Thermopower as a signature of quantum criticality in heavy fermions

2010/02/12 by Ki-Seok Kim, Ki‐Seok Kim, C. Pépin +1 · 44 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Antiferromagnetism #Condensed matter physics #Delocalized electron #Electron #Fermi surface #Fermion #Iron-based superconductors research #Phase transition #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum critical point #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Seebeck coefficient #Spin (aerodynamics) #Strongly correlated material #Superconductivity #Thermodynamics #Thermoelectric effect #cond-mat.str-el

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.81.205108

published in Physical Review B 81(20) (American Physical Society)

arxiv created 2010/02/12 · openalex publication_date 2010/05/10 · arxiv updated 2015/05/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present a series of arguments showing that the Seebeck coefficient can be used as a decisive experiment to characterize the nature of the quantum-critical point (QCP) in heavy fermion compounds. Being reactive almost exclusively to the presence of delocalized entropic carriers, the Seebeck coefficient shows a drastic collapse at the Kondo breakdown QCP, as the reconstruction of the Fermi surface takes place. In contrast, around a spin-density-wave QCP, the Seebeck coefficient is broadly symmetric. We discuss the possibility of a change of sign at the QCP, the characteristic variation in |S/T| with temperature and external parameter, as well as the capacity of the Seebeck coefficient to distinguish between localized and itinerant antiferromagnetism. Suggestions of experiments are given in the case of four nonconventional compounds: YbRh₂Si₂, Ce(Mn)In₅, CeCu_6\ensuremath-xAu_x, and URu₂Si₂.

Citations

• The break-up of heavy electrons at a quantum critical point
• Selective Mott transition and heavy fermions
• On the thermoelectricity of correlated electrons in the zero-temperature limit
• Universal Behavior in Heavy-Electron Materials
• Universal relationship of the resistivity and specific heat in heavy-Fermion compounds
• Fermi-liquid instabilities at magnetic quantum phase transitions
• Quantum critical phenomena
• The renormalization group: Critical phenomena and the Kondo problem
• Non-Fermi-liquid behavior from two-dimensional antiferromagnetic fluctuations: A renormalization-group and large-Nanalysis
• Fractionalized Fermi Liquids
• Kondo volume collapse, Kondo breakdown, and Fermi surface transitions in heavy-fermion metals
• Weak magnetism and non-Fermi liquids near heavy-fermion critical points
• Gapped itinerant spin excitations account for missing entropy in the hidden-order state of URu2Si2
• Interplay between spin-density wave and induced local moments inURu2Si2

Cited by

• Adaptation of the Landau-Migdal quasiparticle pattern to strongly correlated Fermi systems

Related

• Thermoelectric signature of quantum criticality in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeRhIn₅
• Breakdown of the Fermi liquid theory in heavy fermion compounds
• Quantum critical point in heavy fermions
• Quantum Criticality in Heavy Fermion Metals
• Quantum-critical transport in marginal Fermi-liquids