Mixed-valence insulators with neutral Fermi surfaces

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 K. A number of recent experiments have suggested the possibility that the low-Temperature insulating bulk hosts electrically neutr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chowdhury, Debanjan, Sodemann Villadiego, Inti A., Senthil, T.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Format: Article
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118845
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1824-5167
Description
Summary: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 K. A number of recent experiments have suggested the possibility that the low-Temperature insulating bulk hosts electrically neutral gapless fermionic excitations. Here we show that a possible ground state of strongly correlated mixed valence insulators-a composite exciton Fermi liquid-hosts 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.