Underscreened Kondo Necklace

It has been suggested recently by Gan, Coleman, and Andrei that studying the underscreened Kondo problem may help to understand the nature of magnetism in heavy fermion systems. Motivated by Doniach's work on the S=1/2 Kondo necklace, we introduce the underscreened Kondo necklace models with S>1/2. The underscreened Kondo necklace is the simplest lattice model on which the competition between Kondo spin compensation, and magnetic ordering due to an RKKY-type interaction can be examined. We used the mean-field approximation to determine the phase diagram, and found that the low-temperature phase is always an x-y antiferromagnet. This contention is further supported by the derivation of the exact form of the effective hamiltonian in the limit of very large Kondo coupling: it is found to be an antiferromagnetic x-y model for the residual (S-1/2)-spins. In general, the degree of moment compensation depends on both the Kondo coupling, and on S.Comment: 15 pages (2 figures upon request from [email protected]), LATEX, to appear in Modern Physics Letters

Fermi pockets and quantum oscillations of the Hall coefficient in high temperature superconductors

Recent quantum oscillation measurements in high temperature superconductors in high magnetic fields and low temperatures have ushered in a new era. These experiments explore the normal state from which superconductivity arises and provide evidence of a reconstructed Fermi surface consisting of electron and hole pockets in a regime in which such a possibility was previously considered to be remote. More specifically, the Hall coefficient has been found to oscillate according to the Onsager quantization condition, involving only fundamental constants and the areas of the pockets, but with a sign that is negative. Here we explain the observations with the theory that the alleged normal state exhibits a hidden order, the $d$-density wave, which breaks symmetries signifying time reversal, translation by a lattice spacing, and a rotation by an angle $\pi/2$, while the product of any two symmetry operations is preserved. The success of our analysis underscores the importance of spontaneous breaking of symmetries, Fermi surface reconstruction, and conventional quasiparticles. We primarily focus on the version of the order that is commensurate with the underlying crystalline lattice, but also touch upon the consequences if the order were to incommensurate. It is shown that while commensurate order results in two independent oscillation frequencies as a function of the inverse of the applied magnetic field, incommensurate order leads to three independent frequencies. The oscillation amplitudes, however, are determined by the mobilities of the charge carriers comprising the Fermi pockets.Comment: Final version with a correction of a minor typo; 6 pages, 2 figure