At any quantum critical point (QCP) with a critical magnetic field Hc, the magnetic Gr\"uneisen parameter ΓH, which equals the adiabatic magnetocaloric effect, is predicted to show characteristic signatures such as a divergence, sign change and T/(H−Hc)ϵ scaling. We categorize thirteen materials, ranging from heavy fermion metals to frustrated magnets, where such experimental signatures have been found. Remarkably, seven stoichiometric materials at ambient pressure show Hc=0. However, additional thermodynamic and magnetic experiments suggest that most of them do not show a zero-field QCP. While the existence of a pressure insensitive "strange metal" state is one possibility, for some of the materials ΓH seems influenced by impurities or a fraction of moments which are not participating in a frozen state. To unambiguously prove zero-field and pressure sensitive quantum criticality, a ΓH divergence is insufficient and also the Gr\"uneisen ratio of thermal expansion to specific heat must diverge.
@article{arxiv.1609.02013,
title = {Classification of materials with divergent magnetic Gr\"uneisen parameter},
author = {Philipp Gegenwart},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.02013},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
10 pages, 6 figs, manuscript for the proceedings of SCES 2016