Defects in heavy-fermion materials: unveiling strong correlations in real space

Defects provide important insight into the complex electronic and magnetic structure of heavy-fermion materials by inducing qualitatively different real-space perturbations in the electronic and magnetic correlations of the system. These perturbations possess direct experimental signatures in the local density of states, such as an impurity bound state, and the nonlocal spin susceptibility. Moreover, highly nonlinear quantum interference between defect-induced perturbations can drive the system through a first-order phase transition to a novel inhomogeneous ground state.