Mixed-valence insulators with neutral Fermi-surfaces

ORAL

Abstract

Samarium hexaboride is a classic three-dimensional mixed valence system with a high-temperature metallic phase that evolves into a paramagnetic charge insulator below 40 kelvin. A number of recent experiments have suggested the possibility that the low-temperature insulating bulk hosts electrically neutral gapless fermionic excitations. In this work we describe a new phase of matter---composite exciton Fermi liquid--- a mixed valence insulator with a three dimensional fermi-surface of a neutral fermion, that we name the "composite exciton". We describe the mechanism responsible for the formation of such excitons, discuss the phenomenology of the composite exciton Fermi-liquids and make comparison to experiments in SmB6.

Presenters

  • Senthil Todadri

    MIT, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT

Authors

  • Senthil Todadri

    MIT, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT

  • Debanjan Chowdhury

    MIT, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT

  • Inti Sodemann

    Physics, Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT, Max Planck Insitute for the Physics of Complex Systems