Quantum Phases of the Shastry-Sutherland Kondo Lattice: Implications for the Global Phase Diagram of Heavy Fermion Metals

Considerable recent theoretical and experimental efforts have been devoted to the study of quantum criticality and novel phases of antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion metals. In particular, quantum phase transitions have been discovered in the compound Yb$_2$Pt$_2$Pb. These developments have motivated us to study the competition between the RKKY and Kondo interactions on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice. We determine the zero-temperature phase diagram as a function of magnetic frustration and Kondo coupling within a slave-fermion approach. Pertinent phases include the Shastry-Sutherland valence bond solid and heavy Fermi liquid. In the presence of antiferromagnetic order, our zero-temperature phase diagram is remarkably similar to the global phase diagram proposed earlier based on general grounds. We discuss the implications of our results for the experiments on Yb$_2$Pt$_2$Pb and other geometrically frustrated heavy fermion compounds.

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