Hidden Order Behaviour in URu2Si2 (A Critical Review of the Status of Hidden Order in 2014)

Throughout the past three decades the hidden order (HO) problem in URu$_2$Si$_2$ has remained a "hot topic" in the physics of strongly correlated electron systems with well over 600 publications related to this subject. Presently in 2014 there has been significant progress in combining various experimental results embedded within electronic structure calculations using density functional theory (DFT) to give a consistent description of the itinerant behaviour of the HO transition and its low temperature state. Here we review six different experiments: ARPES, quantum oscillations, neutron scattering, RXD, optical spectroscopy and STM/STS. We then establish the consistencies among these experiments when viewed through the Fermi-surface nesting, folding and gapping framework as predicted by DFT. We also discuss a group of other experiments (torque, cyclotron resonance, NMR and XRD) that are more controversial and are presently in a "transition" state regarding their interpretation as rotational symmetry breaking and dotriacontapole formation. There are also a series of recent "exotic" experiments (Raman scattering, polar Kerr effect and ultrasonics) that require verification, yet they offer new insights into the HO symmetry breaking and order parameter. We conclude with some constraining comments on the microscopic models that rely on localised $5f$-U states and strong Ising anisotropy {for explaining} the HO transition, and with an examination of different models in the light of recent experiments.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures; to appear in Phil. Ma

Finite spin-glass transition of the ±J\pm J XY model in three dimensions

A three-dimensional $\pm J$ XY spin-glass model is investigated by a nonequilibrium relaxation method. We have introduced a new criterion for the finite-time scaling analysis. A transition temperature is obtained by a crossing point of obtained data. The scaling analysis on the relaxation functions of the spin-glass susceptibility and the chiral-glass susceptibility shows that both transitions occur simultaneously. The result is checked by relaxation functions of the Binder parameters and the glass correlation lengths of the spin and the chirality. Every result is consistent if we consider that the transition is driven by the spin degrees of freedom.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, incorrect arguments are delete

Hidden Order in URu2Si2URu_2Si_2

We review current attempts to characterize the underlying nature of the hidden order in $URu_2Si_2$. A wide variety of experiments point to the existence of two order parameters: a large primary order parameter of unknown character which co-exists with secondary antiferromagnetic order. Current theories can be divided into two groups determined by whether or not the primary order parameter breaks time-reversal symmetry. We propose a series of experiments designed to test the time-reversal nature of the underlying primary order in $URu_2Si_2$ and to characterize its local single-ion physics

Exceptional Ising Magnetic Behavior of Itinerant Spin-polarized Carriers in URu2Si2

We show on the basis of electronic structure calculations that the uranium 5$f$ magnetic moment in URu$_2$Si$_2$ exhibits a unique Ising behavior, which surprisingly, arises from itinerant electronic states. The origin of the unusual Ising behavior is analyzed as due to the peculiar near-Fermi edge nested electronic structure of URu$_2$Si$_2$ involving its strong spin-orbit interaction. The Ising anisotropy has pertinent implications for theories applicable to explaining the Hidden Order phase in URu$_2$Si$_2$.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; to be publishe

Reentrant spin glass state in Mn doped Ni2MnSn shape memory alloy

The ground state properties of the ferromagnetic shape memory alloy of nominal composition Ni2Mn1.36Sn0.64 have been studied by dc magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements. Like few other Ni-Mn based alloys, this sample exhibits exchange bias phenomenon. The observed exchange bias pinning was found to originate right from the temperature where a step-like anomaly is present in the zero-field-cooled magnetization data. The ac susceptibility study indicates the onset of spin glass freezing near this step-like anomaly with clear frequency shift. The sample can be identified as a reentrant spin glass with both ferromagnetic and glassy phases coexisting together at low temperature at least in the field-cooled state. The result provides us an comprehensive view to identify the magnetic character of various Ni-Mn-based shape memory alloys with competing magnetic interactions.Comment: 5 figure

Contrasting the magnetic response between magnetic-glass and reentrant spin-glass

Magnetic-glass is a recently identified phenomenon in various classes of magnetic systems undergoing a first order magnetic phase transition. We shall highlight here a few experimentally determined characteristics of magnetic-glass and the relevant set of experiments, which will enable to distinguish a magnetic-glass unequivocally from the well known phenomena of spin-glass and reentrant spin-glass.Comment: 10 pages and 4 figures. The preprint has been amended after taking care of various typographical errors, some errors in Figs.2 and 4 and with the addition of some new references. This version has been accepted for publication in Physical Review

Nonlinear and spin-glass susceptibilities of three site-diluted systems

The nonlinear magnetic $\chi_{3}$ and spin-glass $\chi_{sg}$ susceptibilities in zero applied field are obtained, from tempered Monte Carlo simulations, for three different spin glasses (SGs) of Ising spins with quenched site disorder. We find that the relation $-T^3\chi_3=\chi_{sg}-2/3$ ($T$ is the temperature), which holds for Edwards-Anderson SGs, is approximately fulfilled in canonical-like SGs. For nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions, on a 0.4 fraction of all sites in fcc lattices, as well as for spatially disordered Ising dipolar (DID) systems, $-T^3\chi_3$ and $\chi_{sg}$ appear to diverge in the same manner at the critical temperature $T_{sg}$. However, $-T^3\chi_3$ is smaller than $\chi_{sg}$ by over two orders of magnitude in the diluted fcc system. In DID systems, $-T^3\chi_3/\chi_{sg}$ is very sensitive to the systems aspect ratio. Whereas near $T_{sg}$, $\chi_{sg}$ varies by approximately a factor of 2 as system shape varies from cubic to long-thin-needle shapes, $\chi_3$ sweeps over some four decades.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Quantum critical 5f-electrons avoid singularities in U(Ru,Rh)2Si2

We present specific heat measurements of 4% Rh-doped U(Ru,Rh)2Si2 at magnetic fields above the proposed metamagnetic transition field Hm~34 T, revealing striking similarities to the isotructural Ce analog CeRu2Si2, suggesting that strongly renormalized hybridized band models apply equally well to both systems. The vanishing bandwidths as H --> Hm are consistent with a putative quantum critical point close to Hm. The existence of a phase transition into an ordered phase in the vicinity of Hm for 4% Rh-doped U(Ru,Rh)2Si2, but not for CeRu2Si2, is consistent with a stronger super-exchange in the case of the U 5-f system, with irreversible processes at the transition revealing a strong coupling of the 5f orbitals to the lattice, most suggestive of orbital or electric quadrupolar order.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure