Competition of superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in RNi2B2C (RÂ =Â Tm, Dy, Ho, Er)

The co-existence of superconductivity (SC) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) in RNi2B2C (R = Tm, Dy, Ho, Er) is reported in this paper. A mean field Hamiltonian model is taken for the system. The order parameters corresponding to SC and AFM are determined and their variation with temperature are studied for these borocarbide superconductors. The interplay of SC and AFM shows BCS type of two gaps in the quasi-particle density of states. Our theoretical study is an attempt to reveal how far the s-wave pairing taken in our model could explain the coexistence properties of SC and AFM in RNi2B2C.