Antiferromagnetic metal to heavy-fermion metal quantum phase transition in the Kondo lattice model: A strong coupling approach

We study the quantum phase transition from an antiferromagnetic metal to a heavy fermion metal in the Kondo lattice model. Based on the strong coupling approach we {\it first} diagonalize the Kondo coupling term. Since this strong coupling approach makes the resulting Kondo term {\it relevant}, the Kondo hybridization persists even in the antiferromagnetic metal, indicating that fluctuations of Kondo singlets are not critical in the phase transition. We find that the quantum transition in our strong coupling approach results from {\it softening of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations of localized spins}, driven by the Kondo interaction. Thus, the volume change of Fermi surface becomes continuous across the transition. …