Self-consistent perturbational study of insulator-to-metal transition in Kondo insulators due to strong magnetic field

Abstract

In order to study the effects of strong magnetic field on Kondo insulators, we calculate magnetization curves and single-particle excitation spectra of the periodic Anderson model at half-filling under finite magnetic field by using the self-consistent second-order perturbation theory combined with the local approximation which becomes exact in the limit of infinite spatial dimensions. Without magnetic field, the system behaves as an insulator with an energy gap, describing the Kondo insulators. By applying magnetic field to f-electrons, we found that the energy gap closes and the first order transition from insulator to metal takes place at a critical field $H_c$. The magnetization curve shows a jump at $H_c$. These are consistent with our previous study in terms of the exact diagonalization. Relationship to the experiments on YbB$_{12}$ and some other Kondo insulators is discussed.