Quenching of spin fluctuations by high magnetic fields in the heat capacity of CeSn3

The low-temperature (1.3-20.0-K) heat capacity of the mixed-valent compound Ce${\mathrm{Sn}}_3$ was measured in magnetic fields up to ∼ 10 T. The electronic specific heat constant $\gamma$ decreases with increasing fields and at 9.98 T reaches $\sim \frac{3}{4}$ of the zero-field value. The nearly constant value of $\gamma$ for $H>\mathrm{}7.5\mathrm{}\mathrm{T}$ suggests that the spin fluctuations are probably completely quenched by 10 T. The $T^3 \ln T$ term of the heat capacity observed in zero field disappears in fields > 2.5 T. Furthermore, the applied magnetic field induces a magnetic moment on the Ce atoms, and this leads to a magnetic contribution to the heat capacity which has a $T^3$ temperature dependence. Analysis of the heat-capacity data of Ce${\mathrm{Sn}}_3$ yields the many-body enhancement factor due to paramagnons (${\lambda }_{\mathrm{spin}}$) as 0.65, the Stoner enhancement factor ($S$) as 4.23, the spinfluctuation temperature ($T_s$) as 5.8 K, and the effective field sufficient to quench spin fluctuations ($H_{\mathrm{eff}}$) as 8.6 T. The field dependence of the electronic contribution to the heat capacity is compared with that predicted by two theoretical models and the agreement is fair in one case and poor in the second case.