Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Quantum critical behaviour and Lifshitz transition in intermediate valence $\alpha$-YbAlB$_4$ |
| Authors: |
Grbić, Mihael S., O'Farrell, Eoin C. T., Matsumoto, Yosuke, Kuga, Kentaro, Brando, Manuel, Küchler, Robert, Nevidomskyy, Andriy H., Yoshida, Makoto, Sakakibara, Toshiro, Kono, Yohei, Shimura, Yasuyuki, Sutherland, Michael L., Takigawa, Masashi, Nakatsuji, Satoru |
| Source: |
Nature Communications 13, 2141 (2022) |
| Publication Year: |
2019 |
| Collection: |
Condensed Matter |
| Subject Terms: |
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons |
| More Details: |
Intermetallic compounds containing $f$-electron elements have been prototypical materials for investigating strong electron correlations and quantum criticality (QC). Their heavy fermion ground state evoked by the magnetic $f$-electrons is susceptible to the onset of quantum phases, such as magnetism or superconductivity, due to the enhanced effective mass ($m^{*}$) and a corresponding decrease of the Fermi temperature. However, the presence of $f$-electron valence fluctuations to a non-magnetic state is regarded an anathema to QC, as it usually generates a paramagnetic Fermi-liquid state with quasiparticles of moderate $m^{*}$. Such systems are typically isotropic, with a characteristic energy scale $T_0$ of the order of hundreds of kelvins that require large magnetic fields or pressures to promote a valence or magnetic instability. Here we show that the intermediate valence compound $\alpha$-YbAlB$_4$ surprisingly exhibits both quantum critical behaviour and a Lifshitz transition under low magnetic field, which is attributed to the anisotropy of the hybridization between the conduction and localized $f$-electrons. These findings suggest a new route to bypass the large valence energy scale in developing the QC.
Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures (3 panels) |
| Document Type: |
Working Paper |
| DOI: |
10.1038/s41467-022-29757-9 |
| Access URL: |
http://arxiv.org/abs/1903.10045 |
| Accession Number: |
edsarx.1903.10045 |
| Database: |
arXiv |
