Quantum Phase Transition in $\rm CeCoIn_5$: Experimental Facts and Theory

Abstract

Condensed-matter community is involved in hot debate on the nature of quantum critical points (QCP) governing the low-temperature properties of heavy fermion metals. The smeared jump like behavior revealed both in the residual resistivity $\rho_0$ and the Hall resistivity $R_H$, along with the violation of the time invariance symmetry $\mathcal{T}$ and the charge invariance $\mathcal{C}$, including the violation of quasiparticle-hole symmetry, and providing vital clues on the origin of both the non-Fermi-liquid behavior and QCP. For the first time, based on a number of important experimental data, we show that these experimental observations point out unambiguously that QCP of $\rm CeCoIn_5$ is accompanied by the symmetry violation, and QCP itself is represented by the topological fermion-condensation quantum phase transition (FCQPT) connecting two Fermi surfaces of different topological charges.