39 research outputs found
Valence fluctuation mediated superconductivity in CeCu2Si2
It has been proposed that there are two types of superconductivity in
CeCu2Si2, mediated by spin fluctuations at ambient pressure, and by critical
valence fluctuations around a charge instability at a pressure P_v \simeq 4.5
GPa. We present in detail some of the unusual features of this novel type of
superconducting state, including the coexistence of superconductivity and huge
residual resistivity of the order of the Ioffe-Regel limit, large and pressure
dependent resistive transition widths in a single crystal measured under
hydrostatic conditions, asymmetric pressure dependence of the specific heat
jump shape, unrelated to the resistivity width, and negative temperature
dependence of the normal state resistivity below 10 K at very high pressure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Proceedings SCES '0
Magnetocrystalline anisotropy in RAu_{2}Ge_{2} (R = La, Ce and Pr) single crystals
Anisotropic magnetic properties of single crystalline RAu_{2}Ge_{2} (R = La,
Ce and Pr) compounds are reported. LaAu_{2}Ge_{2} exhibit a Pauli-paramagnetic
behavior whereas CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} and PrAu_{2}Ge_{2} show an antiferromagnetic
ordering with N\grave{e}el temperatures T_{N} = 13.5 and 9 K, respectively. The
anisotropic magnetic response of Ce and Pr compounds establishes [001] as the
easy axis of magnetization and a sharp spin-flip type metamagnetic transition
is observed in the magnetic isotherms. The resistance and magnetoresistance
behavior of these compounds, in particular LaAu_{2}Ge_{2}, indicate an
anisotropic Fermi surface. The magnetoresistivity of CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} apparently
reveals the presence of a residual Kondo interaction. A crystal electric field
analysis of the anisotropic susceptibility in conjunction with the
experimentally inferred Schottky heat capacity enables us to propose a crystal
electric field level scheme for Ce and Pr compounds. For CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} our
values are in excellent agreement with the previous reports on neutron
diffraction. The heat capacity data in LaAu_{2}Ge_{2} show clearly the
existence of Einstein contribution to the heat capacity.Comment: Submitted to PRB 11 Pages 13 Figure
Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of CeMg2Cu9 under Pressure
We report the transport and thermodynamic properties under hydrostatic
pressure in the antiferromagnetic Kondo compound CeMg2Cu9 with a
two-dimensional arrangement of Ce atoms. Magnetic specific heat Cmag(T) shows a
Schottky-type anomaly around 30 K originating from the crystal electric field
(CEF) splitting of the 4f state with the first excited level at \Delta_{1}/kB =
58 K and the second excited level at \Delta_{2}/kB = 136 K from the ground
state.
Electric resistivity shows a two-peaks structure due to the Kondo effect on
each CEF level around T_{1}^{max} = 3 K and T_{2}^{max} = 40 K. These peaks
merge around 1.9 GPa with compression. With increasing pressure, Neel
temperature TN initially increases and then change to decrease. TN finally
disappears at the quantum critical point Pc = 2.4 GPa.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Signatures of valence fluctuations in CeCu2Si2 under high pressure
Simultaneous resistivity and a.c.-specific heat measurements have been
performed under pressure on single crystalline CeCu2Si2 to over 6 GPa in a
hydrostatic helium pressure medium. A series of anomalies were observed around
the pressure coinciding with a maximum in the superconducting critical
temperature, . These anomalies can be linked with an abrupt change
of the Ce valence, and suggest a second quantum critical point at a pressure
GPa, where critical valence fluctuations provide the
superconducting pairing mechanism, as opposed to spin fluctuations at ambient
pressure. Such a valence instability, and associated superconductivity, is
predicted by an extended Anderson lattice model with Coulomb repulsion between
the conduction and f-electrons. We explain the T-linear resistivity found at
in this picture, while other anomalies found around can be
qualitatively understood using the same model.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Crystalline-Electric-Field Effect on the Resistivity of Ce-based Heavy Fermion Systems
The behavior of the resistivity of Ce-based heavy fermion systems is studied
using a 1/-expansion method a la Nagoya, where is the spin-orbital
degeneracy of f-electrons. The 1/-expansion is performed in terms of the
auxiliary particles, and a strict requirement of the local constraints is
fulfilled for each order of 1/N. The physical quantities can be calculated over
the entire temperature range by solving the coupled Dyson equations for the
Green functions self-consistently at each temperature. This 1/N-expansion
