Destruction of the Kondo effect in the cubic heavy-fermion compound Ce3Pd20Si6

Abstract

A quantum critical point occurs when different stable phases of matter are in equilibrium at absolute zero temperature. Describing quantum criticality with a theoretical framework that unifies different types of transitions is highly desirable to understand how phenomena such as superconductivity and magnetism interact in correlated electron systems. A study now provides an indication of an underlying universality of quantum criticality, and highlights the role of dimensionality in such a unified theory. How ground states of quantum matter transform between one another reveals deep insights into the mechanisms stabilizing them. Correspondingly, quantum phase transitions are explored in numerous materials classes, with heavy-fermion compounds being among the most prominent ones. Recent studies in an anisotropic heavy-fermion compound have shown that different types of transitions are induced by variations of chemical or external pressure1,2,3, raising the question of the extent to which heavy-fermion quantum criticality is universal. To make progress, it is essential to broaden both the materials basis and the microscopic parameter variety. Here, we identify a cubic heavy-fermion material as exhibiting a field-induced quantum phase transition, and show how the material can be used to explore one extreme of the dimensionality axis. The transition between two different ordered phases is accompanied by an abrupt change of Fermi surface, reminiscent of what happens across the field-induced antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition in the anisotropic YbRh2Si2. This finding leads to a materials-based global phase diagram—a precondition for a unified theoretical description.