Strongly hybridized electronic structure of YbAl2: An angle-resolved photoemission study

We report the electronic structure of a prototypical valence fluctuation system, YbAl2, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The observed band dispersions and Fermi surfaces are well described in terms of band structure calculations based on local density approximation. Strong hybridization between the conduction and 4f bands is identified on the basis of the periodic Anderson model. The evaluated small mass enhancement factor and the high Kondo temperature qualitatively agree with those obtained from thermodynamic measurements. Such findings suggest that the strong hybridization suppresses band renormalization and is responsible for the valence fluctuations in YbAl2.