Hall effect in heavy-fermion metals

TL;DR

This review discusses how Hall effect measurements have advanced understanding of Fermi surface evolution and quantum criticality in heavy-fermion metals, highlighting their role in studying strongly correlated electronic states.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of Hall effect experiments in heavy-fermion systems and their significance in exploring quantum critical phenomena and non-Fermi liquid behavior.

Findings

Hall effect reveals Fermi surface changes near quantum critical points

Magnetic fluctuations influence Hall measurements in heavy-fermion systems

Unusual magnetotransport observed in non-Fermi liquid materials

Abstract

The heavy fermion systems present a unique platform in which strong electronic correlations give rise to a host of novel, and often competing, electronic and magnetic ground states. Amongst a number of potential experimental tools at our disposal, measurements of the Hall effect have emerged as a particularly important one in discerning the nature and evolution of the Fermi surfaces of these enigmatic metals. In this article, we present a comprehensive review of Hall effect measurements in the heavy-fermion materials, and examine the success it has had in contributing to our current understanding of strongly correlated matter. Particular emphasis is placed on its utility in the investigation of quantum critical phenomena which are thought to drive many of the exotic electronic ground states in these systems. This is achieved by the description of measurements of the Hall effect across the putative zero-temperature instability in the archetypal heavy-fermion metal YbRh$_2$Si$_2$. Using the Ce$M$In$_5$ (with $M =$ Co, Ir) family of systems as a paradigm, the influence of (antiferro-)magnetic fluctuations on the Hall effect is also illustrated. This is compared to prior Hall effect measurements in the cuprates and other strongly correlated systems to emphasize on the generality of the unusual magnetotransport in materials with non-Fermi liquid behavior.