Specific-heat measurements on single-crystalline samples of U ( Pt 1− x Pd x )3 ( x = 0.00, 0.05 and 0.10) reveal anomalously large values for c/T at low temperatures. The data for UPt 3 have previously been analyzed by making use of the enhanced value of the low-temperature Grüneisen parameter. By this analysis, the heavy-electron contribution to the specific heat has been separated from the normal part that is largely due to the phonon term. Taking this latter term to be the same for all three compounds, the heavy-electron contribution has been evaluated for temperatures below 20 K. This contribution is compared with a spin-1/2 Kondo-type of specific heat. The resulting curves for the x = 0.00 and x = 0.10 alloys are very similar and mainly differ in the temperature at which the maximum is found. The effect of an applied magnetic field within the hexagonal plane, however, shifts the maximum to lower temperatures for x = 0.00 whereas for x = 0.10 a shift towards higher temperatures is found.
Metal-to-metal transition and heavy-electron state in
Nd4Ni3O10−δ
