Partial Disorder and Metal-Insulator Transition in the Periodic Anderson Model on a Triangular Lattice

The ground state of the periodic Anderson model on a triangular lattice is systematically investigated by mean-field approximation. We found that the model exhibits two different types of partially disordered states: one is at half filling and the other is at other commensurate fillings. In the latter case, the kinetic energy is lowered by forming an extensive network involving both magnetic and nonmagnetic sites, in sharp contrast to the former case in which nonmagnetic sites are rather isolated. This spatially extended nature of nonmagnetic sites yields a metallic partially disordered state by hole doping. We discuss the mechanism of the metal-insulator transition by the change in electronic structure.