Electrical and thermal transport properties of dilute Pr in Pd

We have measured susceptibility, electrical resistivity thermopower, thermal conductivity, specific heat, thermal lattice expansion and Hall effect of dilute alloys of Pr (x = 0.014, 0.03) and of Lu (x = 0.014) in Pd. We find a rather strong valence instability at room temperature from L_III X-ray absorption (v = 3.1), which manifests itself by a concentration-independent characteristic temperature, by a resistivity minimum and by a strong anomally of the thermopower. The susceptibility also indicates strong magnetic polarisation of the surrounding Pd-atoms through the excited crystal field levels but not through the ground state of the impurity. The neutron scattering shows several sharp crystal field excitations between 0 and 1 meV and a very broad quasi-elastic scattering at higher temperatures with the 4f-form factor. We take this also as evidence for a weak coupling of valence instabilities to the low lying crystal field levels of the impurity and a strong coupling to the higher ones.