Emergent states in heavy-electron materials

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Nov 6;109(45):E3060-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1211186109. Epub 2012 Sep 24.

Abstract

We obtain the conditions necessary for the emergence of various low-temperature ordered states (local-moment antiferromagnetism, unconventional superconductivity, quantum criticality, and Landau Fermi liquid behavior) in Kondo lattice materials by extending the two-fluid phenomenological theory of heavy-electron behavior to incorporate the concept of hybridization effectiveness. We use this expanded framework to present a new phase diagram and consistent physical explanation and quantitative description of measured emergent behaviors such as the pressure variation of the onset of local-moment antiferromagnetic ordering at T(N), the magnitude of the ordered moment, the growth of superconductivity within that ordered state, the location of a quantum critical point, and of a delocalization line in the pressure/temperature phase diagram at which local moments have disappeared and the heavy-electron Fermi surface has grown to its maximum size. We apply our model to CeRhIn(5) and a number of other heavy-electron materials and find good agreement with experiment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't