Protracted Kondo screening and kagome bands in heavy-fermion metal Ce${}_3$Al

Abstract

Ce${}_3$Al is an archetypal heavy-fermion compound with multiple crystalline phases. Here, we try to investigate its electronic structures in the hexagonal phase ($\alpha$-Ce${}_3$Al) and cubic phase ($\beta$-Ce${}_3$Al) by means of a combination of density functional theory and single-site dynamical mean-field theory. We confirm that the 4$f$ valence electrons in both phases are itinerant, accompanied with strong valence state fluctuations. Their 4$f$ band structures are heavily renormalized by electronic correlations, resulting in large effective electron masses. The Kondo screening in Ce${}_3$Al would be protracted over a wide range of temperature since the single-impurity Kondo temperature $T_K$ is much higher than the coherent Kondo temperature $T_K^{\ast }$. Especially, the crystal structure of $\alpha$-Ce${}_3$Al forms a layered kagome lattice. We observe conspicuous kagome-derived flat bands and Dirac cones (or gaps) in its quasiparticle band structure. Therefore, it is concluded that the hexagonal phase of Ce${}_3$Al will be a promising candidate of heavy-fermion kagome metal.

8 pages, 6 figures

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• Kondo screening and coherence in kagome local-moment metals: Energy scales of heavy fermions in the presence of flat bands
• $\text{Ab initio}$ dynamical mean-field theory with natural orbitals renormalization group impurity solver: Formalism and applications