Superconductivity and Quantum Phase Transitions in Weak Itinerant Ferromagnets

Abstract

It is argued that the phase transition in low Tc clean itinerant ferromagnets is generically of first order, due to correlation effects that lead to a nonanalytic term in the free energy. A tricritical point separates the line of first order transitions from Heisenberg critical behavior at higher temperatures. Sufficiently strong quenched disorder suppresses the first order transition via the appearance of a critical endpoint. A semi-quantitative discussion is given in terms of recent experiments on MnSi and UGe2. It is then shown that the critical temperature for spin-triplet, p-wave superconductivity mediated by spin fluctuations is generically much higher in a Heisenberg ferromagnetic phase than in a paramagnetic one, due to the coupling of magnons to the longitudinal magnetic susceptibility. This qualitatively explains the phase diagram recently observed in UGe2 and ZrZn2.

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

ferromagnetic material; germanium; manganese; silicon dioxide; uranium; energy; magnetism; mathematical analysis; phase transition; temperature

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0217-9792

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2003 World Scientific Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2003

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS