Quantum Critical Scaling of Specific Heat in a Quasicrystal

Abstract

In strongly correlated systems, interactions give rise to critical fluctuations surrounding the quantum critical point (QCP) of a quantum phase transition. Quasicrystals allow the study of quantum critical phenomena in aperiodic systems with frustrated magnetic interactions. Here, we study the magnetic field and temperature scaling of the low-temperature specific heat for the quantum critical Yb-Au-Al quasicrystal. We devise a scaling function that encapsulates the limiting behaviors as well as the area where the system goes from a temperature-limited to a field-limited quantum critical region, where magnetic field acts as a cutoff for critical fluctuations. The zero-field electronic specific heat is described by a power-law divergence, $C_{el}/T\propto T^{-0.54}$, aligning with previously observed ac-susceptibility and specific heat measurements. The field dependence of the electronic specific heat at high magnetic fields shows a similar power-law $C_{el}/T\propto B^{-0.50}$. In the zero-field and low-field region, we observe two small but distinct anomalies in the specific heat, located at 0.7 K and 2.1 K.

6 pages, 3 figures

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• Fermi-liquid instabilities at magnetic quantum phase transitions
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Thermal stability originates the vanishing of the specific heats at the absolute zero