Evidence for freezing of charge degrees of freedom across a critical point in CeCoIn5
Abstract
The presence of a quantum critical point separating two distinct zero-temperature phases is thought to underlie the `strange' metal state of many high-temperature superconductors. The nature of this quantum critical point, as well as a description of the resulting strange metal, are central open problems in condensed matter physics. In large part, the controversy stems from the lack of a clear broken symmetry to characterize the critical phase transition, and this challenge is no clearer than in the example of the unconventional superconductor CeCoIn5. Through Hall effect and Fermi surface measurements of CeCoIn5, in comparison to ab initio calculations, we find evidence for a critical point that connects two Fermi surfaces with different volumes without apparent symmetry-breaking, indicating the presence of a transition that involves an abrupt localization of one sector of the charge degrees of freedom. We present a model for the anomalous electrical Hall resistivity of this material based on the conductivity of valence charge fluctuations.