Scaling behavior of temperature-dependent thermopower in CeAu2Si2 under pressure

We report a combined study of in-plane resistivity and thermopower of the pressure-induced heavy fermion superconductor CeAu2Si2 up to 27.8 GPa. It is found that thermopower follows a scaling behavior in T/T* almost up to the magnetic critical pressure pc ~ 22 GPa. By comparing with resistivity results, we show that the magnitude and characteristic temperature dependence of thermopower in this pressure range are governed by the Kondo coupling and crystal-field splitting, respectively. Below pc, the superconducting transition is preceded by a large negative thermopower minimum, suggesting a close relationship between the two phenomena. Furthermore, thermopower of a variety of Ce-based Kondo-lattices with different crystal structures follows the same scaling relation up to T/T* ~ 2.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary Material available on reques

Coincidence of magnetic and valence quantum critical points in CeRhIn5 under pressure

We present accurate electrical resistivity measurements along the two principle crystallographic axes of the pressure-induced heavy-fermion superconductor CeRhIn5 up to 5.63 GPa. For both directions, a valence crossover line is identified in the p-T plane and the extrapolation of this line to zero temperature coincides with the collapse of the magnetic ordering temperature. Furthermore, it is found that the p-T phase diagram of CeRhIn5 in the valence crossover region is very similar to that of CeCu2Si2. These results point to the essential role of Ce-4f electron delocalization in both destroying magnetic order and realizing superconductivity in CeRhIn5 under pressure.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, to appear in PR

Effect of disorder on the pressure-induced superconducting state of CeAu2Si2

CeAu2Si2 is a newly discovered pressure-induced heavy fermion superconductor which shows very unusual interplay between superconductivity and magnetism under pressure. Here we compare the results of high-pressure measurements on single crystalline CeAu2Si2 samples with different levels of disorder. It is found that while the magnetic properties are essentially sample independent, superconductivity is rapidly suppressed when the residual resistivity of the sample increases. We show that the depression of bulk Tc can be well understood in terms of pair breaking by nonmagnetic disorder, which strongly suggests an unconventional pairing state in pressurized CeAu2Si2. Furthermore, increasing the level of disorder leads to the emergence of another phase transition at T* within the magnetic phase, which might be in competition with superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

The Dominant Role of Critical Valence Fluctuations on High TcT_{\rm c} Superconductivity in Heavy Fermions

Despite almost 40 years of research, the origin of heavy-fermion superconductivity is still strongly debated. Especially, the pressure-induced enhancement of superconductivity in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ away from the magnetic breakdown is not sufficiently taken into consideration. As recently reported in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ and several related compounds, optimal superconductivity occurs at the pressure of a valence crossover, which arises from a virtual critical end point at negative temperature $T_{\rm cr}$. In this context, we did a meticulous analysis of a vast set of top-quality high-pressure electrical resistivity data of several Ce-based heavy fermion compounds. The key novelty is the salient correlation between the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ and the valence instability parameter $T_{\rm cr}$, which is in line with theory of enhanced valence fluctuations. Moreover, it is found that, in the pressure region of superconductivity, electrical resistivity is governed by the valence crossover, which most often manifests in scaling behavior. We develop the new idea that the optimum superconducting $T_{\rm c}$ of a given sample is mainly controlled by the compound's $T_{\rm cr}$ and limited by non-magnetic disorder. In this regard, the present study provides compelling evidence for the crucial role of critical valence fluctuations in the formation of Cooper pairs in Ce-based heavy fermion superconductors besides the contribution of spin fluctuations near magnetic quantum critical points, and corroborates a plausible superconducting mechanism in strongly correlated electron systems in general.Comment: Supplementary Material follows after the bibliograph

Binding, thermodynamics, and selectivity of a non-peptide antagonist to the melanocortin-4 receptor

The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is a potential drug target for treatment of obesity, anxiety, depression, and sexual dysfunction. Crystal structures for MC4R are not yet available, which has hindered successful structure-based drug design. Using microsecond-scale molecular-dynamics simulations, we have investigated selective binding of the non-peptide antagonist MCL0129 to a homology model of human MC4R (hMC4R). This approach revealed that, at the end of a multi-step binding process, MCL0129 spontaneously adopts a binding mode in which it blocks the agonistic-binding site. This binding mode was confirmed in subsequent metadynamics simulations, which gave an affinity for human hMC4R that matches the experimentally determined value. Extending our simulations of MCL0129 binding to hMC1R and hMC3R, we find that receptor subtype selectivity for hMC4R depends on few amino acids located in various structural elements of the receptor. These insights may support rational drug design targeting the melanocortin systems

