PHENOMENOLOGY OF 2 CHANNEL KONDO ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS

We report realistic calculations of magnetic response and transport coefficients for a model U4+ ion in a metal which undergoes the quadrupolar Kondo effect. We find a small critical regime for the square-root T term in the resistivity rho(T). The magnitude and sign of the square-root T term are argued to be nonuniversal for finite crystal field splitting. Related square-root T terms are found in the van Vleck susceptibility which may be observed in UBe13. The thermopower S(T) and rho(T) show characteristic crystal field related peaks. S(T) undergoes a low-temperature sign change when the dominant fluctuation weight is to the excited f(n+1) configuration from a stable f(n) configuration; this may help explain data for UBe13 and CeCu2Si2. Considering the two-channel lattice in a particular infinite dimension limit, we argue that rho(T = 0) not-equal 0 in the absence of symmetry breaking. This may explain the reproducibly large residual resistivity of UBe13.