heavily infested with various flea species. These flea species probably play an important role in the transmission of plague in these two districts. We conclude that rodent species was the most important risk factor associating with flea infestation among the rodent population. Therefore, measures for control and prevention of plague in this area should particularly target rodents associated with high intensity of flea infestation