No Arabic abstract
The physical properties of rare-earth (RE) dodecaborides, characterized by a cage-glass crystal structure with loosely bound RE ions, are reviewed. These compounds are strongly correlated electron systems with simultaneously active charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom, which explains the complexity of all $Rmathrm{B}_{12}$ compounds including antiferromagnetic (TbB$_{12}$-TmB$_{12}$) and nonmagnetic (LuB$_{12}$) metals, on one side, and the so-called Kondo insulator compound YbB$_{12}$ and Yb-based Yb$_{x}R_{1-x}$B$_{12}$ solid solutions, on the other. The development of the cooperative dynamic Jahn-Teller instability of the covalent boron network produces trigonal and tetragonal distortions of the rigid cage and results in the symmetry lowering of the fcc lattice in the dodecaborides. The ferrodistortive dynamics in the boron sub-lattice generates both the collective modes and quasilocal vibrations (rattling modes) of the heavy RE ions, causing a modulation in the charge-carrier density and the emergence of dynamic charge stripes. We consider their manifestations both in the properties of the nonmagnetic reference compound LuB$_{12}$ and in the phase diagrams of the $Rmathrm{B}_{12}$ antiferromagnets that exhibit multiple magnetic phases with anisotropic field-angular phase diagrams in the form of the Maltese cross. We also discuss the metal-insulator transitions in YbB$_{12}$ and Yb-based dodecaborides in terms of the instability of the Yb 4$f$-electron configuration, which appears in addition to the Jahn-Teller instability of the boron cage, providing one more mechanism of the charge and spin fluctuations. The experimental results challenge the established Kondo-insulator scenario in YbB$_{12}$, providing arguments in favor of the appearance of Yb-Yb vibrationally coupled pairs which should be considered as the main factor responsible for the charge- and spin-gap formation.
This article reviews recent results of magnetotransport and magnetization measurements performed on highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) and single crystalline Kish graphite samples. Both metal-insulator and insulator-metal transitions driven by magnetic field applied perpendicular to the basal planes of graphite were found and discussed in the light of relevant theories. The results provide evidence for the existence of localized superconducting domains in HOPG even at room temperature, as well as an interplay between superconducting and ferromagnetic correlations. We also present experimental evidence for the superconductivity occurrence in graphite-sulfur composites.
We explore the ground-state properties of the two-band Hubbard model with degenerate electronic bands, parametrized by nearest-neighbor hopping $t$, intra- and inter-orbital on-site Coulomb repulsions $U$ and $U^prime$, and Hund coupling $J$, focusing on the case with $J>0$. Using Jastrow-Slater wave functions, we consider both states with and without magnetic/orbital order. Electron pairing can also be included in the wave function, in order to detect the occurrence of superconductivity for generic electron densities $n$. When no magnetic/orbital order is considered, the Mott transition is continuous for $n=1$ (quarter filling); instead, at $n=2$ (half filling), it is first order for small values of $J/U$, while it turns out to be continuous when the ratio $J/U$ is increased. A significant triplet pairing is present in a broad region around $n=2$. By contrast, singlet superconductivity (with $d$-wave symmetry) is detected only for small values of the Hund coupling and very close to half filling. When including magnetic and orbital order, the Mott insulator acquires antiferromagnetic order for $n=2$; instead, for $n=1$ the insulator has ferromagnetic and antiferro-orbital orders. In the latter case, a metallic phase is present for small values of $U/t$ and the metal-insulator transition becomes first order. In the region with $1<n<2$, we observe that ferromagnetism (with no orbital order) is particularly robust for large values of the Coulomb repulsion and that triplet superconductivity is strongly suppressed by the presence of antiferromagnetism. The case with $J=0$, which has an enlarged SU(4) symmetry due to the interplay between spin and orbital degrees of freedom, is also analyzed.
Using recent insights obtained in heavy fermion physics on the thermodynamic singularity structure associated with quantum phase transitions, we present here an experimental strategy to establish if the zero-temperature transition in the disordered two dimensional gas is a real quantum phase transition. We derive a overcomplete set of scaling laws relating the density and temperature dependence of the chemical potential and the effective mass, which are in principle verifyable by experiment.
Two phase transitions in the tetragonal strongly correlated electron system CeNiAsO were probed by neutron scattering and zero field muon spin rotation. For $T <T_{N1}$ = 8.7(3) K, a second order phase transition yields an incommensurate spin density wave with wave vector $textbf{k} = (0.44(4), 0, 0)$. For $T < T_{N2}$ = 7.6(3) K, we find co-planar commensurate order with a moment of $0.37(5)~mu_B$, reduced to $30 %$ of the saturation moment of the $|pmfrac{1}{2}rangle$ Kramers doublet ground state, which we establish by inelastic neutron scattering. Muon spin rotation in $rm CeNiAs_{1-x}P_xO$ shows the commensurate order only exists for x $le$ 0.1 so the transition at $x_c$ = 0.4(1) is from an incommensurate longitudinal spin density wave to a paramagnetic Fermi liquid.
We use quantum Monte Carlo to determine the magnetic and transport properties of coupled square lattice spin and fermionic planes as a model for a metal-insulator interface. Specifically, layers of Ising spins with an intra-layer exchange constant $J$ interact with the electronic spins of several adjoining metallic sheets via a coupling $J_H$. When the chemical potential cuts across the band center, that is, at half-filling, the Neel temperature of antiferromagnetic ($J>0$) Ising spins is enhanced by the coupling to the metal, while in the ferromagnetic case ($J<0$) the metallic degrees of freedom reduce the ordering temperature. In the former case, a gap opens in the fermionic spectrum, driving insulating behavior, and the electron spins also order. This induced antiferromagnetism penetrates more weakly as the distance from the interface increases, and also exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on $J_H$. For doped lattices an interesting charge disproportionation occurs where electrons move to the interface layer to maintain half-filling there.