Detailed experimental and theoretical studies of the low-temperature specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, thermal expansion and magnetostriction of the orthorhombic compound CeNiSn are presented. All anomalies observed in the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of CeNiSn are explained in a framework of a model of metallic Kondo lattice with well developed spin-liquid-type excitations. The pseudogap behavior of these excitations appears due to interplay between spin-fermions and soft crystal-field (CF) states. The thermodynamic relations for the spin liquid are derived. Together with the explanation of inelastic neutron scattering spectra given earlier within a same approach these studies of the low-temperature thermodynamics and magnetic response give a consistent description of the nature of anomalies in the low-temperature thermodynamics of perfect and imperfect CeNiSn crystals.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9903218,
title = {Thermodynamics of CeNiSn at low temperatures and in weak magnetic fields},
author = {K. A. Kikoin and M. N. Kiselev and A. S. Mishchenko and A. de Visser},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9903218},
year = {2009}
}