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Emergence of a Fermionic Finite-Temperature Critical Point in a Kondo Lattice
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Emergence of a Fermionic Finite-Temperature Critical Point in a Kondo Lattice

Po-Hao Chou, Liang-Jun Zhai, Chung-Hou Chung, Chung-Yu Mou and Ting-Kuo Lee
Physical Review Letters, Vol.116(17), 177002
27/04/2016

Abstract

The underlying Dirac point is central to the profound physics manifested in a wide class of materials. However, it is often difficult to drive a system with Dirac points across the massless fermionic critical point. Here by exploiting screening of local moments under spin-orbit interactions in a Kondo lattice, we show that below the Kondo temperature, the Kondo lattice undergoes a topological transition from a strong topological insulator to a weak topological insulator at a finite temperature TD. At TD, massless Dirac points emerge and the Kondo lattice becomes a Dirac semimetal. Our analysis indicates that the emergent relativistic symmetry dictates nontrivial thermal responses over large parameter and temperature regimes. In particular, it yields critical scaling behaviors both in magnetic and transport responses near TD.

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