method is known to provide asymptotically exact results for the behavior of
physical quantities in both low- and high-energy regions when it is applied to
a single orbital periodic Anderson model (PAM). On the basis of a generalized
PAM including crystalline-electric-field splitting with a single conduction
band, the pressure dependence of the resistivity is calculated by
parameterizing the effect of pressure as the variation of the hybridization
parameter between the conduction electrons and f-electrons. The main result of
the present study is that the double-peak structure of the -dependence of
the resistivity is shown to merge into a single-peak structure with increasing
pressure.Comment: 37 pages, 22 figure
Effect of band filling in the Kondo lattice: A mean-field approach
The usual Kondo-lattice, including an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction
between nearest-neighboring localized spins, is treated here in a mean-field
scheme that introduces two mean-field parameters: one associated with the local
Kondo effect, and the other related to the magnetic correlations between
localized spins. Phases with short-range magnetic correlations or coexistence
between those and the Kondo effect are obtained. By varying the number of
electrons in the conduction band, we notice that the Kondo effect tends to be
suppressed away from half filling, while magnetic correlations can survive if
the Heisenberg coupling is strong enough. An enhanced linear coefficient of the
specific heat is obtained at low temperatures in the metallic state.Comment: 7 pages, ReVTeX two-column, 7 figure
Meta-orbital Transition in Heavy-fermion Systems: Analysis by Dynamical Mean Field Theory and Self-consistent Renormalization Theory of Orbital Fluctuations
We investigate a two-orbital Anderson lattice model with Ising orbital
intersite exchange interactions by means of dynamical mean field theory
combined with the static mean field approximation of the intersite orbital
interactions. Focusing on Ce-based heavy-fermion compounds, we examine the
orbital crossover between the two orbital states, when the total f-electron
number per site n_f is n_f ~ 1. We show that a "meta-orbital" transition, at
which the occupancy of the two orbitals changes steeply, occurs when the
hybridization between the ground-state f-electron orbital and conduction
electrons are smaller than that between the excited f-electron orbital and
conduction electrons. Near the meta-orbital critical end point, the orbital
fluctuations are enhanced, and couple with the charge fluctuations. A critical
theory of the meta-orbital fluctuations is also developed by applying the
self-consistent renormalization theory of itinerant electron magnetism to the
orbital fluctuations. The critical end point, first-order transition and
crossover are described within Gaussian approximations of orbital fluctuations.
We discuss the relevance of our results to CeAl2, CeCu2Si2, CeCu2Ge2 and the
related compounds, which all have low-lying crystalline-electric-field excited
states.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 79, (2010) 11471
Fermi-liquid instabilities at magnetic quantum phase transitions
This review discusses instabilities of the Fermi-liquid state of conduction
electrons in metals with particular emphasis on magnetic quantum critical
points. Both the existing theoretical concepts and experimental data on
selected materials are presented; with the aim of assessing the validity of
presently available theory. After briefly recalling the fundamentals of
Fermi-liquid theory, the local Fermi-liquid state in quantum impurity models
and their lattice versions is described. Next, the scaling concepts applicable
to quantum phase transitions are presented. The Hertz-Millis-Moriya theory of
quantum phase transitions is described in detail. The breakdown of the latter
is analyzed in several examples. In the final part experimental data on
heavy-fermion materials and transition-metal alloys are reviewed and confronted
with existing theory.Comment: 62 pages, 29 figs, review article for Rev. Mod. Phys; (v2) discussion
extended, refs added; (v3) shortened; final version as publishe
Mass Enhancement in an Intermediate-Valent Regime of Heavy-Fermion Systems
We study the mechanism of the mass enhancement in an intermediate-valent
regime of heavy-fermion materials. We find that the crossovers between the
Kondo, intermediate valent, and almost empty f-electron regimes become sharp
with the Coulomb interaction between the conduction and f electrons. In the
intermediate-valent regime, we find a substantial mass enhancement, which is
not expected in previous theories. Our theory may be relevant to the observed
nonmonotonic variation in the effective mass under pressure in CeCu2Si2 and the
mass enhancement in the intermediate-valent compounds alpha-YbAlB4 and
beta-YbAlB4.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure