Electronic Specific Heat of CexLa1-xPd3 Ternary Alloys

The heat capacity of the cubic Ce x La 1- x Pd 3 ternary alloys have been measured in the temperature range 1.5 to 10 K. The alloys consist of single phases except in the region 0.3< x <0.5. These measurements supplement earlier measurements on the electrical resistivity on these alloys which had revealed the Kondo side-band effect. The specific heats for the compositions x =1.0 and 0.8 were found to obey the equation C P =γ T +β T 3 with a high value for γ. The heat capacities for the remaining compositions showed marked deviations from this simple relation, and exhibited well-defined minima in the C P / T versus T 2 curves in some cases. These deviations were attributed to the influence of paramagnons. The significance of these results are discussed in terms of a model for the electronic structure of these alloys.