A unified theory of ferromagnetic quantum phase transitions in heavy fermion metals

Abstract

Motivated by the recent discovery of a continuous ferromagnetic quantum phase transition in CeRh${}_6$Ge${}_4$ and its distinction from other U-based heavy fermion metals such as UGe${}_2$, we develop a unified explanation of their different ground state properties based on an anisotropic ferromagnetic Kondo-Heisenberg model. We employ an improved large-$N$ Schwinger boson approach and predict a full phase diagram containing both a continuous ferromagnetic quantum phase transition for large magnetic anisotropy and first-order transitions for relatively small anisotropy. Our calculations reveal three different ferromagnetic phases including a half-metallic spin selective Kondo insulator with a constant magnetization. The Fermi surface topologies are found to change abruptly between different phases, consistent with that observed in UGe${}_2$. At finite temperatures, we predict the development of Kondo hybridization well above the ferromagnetic long-range order and its relocalization near the phase transition, in good agreement with band measurements in CeRh${}_6$Ge${}_4$. Our results highlight the importance of magnetic anisotropy and provide a unified theory for understanding the ferromagnetic quantum phase transitions in heavy fermion metals.

12 pages, 7 figures

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• Heavy Fermions and Quantum Phase Transitions
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Cited by in corpus (2)

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• Nonlocal Kondo effect and two-fluid picture revealed in an exactly solvable model