Kinks in the electronic specific heat

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strongly correlated metals exhibit a kink in their electronic specific heat, deviating from traditional Fermi liquid behavior, supported by dynamical mean-field theory and experimental data on LiV2O4.

Contribution

It reveals a novel temperature-dependent feature in the specific heat of correlated metals, challenging the conventional linear behavior predicted by Fermi liquid theory.

Findings

Identification of a kink in the specific heat curve

Support from experimental data on LiV2O4

Implication of increased resistivity at low temperatures

Abstract

We find that the heat capacity of a strongly correlated metal presents striking changes with respect to Landau Fermi liquid theory. In contrast with normal metals, where the electronic specific heat is linear at low temperature (with a T^3 term as a leading correction), a dynamical mean-field study of the correlated Hubbard model reveals a clear kink in the temperature dependence, marking a rapid change from a low-temperature linear behavior and a second linear regime with a reduced slope. Experiments on LiV2O4 support our findings, implying that correlated materials are more resistive to cooling at low T than expected from the intermediate temperature behavior.