Search arXiv⌕ Search

arXiv · 1104.0203

Quantum critical behavior in the heavy Fermion single crystal Ce(Ni$_{0.935}$Pd$_{0.065}$)$_2$Ge$_2$

Abstract

We have performed magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, resistivity, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements on a single crystal of the heavy Fermion compound Ce(Ni$_{0.935}$Pd$_{0.065}$)$_2$Ge$_2$, which is believed to be close to a quantum critical point (QCP) at T = 0. At lowest temperature(1.8-3.5 K), the magnetic susceptibility behaves as $χ(T)-χ(0)$ $\propto$ $T^{-1/6}$ with $χ(0) = 0.032 \times 10^{-6}$ m$^3$/mole (0.0025 emu/mole). For $T<$ 1 K, the specific heat can be fit to the formula $ΔC/T = γ_0 - T^{1/2}$ with $γ_0$ of order 700 mJ/mole-K$^2$. The resistivity behaves as $ρ= ρ_0 + AT^{3/2}$ for temperatures below 2 K. This low temperature behavior for $γ(T)$ and $ρ(T)$ is in accord with the SCR theory of Moriya and Takimoto\cite{Moriya}. The inelastic neutron scattering spectra show a broad peak near 1.5 meV that appears to be independent of $Q$; we interpret this as Kondo scattering with $T_K =$ 17 K. In addition, the scattering is enhanced near $Q$=(1/2, 1/2, 0) with maximum scattering at $ΔE$ = 0.45 meV; we interpret this as scattering from antiferromagnetic fluctuations near the antiferromagnetic QCP.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

C. H. Wang, J. M. Lawrence, A. D. Christianson, S. Chang, K. Gofryk, E. D. Bauer, F. Ronning, J. D. Thompson, K. J. McClellan, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, J. W. Lynn. 2011-04-01. Quantum critical behavior in the heavy Fermion single crystal Ce(Ni$_{0.935}$Pd$_{0.065}$)$_2$Ge$_2$. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596%2F273%2F1%2F012018

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Real-space determination of orbital states driving successive phase transitions in FeV2O4

Direct experimental access to orbital states in strongly correlated materials remains a major challenge, despite their central role in driving coupled structural and magnetic phase transitions. In systems where electronic correlations, electron-lattice coupling, and relativistic spin-orbit interactions compete on comparable energy scales, even first-principles calculations often yield multiple metastable solutions, hindering the unambiguous identification of the ground state. Here, we demonstrate that the orbital states of the spinel oxide FeV2O4, which possesses active orbital degrees of freedom on both Fe and V ions, are uniquely resolved by combining valence electron density (VED) analysis based on state-of-the-art synchrotron x-ray diffraction with spin-polarized density-functional-theory calculations. Our results reveal that temperature-dependent rearrangements of orbital occupations drive successive structural transitions that accompany collinear and noncoplanar ferrimagnetic orders, establishing a direct correspondence between orbital anisotropy and spin structure. More broadly, this work shows that experimentally determined VED provides a decisive real-space constraint on competing theoretical solutions, offering a powerful and broadly applicable framework for elucidating the microscopic mechanisms of complex phase transitions in strongly correlated electron systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Macroscopic Zero-Mode Manifold Isolated by Quantum Chaos

Chaotic many-body spectra are expected to densely fill their energy window. We show that constrained spin chains with chiral symmetry evade this expectation by hosting an exponentially large manifold of symmetry-protected exact zero modes separated from the surrounding spectrum by a sharp gap at zero energy. The gap is generated by chaotic level repulsion, with width set by the number of zero modes times the mean level spacing. We verify this mechanism in an East-West kinetically constrained chain, develop a minimal random-matrix description, and show how the gap can be detected through linear-response spectroscopy.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Textures as a phase-transition probe for quantum spin chains

The idea of quantum texture has been recently proposed and used as a tool for quantifying coherences and for quantum gate identification. In this work we offer a study on its usage to quantum phase transitions, demonstrating the rugosity metric as a simple tool for effective phase-transition probing. We establish the link between rugosity in the computational basis and the hierarchy of spin correlators, and analyze rugosities defined in the global ground-state and in ground-states belonging to different magnetization sectors (to which we refer to as global vs symmetry-resolved rugosities) to study the phase diagram of the Heisenberg XXZ model. We find distinct rugosity signatures at both transition points. In particular, a sharp feature appears at $Δ=1$ already for small systems, revealing a pronounced sensitivity of the correlation hierarchy encoded by the texture to this point. Since the BKT transition coincides with the isotropic $SU(2)$ point of the XXZ model, this behavior may reflect a particular sensitivity of rugosity to the structure of the spin-correlation hierarchy at isotropy.

cond-mat.str-el↗