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Electronic heat capacity of the strongly exchange-enhanced metal USn/sub 3/

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)
An analysis of the phonon heat capacity of USn/sub 3/ is presented. This analysis is used to obtain the temperature dependence of the electronic heat-capacity coefficient, ..gamma..(T) = C/sub e//T. It is found that ..gamma..(T) decays smoothly from ..gamma../sub 0/ = 171 mJ/mol K/sup 2/ in the low-temperature limit to 24 mJ/mol K/sup 2/ at T = 30 K and asymptotically approaches approx.20 mJ/mol K/sup 2/. Band-structure calculations indicate a virtually temperature independent ..gamma../sub BS/ of about 22 mJ/mol K/sup 2/. Thus the experimental ..gamma..(T) approaches ..gamma../sub BS/ by about 30 K. The departure of the experimental curve below approx.30 K is most likely due to the onset of spin fluctuations. These fluctuations are local in nature since the area between the band and experimental ..gamma.. curves up to 30 K is equal to 0.36R ln2. An analysis of new heat-capacity data below 10 K can be made consistent with the existence of a T/sup 3/lnT term, but subtraction of a realistic phonon heat-capacity contribution removes this term. The implication that this observation has on other spin fluctuators and heavy-fermion compounds is discussed.
Research Organization:
Materials Science and Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
5602357
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States) Vol. 33:12; ISSN PRBMD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English