Lattice instabilities in heavy fermion superconductors. [CeCu/sub 2/Si/sub 2/; CeAl/sub 3/; CeCu/sub 6/; UBe/sub 13/; UPt/sub 3/]

This paper shows that while in nonsuperconducting HF systems such as CeCu/sub 6/, CeAl/sub 3/ and stoichiometric CeCu/sub 2/Si/sub 2/, the large electronic ..gamma.. is due to a very narrow f band, in the three HF superconductors UBe/sub 13/, UPt/sub 3/ and nonstochiometric CeCu/sub 2/Si/sub 2/, it is not. The f band of these systems, as measured by their response to magnetic fields in three different ways, is much wider than suggested by the large ..gamma... According to their actual f band width, the HF superconductors belong into the Bantam Fermion class. It is argued that most of the large ..gamma.. of the HF superconductors is not of electronic origin and that it is instead caused by the precursor of a martensitic phase transition of the lattice or by a crystallographic phase mixture, i.e., that it is due to the displacive degrees of freedom. This suggests that the superconductivity of all three HF superconductors is caused by some special, low energy phonons rather than by a narrow f band. 52 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.