Spin-polaron band in the ferromagnetic heavy-fermion superconductor UGe₂

It has long been believed that coexistence among ferromagnetic ordering, superconductivity or heavy-fermion behaviour is impossible, as the former supports parallel spin alignment while the latter two phenomena assume a spin-singlet configuration. This understanding has recently been challenged by a number of observations in uranium intermetallic systems where superconductivity (SC) is found within a ferromagnetic state and both ordering phenomena are facilitated by the same set of comparatively heavy quasiparticles which bind into spin-triplet pairs in the SC state. Within the heavy-fermion scenario, this mechanism necessarily assumes that the magnetism has a band character. This band is expected to be responsible for all three phenomena – heavy-fermion behaviour, ferromagnetism and superconductivity – although its nature and the nature of the heavy quasiparticles have so far remained unclear. Our high-field muon spin rotation measurements are indicative of spin polarons of subnanometer size in UGe₂. These spin polarons behave as heavy quasiparticles made of 5f electrons. Once coherence is established, they may form a narrow spin-polaron band which thus may provide a natural reconciliation of itinerant ferromagnetism with spin-triplet superconductivity and heavy-fermion behaviour