Quest for the Origin of Heavy Fermion Behavior in $d$-Electron Systems

Abstract

Spin fluctuation is presumed to be one of the key properties in understanding the microscopic origin of heavy-fermion-like behavior in the class of transition-metal compounds, including LiV${}_2$O${}_4$, Y(Sc)Mn${}_2$, and YMn${}_2$Zn${}_{20}$. In this review, we demonstrate by our recent study of muon spin rotation/relaxation that the temperature ($T$) dependence of the longitudinal spin relaxation rate ($\lambda \equiv 1/T_1$) in these compounds exhibits a common trend of leveling off to a constant value ($\lambda \sim const$.) below a characteristic temperature, $T^{\ast }$. This is in marked contrast to the behavior predicted for normal metals from the Korringa relation, $\lambda \propto T/\nu$, where the spin fluctuation rate ($\nu$) in the Pauli paramagnetic state is given as a constant, $\nu \simeq 1/[hD(E_F)]$ [with $D(E_F)$ being the density of states at the Fermi energy]. Thus, the observed behavior of $\lambda$ implies that the spin fluctuation rate becomes linearly dependent on temperature, $\nu \propto T$, suggesting that heavy quasiparticles develop in a manner satisfying $D(E_F)\propto (m^{\ast }{)}^{\sigma }\propto 1/T$ at lower temperatures ($\sigma$ determined by the electronic dispersion). Considering that the theory of spin correlation for intersecting Hubbard chains as a model of pyrochlore lattice predicts $\nu \propto T$, our finding strongly indicates the crucial role of $t_{2g}$ bands which preserve the one-dimensional character at low energies due to the geometrical frustration specific to the undistorted pyrochlore lattice.

11 pages, 13 figures