Heavy fermions in high magnetic fields

Abstract

A qualitative picture of the metamagnetic transition in the Anderson lattice model of heavy fermion Ce compounds is described and a strong coupling spin fluctuation theory of the high field state is presented. The field dependence of the minority spin quasiparticle mass is calculated and the onset of the metamagnetic transition with decreasing field is discussed. The theory of the high field state is extended to include Landau levels and the oscillatory behaviour of the spin self-energy as a function of the inverse applied field is investigated. For the heavy fermion model considered such oscillations of the self-energy lead to significant modifications in the standard theory of the de Haas - van Alphen effect. The possible relevance to anomalous experimental results on CeRu₂Si₂ is discussed.