Global Phase Diagram of the Kondo Lattice: From Heavy Fermion Metals to Kondo Insulators

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive theoretical framework for the phase diagram of Kondo lattice systems, revealing new phases and connecting experimental findings with advanced field theory and renormalization group techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed derivation of an effective field theory for Kondo lattices, including a global phase diagram that unifies various phases and experimental observations.

Findings

Identification of a new antiferromagnetic phase with a small Fermi surface

Development of an asymptotically exact renormalization group analysis for mixed fermion-boson systems

Connection of Kondo breakdown physics to non-Fermi liquid behavior and holography

Abstract

We discuss the general theoretical arguments advanced earlier for the T=0 global phase diagram of antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice systems, distinguishing between the established and the conjectured. In addition to the well-known phase of a paramagnetic metal with a "large" Fermi surface (P_L), there is also an antiferromagnetic phase with a "small" Fermi surface (AF_S). We provide the details of the derivation of a quantum non-linear sigma-model (QNLsM) representation of the Kondo lattice Hamiltonian, which leads to an effective field theory containing both low-energy fermions in the vicinity of a Fermi surface and low-energy bosons near zero momentum. An asymptotically exact analysis of this effective field theory is made possible through the development of a renormalization group procedure for mixed fermion-boson systems. Considerations on how to connect the AF_S and P_L phases lead to a global phase diagram, which not only puts into perspective the theory of local quantum criticality for antiferromagnetic heavy fermion metals, but also provides the basis to understand the surprising recent experiments in chemically-doped as well as pressurized YbRh2Si2. We point out that the AF_S phase still occurs for the case of an equal number of spin-1/2 local moments and conduction electrons. This observation raises the prospect for a global phase diagram of heavy fermion systems in the Kondo-insulator regime. Finally, we discuss the connection between the Kondo breakdown physics discussed here for the Kondo lattice systems and the non-Fermi liquid behavior recently studied from a holographic perspective.