Mott transition and collective charge pinning in electron doped Sr2IrO4

We studied the in-plane dynamic and static charge conductivity of electron doped Sr2IrO4 using optical spectroscopy and DC transport measurements. The optical conductivity indicates that the pristine material is an indirect semiconductor with a direct Mott-gap of 0.55 eV. Upon substitution of 2% La per formula unit the Mott-gap is suppressed except in a small fraction of the material (15%) where the gap survives, and overall the material remains insulating. Instead of a zero energy mode (or Drude peak) we observe a soft collective mode (SCM) with a broad maximum at 40 meV. Doping to 10% increases the strength of the SCM, and a zero-energy mode occurs together with metallic DC conductivity. Further increase of the La substitution doesn't change the spectral weight integral up to 3 eV. It does however result in a transfer of the SCM spectral weight to the zero-energy mode, with a corresponding reduction of the DC resistivity for all temperatures from 4 to 300 K. The presence of a zero-energy mode signals that at least part of the Fermi surface remains ungapped at low temperatures, whereas the SCM appears to be caused by pinning a collective frozen state involving part of the doped electrons

Fermi surface in the hidden-order state of URu2_2Si2_2 under intense pulsed magnetic fields up to 81~T

We present measurements of the resistivity $\rho_{x,x}$ of URu2Si2 high-quality single crystals in pulsed high magnetic fields up to 81~T at a temperature of 1.4~K and up to 60~T at temperatures down to 100~mK. For a field \textbf{H} applied along the magnetic easy-axis \textbf{c}, a strong sample-dependence of the low-temperature resistivity in the hidden-order phase is attributed to a high carrier mobility. The interplay between the magnetic and orbital properties is emphasized by the angle-dependence of the phase diagram, where magnetic transition fields and crossover fields related to the Fermi surface properties follow a 1/$\cos\theta$-law, $\theta$ being the angle between \textbf{H} and \textbf{c}. For $\mathbf{H}\parallel\mathbf{c}$, a crossover defined at a kink of $\rho_{x,x}$, as initially reported in [Shishido et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{102}, 156403 (2009)], is found to be strongly sample-dependent: its characteristic field $\mu_0H^*$ varies from $\simeq20$~T in our best sample with a residual resistivity ratio RRR of $225$ to $\simeq25$~T in a sample with a RRR of $90$. A second crossover is defined at the maximum of $\rho_{x,x}$ at the sample-independent characteristic field $\mu_0H_{\rho,max}^{LT}\simeq30$~T. Fourier analyzes of SdH oscillations show that $H_{\rho,max}^{LT}$ coincides with a sudden modification of the Fermi surface, while $H^*$ lies in a regime where the Fermi surface is smoothly modified. For $\mathbf{H}\parallel\mathbf{a}$, i) no phase transition is observed at low temperature and the system remains in the hidden-order phase up to 81~T, ii) quantum oscillations surviving up to 7~K are related to a new and almost-spherical orbit - for the first time observed here - at the frequency $F_\lambda\simeq1400$~T and associated with a low effective mass $m^*_\lambda=(1\pm0.5)\cdot m_0$, and iii) no Fermi surface modification occurs up to 81~T.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

High frequency magnetic oscillations of the organic metal θ\theta-(ET)4_4ZnBr4_4(C6_6H4_4Cl2_2) in pulsed magnetic field of up to 81 T

De Haas-van Alphen oscillations of the organic metal $\theta$-(ET)$_4$ZnBr$_4$(C$_6$H$_4$Cl$_2$) are studied in pulsed magnetic fields up to 81 T. The long decay time of the pulse allows determining reliable field-dependent amplitudes of Fourier components with frequencies up to several kiloteslas. The Fourier spectrum is in agreement with the model of a linear chain of coupled orbits. In this model, all the observed frequencies are linear combinations of the frequency linked to the basic orbit $\alpha$ and to the magnetic-breakdown orbit $\beta$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure