Non fermi liquid ground states in strongly correlated f-electron materials

Abstract

Experimental efforts to characterize and develop an understanding of non Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior at low temperature in f-electron materials are reviewed for three f-electron systems: M 1−x U x Pd 3 (M = Sc, Y), U 1−x Th x Pd 2 Al 3 , and UCu 5−x Pd x . The emerging systematics of NFL behavior in f-electron systems, based on the present sample of nearly ten f-electron systems, is updated. Many of the f-electron systems exhibit the following temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity p, specific heat C, and magnetic susceptibility χ for T ≪ T 0 , where T o is a characteristic temperature: P(T) ∼ 1 – aT/T 0 , where a < 0 or > 0, C(T)/T ∼ (-1/ T o ) In ( T/bT 0 ), and χ(T) ∼ 1 − c (T/T o ) 1/2 . In several of the f-electron systems, the characteristic temperature T o can be identified with the Kondo temperature T k .