886 research outputs found
Break up of heavy fermions at an antiferromagnetic instability
We present results of high-resolution, low-temperature measurements of the
Hall coefficient, thermopower, and specific heat on stoichiometric YbRh2Si2.
They support earlier conclusions of an electronic (Kondo-breakdown) quantum
critical point concurring with a field induced antiferromagnetic one. We also
discuss the detachment of the two instabilities under chemical pressure. Volume
compression/expansion (via substituting Rh by Co/Ir) results in a
stabilization/weakening of magnetic order. Moderate Ir substitution leads to a
non-Fermi-liquid phase, in which the magnetic moments are neither ordered nor
screened by the Kondo effect. The so-derived zero-temperature global phase
diagram promises future studies to explore the nature of the Kondo breakdown
quantum critical point without any interfering magnetism.Comment: minor changes, accepted for publication in JPS
On Silicon Carbide Grains as the Carrier of the 21 Micron Emission Feature in Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
The mysterious 21mu emission feature seen in 12 proto-planetary nebulae
(PPNe) remains unidentified since its first detection in 1989. Over a dozen of
candidate materials have been proposed within the past decade, but none of them
has received general acceptance. Very recently, silicon carbide (SiC) grains
with impurities were suggested to be the carrier of this enigmatic feature,
based on recent laboratory data that doped SiC grains exhibit a resonance at
\~21mu. This proposal gains strength from the fact that SiC is a common dust
species in carbon-rich circumstellar envelopes. However, SiC dust has a strong
vibrational band at ~11.3mu. We show in this Letter that in order to be
consistent with the observed flux ratios of the 11.3mu feature to the 21mu
feature, the band strength of the 21mu resonance has to be very strong, too
strong to be consistent with current laboratory measurements. But this does not
yet readily rule out the SiC hypothesis since recent experimental results have
demonstrated that the 21mu resonance of doped SiC becomes stronger as the C
impurity increases. Further laboratory measurements of SiC dust with high
fractions of C impurity are urgently needed to test the hypothesis of SiC as
the carrier of the 21mu feature.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
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