Itinerant to localized transition of f electrons in antiferromagnetic superconductor UPd2Al3

TL;DR

This study uses ARPES to investigate the temperature-dependent electronic structure of UPd2Al3, revealing how f-electrons transition from itinerant to localized states, bridging a key gap in understanding heavy Fermion behavior.

Contribution

It provides direct experimental evidence of the temperature-driven transition of f-electrons from itinerant to localized states in a heavy Fermion superconductor.

Findings

f-bands form Fermi surfaces at low temperatures

f-bands are excluded from Fermi surfaces at high temperatures

demonstrates the electronic structure change across T*

Abstract

Electrons in solids have been conventionally classified as either band-like itinerant ones or atomic-like localized ones depending on their properties. For heavy Fermion (HF) compounds, however, the f electrons show both itinerant and localized behaviours depending on temperature. Above the characteristic temperature T*, which is typically of the order of few K to few tens K, their magnetic properties are well described by the ionic f-electron models, suggesting that the f-electrons behave as 'localized' electrons. On the other hand, well below T*, their Fermi surfaces (FS's) have been observed by magneto-oscillatory techniques, and generally they can be explained well by the 'itinerant' f-electron model. These two models assume totally different natures of felectrons, and how they transform between localized and itinerant state as a function of temperatures has never been understood on the level of their electronic structures. Here we have studied the band structure of the HF antiferromagnetic superconductor UPd2Al3 well below and above T* by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), and revealed the temperature dependence of the electronic structure. We have found that the f-bands, which form the FS's at low temperatures are excluded from FS's at high temperatures. The present results demonstrate how the same f-electrons show both itinerant and localized behaviours on the level of electronic structure, and provide an important information for the unified description of the localized and itinerant nature of HF compounds.