70 research outputs found
Specific heat of heavy fermion CePd2Si2 in high magnetic fields
We report specific heat measurements on the heavy fermion compound CePd2Si2
in magnetic fields up to 16 T and in the temperature range 1.4-16 K. A sharp
peak in the specific heat signals the antiferromagnetic transition at T_N ~ 9.3
K in zero field. The transition is found to shift to lower temperatures when a
magnetic field is applied along the crystallographic a-axis, while a field
applied parallel to the tetragonal c-axis does not affect the transition. The
magnetic contribution to the specific heat below T_N is well described by a sum
of a linear electronic term and an antiferromagnetic spin wave contribution.
Just below T_N, an additional positive curvature, especially at high fields,
arises most probably due to thermal fluctuations. The field dependence of the
coefficient of the low temperature linear term, gamma_0, extracted from the
fits shows a maximum at about 6 T, at the point where an anomaly was detected
in susceptibility measurements. The relative field dependence of both T_N and
the magnetic entropy at T_N scales as [1-(B/B_0)^2] for B // a, suggesting the
disappearance of antiferromagnetism at B_0 ~ 42 T. The expected suppression of
the antiferromagnetic transition temperature to zero makes the existence of a
magnetic quantum critical point possible.Comment: to be published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte
Non-Fermi-Liquid Scaling in Ce(Ru_{0.5}Rh_{0.5})_2Si_2
We study the temperature and field dependence of the magnetic and transport
properties of the non-Fermi-liquid compound Ce(Ru_{1-x}Rh_x)_2Si_2 at x=0.5.
For fields 0.1T the experimental results show signatures of the
presence of Kondo-disorder, expected to be large at this concentration. For
larger fields, however, magnetic and transport properties are controlled by the
coupling of the conduction electrons to critical spin-fluctuations. The
temperature dependence of the susceptibility as well as the scaling properties
of the magnetoresistance are in very good agreement with the predictions of
recent dynamical mean-field theories of Kondo alloys close to a spin-glass
quantum critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Improved discussion. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Resistivity, Hall effect and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in CeNiSn
The resistivity and Hall effect in CeNiSn are measured at temperatures down
to 35 mK and in magnetic fields up to 20 T with the current applied along the
{\it b} axis. The resistivity at zero field exhibits quadratic temperature
dependence below 0.16 K with a huge coefficient of the term (54
cm/K). The resistivity as a function of field shows an
anomalous maximum and dip, the positions of which vary with field directions.
Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations with a frequency {\it F} of 100 T
are observed for a wide range of field directions in the {\it ac} and {\it bc}
planes, and the quasiparticle mass is determined to be 10-20 {\it m}.
The carrier density is estimated to be electron/Ce. In a narrow
range of field directions in the {\it ac} plane, where the
magnetoresistance-dip anomaly manifests itself clearer than in other field
directions, a higher-frequency () SdH oscillation is
found at high fields above the anomaly. This observation is discussed in terms
of possible field-induced changes in the electronic structure.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (15 Sept. 2002 issue
First-Principles Dynamical Coherent-Potential Approximation Approach to the Ferromagnetism of Fe, Co, and Ni
Magnetic properties of Fe, Co, and Ni at finite temperatures have been
investigated on the basis of the first-principles dynamical CPA (Coherent
Potential Approximation) combined with the LDA (Local Density Approximation) +
Hamiltonian in the Tight-Binding Linear Muffintin Orbital (TB-LMTO)
representation. The Hamiltonian includes the transverse spin fluctuation terms.
Numerical calculations have been performed within the harmonic approximation
with 4th-order dynamical corrections. Calculated single-particle densities of
states in the ferromagnetic state indicate that the dynamical effects reduce
the exchange splitting, suppress the band width of the quasi-particle state,
and causes incoherent excitations corresponding the 6 eV satellites. Results of
the magnetization vs temperature curves, paramagnetic spin susceptibilities,
and the amplitudes of local moments are presented. Calculated Curie
temperatures () are reported to be 1930K for Fe, 2550K for Co, and
620K for Ni; for Fe and Co are overestimated by a factor of 1.8,
while in Ni agrees with the experimental result. Effective Bohr
magneton numbers calculated from the inverse susceptibilities are 3.0 (Fe), 3.0 (Co), and 1.6 (Ni), being in
agreement with the experimental ones. Overestimate of in Fe and Co
is attributed to the neglects of the higher-order dynamical effects as well as
the magnetic short range order.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure
Spin Fluctuation Theory for Quantum Tricritical Point Arising in Proximity to First-Order Phase Transitions: Applications to Heavy-Fermion Systems, YbRh2Si2, CeRu2Si2, and beta-YbAlB4
We propose a phenomenological spin fluctuation theory for antiferromagnetic
quantum tricritical point (QTCP), where the first-order phase transition
changes into the continuous one at zero temperature. Under magnetic fields,
ferromagnetic quantum critical fluctuations develop around the
antiferromagnetic QTCP in addition to antiferromagnetic ones, which is in sharp
contrast with the conventional antiferromagnetic quantum critical point. For
itinerant electron systems,} we show that the temperature dependence of
critical magnetic fluctuations around the QTCP are given as chiQ \propto
T^{-3/2} (chi0\propto T^{-3/4}) at the antiferromagnetic ordering
(ferromagnetic) wave number q=Q (q=0). The convex temperature dependence of
chi0^{-1} is the characteristic feature of the QTCP, which is never seen in the
conventional spin fluctuation theory. We propose that the general theory of
quantum tricriticality that has nothing to do with the specific Kondo physics
itself, solves puzzles of quantum criticalities widely observed in
heavy-fermion systems such as YbRh2Si2, CeRu2Si2, and beta-YbAlB4. For
YbRh2Si2, our theory successfully reproduces quantitative behaviors of the
experimental ferromagnetic susceptibility and the magnetization curve by
choosing the phenomenological parameters properly. The quantum tricriticality
is also consistent with singularities of other physical properties such as
specific heat, nuclear magnetic relaxation time 1/T_1T, and Hall coefficient.
For CeRu2Si2 and beta-YbAlB4, we point out that the quantum tricriticality is a
possible origin of the anomalous diverging enhancement of the uniform
susceptibility observed in these materials.Comment: 17 pages, 10 fugures, to appear in Journal of the Physical Society of
Japan Vol.78 No.
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