Energy pseudogaps and structural transitions in metals

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between energy pseudogaps and structural transitions in metals, revealing relations similar to those in superconductors and semiconductors, and highlighting the electronic changes accompanying phase transitions.

Contribution

It establishes a link between energy pseudogaps and structural transitions in metals, drawing parallels with superconducting and semiconductor phenomena.

Findings

Energy pseudogaps open during structural transitions in metals.

The pseudogap magnitude relates to transition temperatures similarly to superconductors.

In sp-metals, the pseudogap correlates with the metal-insulator transition temperature.

Abstract

It is shown that a structural transition in a metal is associated with the opening of the energy pseudogap in the electronic spectrum in a low-temperature phase below the transition temperature. A relation between the magnitude of the energy pseudogap in the d-band of transition metals (at zero temperature) and the structural transition temperature is similar to a relation between the magnitude of the superconducting gap and the superconducting transition temperature in low-temperature and high-temperature superconductors. A relation between the magnitude of the energy pseudogap and the structural transition temperature in sp-metals is similar to a relation between the bandgap width (at zero temperature) and the metal-insulator transition temperature in semiconductors.