ABSTRACT
A Dirac electron system in solids mimics relativistic quantum physics that is compatible with Maxwell's equations, with which we anticipate unified electromagnetic responses. We find a large orbital diamagnetism only along the interplane direction and a nearly temperature-independent electrical conductivity of the order of e^{2}/h per plane for the new 2D Dirac organic conductor, α-(BETS)_{2}I_{3}, where BETS is bis(ethylenedithio)tetraselenafulvalene. Unlike conventional electrons in solids whose nonrelativistic effects bifurcate electric and magnetic responses, the observed orbital diamagnetism scales with the electrical conductivity in a wide temperature range. This demonstrates that an electromagnetic duality that is valid only within the relativistic framework is revived in solids.
ABSTRACT
By treating the electron-ion interaction as a perturbation in the first-principles Hamiltonian, we have calculated the density response functions of a fluid alkali metal to find an interesting charge instability due to anomalous electronic density fluctuations occurring at some finite wavevector Q in a dilute fluid phase above the liquid-gas critical point. Since |Q| is smaller than the diameter of the Fermi surface, this instability necessarily impedes the electric conduction, implying its close relevance to the metal-insulator transition in fluid alkali metals.
ABSTRACT
The problem of a spin-1/2 magnetic impurity near an antiferromagnetic transition of the host lattice is shown to transform to a multichannel problem. A variety of fixed points is discovered asymptotically near the antiferromagnetic critical point. Among these is a new variety of stable fixed point of a multichannel Kondo problem which does not require channel isotropy. At this point Kondo screening disappears but coupling to spin fluctuations remains. In addition to its intrinsic interest, the problem is an essential ingredient in the problem of quantum critical points in heavy fermions.
ABSTRACT
Systematic theoretical results for the effects of a dilute concentration of magnetic impurities on the thermodynamic and transport properties in the region around the quantum critical point of a ferromagnetic transition are obtained. In the quasiclassical regime, the dynamical spin fluctuations enhance the Kondo temperature. This energy scale decreases rapidly in the quantum fluctuation regime, where the properties are those of a line of critical points of the multichannel Kondo problem with the number of channels increasing as the critical point is approached, except at unattainably low temperatures where a single channel wins out.
