1. Multi-flavor quantum criticality
- Author
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Khansili, A., Bangura, A., McDonald, R. D., Ramshaw, B. J., Rydh, A., and Shekhter, A.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons - Abstract
The electronic density of states, and, hence, the quasiparticle mass on the Fermi surface, is strongly enhanced through electronic correlations in quantum-critical metals. The nature of electronic correlations in such systems can be constrained by comparing different probes of the electronic density of states. Comparative studies in high-Tc superconductors present a significant challenge because of the masking effect of the superconducting phase. In contrast, the normal state can be readily accessed in the unconventional superconductor CeCoIn5, because the energy scale associated with superconductivity is small. Here we use thermal impedance spectroscopy to simultaneously access the electronic density of states in CeCoIn5 in two independent ways; via the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate and via the electronic specific heat. We establish that the temperature- and magnetic field dependence of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate is determined entirely by the electronic density of states on the Fermi surface, where mass enhancement is cut off at high magnetic fields. Surprisingly, the specific heat reveals excess entropy in addition to that associated with the density of states on the Fermi surface. The electronic nature of this excess entropy is evidenced by its suppression in the superconducting state. We postulate that a second 'flavor' of boson generates the observed quantum critical physics beyond the mass renormalization on the Fermi surface in CeCoIn5, and suggest such a multi-flavor character for a broader range of quantum critical metals., Comment: 55 pages
- Published
- 2023