Paper detail

Localized and itinerant dichotomy of electrons in Ba(Fe,Co)2As2

Variant approaches, either based on the Fermi surface nesting or started from the proximity to a Mott-insulator, were proposed to elucidate the physics in iron pnictides, but no consensus has been reached. A fundamental problem concerns the nature of their 3d electrons. Here we report the magnetoresistivity (ρ_xx) and the Hall resistivity (ρ_xy) of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 (x=0 and 0.05) in a magnetic field of up to 55T. The magnetic transition is extremely robust against magnetic field, giving strong evidence that the magnetic ordering is formed by local moments. The magnetic state is featured with a huge magnetoresistance and a distinguished Hall resistivity, ρ_xy(H), which shows a pronounced parabolic field dependence, while the paramagnetic state shows little magnetoresistance and follows a simple linear magnetic field dependence on the Hall resistivity. Analyses of our data, based on a two-carrier model, demonstrate that the electron carriers in the magnetic state rapidly increase upon applying a magnetic field, partially compensating the loss of electron carriers at T_M. We argue that the 3d-electrons in Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 are divided into those who are close to forming localized moments controlling the magnetic transition and the others giving rise to complex transport properties through their interaction with the former.