Electrons on the brink of localization: heavy fermions and the d-f connection

Piers Coleman

Center for Materials Theory, Department of Physics and Astronomy,

Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA


    Most strongly correlated electron behavior occurs when electrons are at the brink of localization.  In the periodic table, this "localization frontier" lies along 3d transition, 5f actinide and 4f rare earth electron series. f-electron materials provide a unique opportunity to explore this frontier revealing physics that is also relevant at much higher energy scales in the context of d-electron materials.


    I shall touch on four open questions in f-electron physics, highlighting each with specific material examples.  (1) strange metal physics and the break-up of the heavy fermion at a quantum critical point; (2) heavy fermion superconductivity- the special role of spin in the order parameter and the unusual response to disorder; (3) hidden order; (4) topology and its possible role in Kondo insulators and quantum criticality.


Research supported by NSF grant DMR 0907179 and DOE grant DE-FG02-99ER45790.

 

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