10.1007/s11451-008-1001-8

Abstract

This paper reports on the measurements of the thermal conductivity κ and electrical resistivity ρ in the temperature range 5-300 K and the heat capacity at constant pressure C p in the range 80-300 K for the metallic nonmagnetic compound LuMgCu 4 . The experimental values of κ and C p for the LuMgCu 4 compound are compared with the corresponding data available in the literature for the light heavy-fermion compound YbMgCu 4 . It is shown that, in the low-temperature range (5-20 K), the phonon thermal conductivity κ ph of YbMgCu 4 is lower than κ ph of LuMgCu 4 as a result of phonon scattering from magnetic moment fluctuations of the Yb 4 f electrons and, conversely, the heat capacity of LuMgCu 4 in the range 80-300 K is lower than that of YbMgCu 4 because the heat capacity of the latter compound has an additional magnetic component.