Quantum Critical Point of Itinerant Antiferromagnet in Heavy Fermion

TL;DR

This study investigates the quantum critical point in a heavy fermion antiferromagnet using neutron scattering, revealing a temperature-dependent energy width that confirms the itinerant nature of the quantum criticality.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that the quantum critical point in Ce(Ru_{1-x}Rh_x)_2Si_2 is governed by itinerant antiferromagnetic fluctuations, with precise measurement of the critical exponent.

Findings

Energy width Gamma(k_3) scales as T^{3/2} at low temperatures.

Quantum critical point is controlled by itinerant antiferromagnetic fluctuations.

Neutron scattering confirms the critical exponent consistent with itinerant antiferromagnetism.

Abstract

A quantum critical point (QCP) of the heavy fermion Ce(Ru_{1-x}Rh_x)_2Si_2 (x = 0, 0.03) has been studied by single-crystalline neutron scattering. By accurately measuring the dynamical susceptibility at the antiferromagnetic wave vector k_3 = 0.35 c^*, we have shown that the energy width Gamma(k_3), i.e., inverse correlation time, depends on temperature as Gamma(k_3) = c_1 + c_2 T^{3/2 +- 0.1}, where c_1 and c_2 are x dependent constants, in a low temperature range. This critical exponent 3/2 +- 0.1 proves that the QCP is controlled by that of the itinerant antiferromagnet.