Local quantum phase transition in YFe2Al10

W. J. Gannon, L. S. Wu, I. A. Zaliznyak, W. H. Xu, A. M. Tsvelik, Y. Qiu, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, M. C. Aronson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

A phase transition occurs when correlated regions of a new phase grow to span the system and the fluctuations within the correlated regions become long lived. Here, we present neutron scattering measurements showing that this conventional picture must be replaced in YFe2Al10, a compound that forms naturally very close to a T = 0 quantum phase transition. Fully quantum mechanical fluctuations of localized moments are found to diverge at low energies and temperatures; however, the fluctuating moments are entirely without spatial correlations. Zero temperature order in YFe2Al10 is achieved by an entirely local type of quantum phase transition that may originate with the creation of the moments themselves.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6995-6999
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume115
Issue number27
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 3 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

  • Magnetism
  • Neutron scattering
  • Quantum matter

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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