Anisotropic signatures of electronic correlations in the electrical resistivity of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mi>UTe</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>
T. Thebault, Michal Vališka, G. Lapertot, Alexandre Pourret, D. Aoki, G. Knebel, D. Braithwaite, W. Knafo
Abstract
Multiple unconventional superconducting phases are suspected to be driven by magnetic fluctuations in the heavy-fermion paramagnet ${\mathrm{UTe}}_{2}$, and a challenge is to identify the signatures of the electronic correlations, including the magnetic fluctuations, in the bulk physical quantities. Here, we investigate thoroughly the anisotropy of the electrical resistivity of ${\mathrm{UTe}}_{2}$ under intense magnetic fields up to 70 T, for different electrical-current and magnetic-field configurations. Two characteristic temperatures and an anisotropic low-temperature Fermi-liquid-like coefficient $A$, controlled by the electronic correlations, are extracted. Their critical behavior near the metamagnetic transition induced at ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{0}{H}_{m}\ensuremath{\simeq}35$ T for $\mathbf{H}\ensuremath{\parallel}\mathbf{b}$ is characterized. Anisotropic scattering processes are evidenced and magnetic fluctuations are proposed to contribute, via a Kondo hybridization, to the electrical resistivity. Our work appeals for a microscopic modeling of the anisotropic contributions to the electrical resistivity as a milestone for understanding magnetically mediated superconductivity in ${\mathrm{UTe}}_{2}$.