Emergent Heavy Fermion Behavior at the Wigner-Mott Transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates the emergence of heavy fermion behavior at the Wigner-Mott transition, revealing a novel charge-ordered phase with non-Fermi liquid properties due to spin-flip scattering.

Contribution

It introduces the pinball liquid phase as a charge ordered metallic state and links it to heavy fermion phenomena via an effective Anderson model.

Findings

Identification of the pinball liquid phase in charge-ordered systems.

Discovery of non-Fermi liquid behavior due to spin-flip scattering.

Strong quasiparticle renormalization indicating heavy fermion characteristics.

Abstract

We study charge ordering driven by Coulomb interactions on triangular lattices relevant to the Wigner-Mott transition in two dimensions. Dynamical mean-field theory reveals the pinball liquid phase, a charge ordered metallic phase containing quasi-localized (pins) coexisting with itinerant (balls) electrons. Based on an effective periodic Anderson model for this phase, we find an antiferromagnetic Kondo coupling between pins and balls and strong quasiparticle renormalization. Non-Fermi liquid behavior can occur in such charge ordered systems due to spin-flip scattering of itinerant electrons off the pins in analogy with heavy fermion compounds.