Generalized theory of spin fluctuations in itinerant electron magnets: crucial role of spin anharmonicity

The paper critically overviews the recent developments of the theory of spin fluctuations (SF) in itinerant electron magnetism with particular emphasis on spin-fluctuation coupling or spin anharmonicity. It is argued that the conventional self-consistent renormalized (SCR) theory of spin fluctuations is usually used aside of the range of its applicability actually defined by the constraint of weak spin anharmonicity based on the random phase approximation (RPA) arguments. An essential step in understanding SF in itinerant magnets beyond RPA-like arguments was made recently within the soft-mode theory of SF accounting for strong spin anharmonicity caused by zero-point SF. In the present paper we generalize it to apply for a wider range of temperatures and regimes of SF and show it to lead to qualitatively new results caused by zero-point effects

Impurity relaxation mechanism for dynamic magnetization reversal in a single domain grain

The interaction of coherent magnetization rotation with a system of two-level impurities is studied. Two different, but not contradictory mechanisms, the `slow-relaxing ion' and the `fast-relaxing ion' are utilized to derive a system of integro-differential equations for the magnetization. In the case that the impurity relaxation rate is much greater than the magnetization precession frequency, these equations can be written in the form of the Landau-Lifshitz equation with damping. Thus the damping parameter can be directly calculated from these microscopic impurity relaxation processes

Effects of Spin Fluctuations and Anomalous Thermal Expansion of delta-Plutonium

We suggest a model for the magnetic dynamics of - plutonium and its alloys in order to show that the dynamical fluctuations of the magnetization density, or spin fluctuations, may be responsible for the anomalies of their observed thermal expansion. We show that due to strong magneto-elastic coupling, spin fluctuations may essentially contribute to the volume strain by giving a negative magneto-volume contribution that is proportional to the squared local magnetic moment and the magnetic Gruneisen constant which is negative in - plutonium. In the presented model, the local magnetic moment increases as the temperature rises, resulting in the interplay between the positive contributions to the volume strain from the lattice and the negative contribution from spin fluctuations, and finally leads to the Invar anomaly or to the negative coefficient of thermal expansion. Our results agree closely with the measured thermal expansion data for Pu-Ga alloys

Spin Fluctuations and the Magnetic Phase Diagram of ZrZn2

The magnetic properties of the weak itinerant ferromagnet ZrZn_2 are analyzed using Landau theory based on a comparison of density functional calculations and experimental data as a function of field and pressure. We find that the magnetic properties are strongly affected by the nearby quantum critical point, even at zero pressure; LDA calculations neglecting quantum critical spin fluctuations overestimate the magnetization by a factor of approximately three. Using renormalized Landau theory, we extract pressure dependence of the fluctuation amplitude. It appears that a simple scaling based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem provides a good description of this pressure dependence.Comment: 4 revtex page

Magnetism, Critical Fluctuations and Susceptibility Renormalization in Pd

Some of the most popular ways to treat quantum critical materials, that is, materials close to a magnetic instability, are based on the Landau functional. The central quantity of such approaches is the average magnitude of spin fluctuations, which is very difficult to measure experimentally or compute directly from the first principles. We calculate the parameters of the Landau functional for Pd and use these to connect the critical fluctuations beyond the local-density approximation and the band structure.Comment: Replaced with the revised version accepted for publication. References updated, errors corrected, other change

Phenomenological Model of Longitudinal Spin Fluctuations in Itinerant Antiferromagnets

We present the phenomenological analysis of the spectrum of longitudinal spin fluctuations in isotropic itinerant electron antiferromagnets with account of spin anharmonicity giving rise to coupling of transverse and longitudinal normal modes. The spectrum consists of a quasielastic part forming a central peak or a dip, depending on temperature and the Landau relaxation rate. Effects of spin fluctuation coupling also give rise to an inelastic part of the spectrum which has a form of resonances or antiresonances near the magnon frequencies related to non-propagating longitudinal excitations

Quantum oscillations of nitrogen atoms in uranium nitride

The vibrational excitations of crystalline solids corresponding to acoustic or optic one phonon modes appear as sharp features in measurements such as neutron spectroscopy. In contrast, many-phonon excitations generally produce a complicated, weak, and featureless response. Here we present time-of-flight neutron scattering measurements for the binary solid uranium nitride (UN), showing well-defined, equally-spaced, high energy vibrational modes in addition to the usual phonons. The spectrum is that of a single atom, isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator and characterizes independent motions of light nitrogen atoms, each found in an octahedral cage of heavy uranium atoms. This is an unexpected and beautiful experimental realization of one of the fundamental, exactly-solvable problems in quantum mechanics. There are also practical implications, as the oscillator modes must be accounted for in the design of generation IV nuclear reactors that plan to use UN as a fuel.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Nature Communications, supplementary information adde