Spin fluctuations and ferromagnetic order in two-dimensional itinerant systems with Van Hove singularities

The quasistatic approach is used to analyze the criterion of ferromagnetism for two-dimensional (2D) systems with the Fermi level near Van Hove (VH) singularities of the electron spectrum. It is shown that the spectrum of spin excitations (paramagnons) is positively defined when the interaction between electrons and paramagnons, determined by the Hubbard on-site repulsion U, is sufficiently large. Due to incommensurate spin fluctuations near the ferromagnetic quantum phase transition, the critical interaction Uc remains finite at VH filling and exceeds considerably its value obtained from the Stoner criterion. A comparison with the functional renormalization group results and mean-field approximation which yields a phase separation is also performed

Perturbation theories for the S=1/2 spin ladder with four-spin ring exchange

The isotropic S=1/2 antiferromagnetic spin ladder with additional four-spin ring exchange is studied perturbatively in the strong coupling regime with the help of cluster expansion technique, and by means of bosonization in the weak coupling limit. It is found that a sufficiently large strength of ring exchange leads to a second-order phase transition, and the shape of the boundary in the vicinity of the known exact transition point is obtained. The critical exponent for the gap is found to be $\eta\simeq1$, in agreement both with exact results available for the dimer line and with the bosonization analysis. The phase emerging for high values of the ring exchange is argued to be gapped and spontaneously dimerized. The results for the transition line from strong coupling and from weak coupling match with each other naturally.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, some minor changes in text and reference

Ferromagnetism, spiral magnetic structures and phase separation in the two-dimensional Hubbard model

The quasistatic approximation and equation-of-motion decoupling for the electron Green's functions are applied to trace the effect of electronic dispersion and electron correlations on the ferromagnetism of two-dimensional itinerant-electron systems. It is found that next-nearest-neighbor hopping t' is of crucial importance for ferromagnetism formation yielding the magnetic phase diagram which is strongly asymmetric with respect to half-filling. At small t' in the vicinity of half-filling the ferromagnetic phase region is restricted by the spin-density wave instability, and far from half-filling by one-particle (spin-polaron) instability. At t' close to t/2 ferromagnetism is stabilized at moderate Hubbard U due to substantial curvature of the Fermi surface which passes in the vicinity of the van Hove singularity points. The results obtained are of possible importance for high-T_c compounds and layered ruthenates.Comment: Report on the Moscow International Symposium on Magnetism MISM-2011; final version to appear in JMMM; 4 page

Phase Diagram of the Heisenberg Spin Ladder with Ring Exchange

We investigate the phase diagram of a generalized spin-1/2 quantum antiferromagnet on a ladder with rung, leg, diagonal, and ring-exchange interactions. We consider the exactly soluble models associated with the problem, obtain the exact ground states which exist for certain parameter regimes, and apply a variety of perturbative techniques in the regime of strong ring-exchange coupling. By combining these approaches with considerations related to the discrete Z_4 symmetry of the model, we present the complete phase diagram.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Theoretical analysis of neutron scattering results for quasi-two dimensional ferromagnets

A theoretical study has been carried out to analyse the available results from the inelastic neutron scattering experiment performed on a quasi-two dimensional spin-1/2 ferromagnetic material $K_2CuF_4$. Our formalism is based on a conventional semi-classical like treatment involving a model of an ideal gas of vortices/anti-vortices corresponding to an anisotropic XY Heisenberg ferromagnet on a square lattice. The results for dynamical structure functions for our model corresponding to spin-1/2, show occurrence of negative values in a large range of energy transfer even encompassing the experimental range, when convoluted with a realistic spectral window function. This result indicates failure of the conventional theoretical framework to be applicable to the experimental situation corresponding to low spin systems. A full quantum formalism seems essential for treating such systems.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 Table Submitted for publicatio

Thermodynamic Properties of Spin Ladders with Cyclic Exchange

By high temperature series expansion and exact complete diagonalization the magnetic susceptibility chi(T) and the specific heat C(T) of a two-leg S=1/2 ladder with cyclic (4-spin) exchange are computed. Both methods yield convincing results for not too small temperatures. We find that a small amount of cyclic exchange influences the thermodynamical properties significantly. Our results can serve as reliable basis for an efficient analysis of experimental dataComment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Quantum phase transitions and thermodynamic properties in highly anisotropic magnets

The systems exhibiting quantum phase transitions (QPT) are investigated within the Ising model in the transverse field and Heisenberg model with easy-plane single-site anisotropy. Near QPT a correspondence between parameters of these models and of quantum phi^4 model is established. A scaling analysis is performed for the ground-state properties. The influence of the external longitudinal magnetic field on the ground-state properties is investigated, and the corresponding magnetic susceptibility is calculated. Finite-temperature properties are considered with the use of the scaling analysis for the effective classical model proposed by Sachdev. Analytical results for the ordering temperature and temperature dependences of the magnetization and energy gap are obtained in the case of a small ground-state moment. The forms of dependences of observable quantities on the bare splitting (or magnetic field) and renormalized splitting turn out to be different. A comparison with numerical calculations and experimental data on systems demonstrating magnetic and structural transitions (e.g., into singlet state) is performed.Comment: 46 pages, RevTeX, 6 figure

Universal properties of frustrated spin systems: 1/N-expansion and renormalization group approaches

We consider a quantum two-dimensional O(N)xO(2)/O(N-2)xO(2) nonlinear sigma model for frustrated spin systems and formulate its 1/N-expansion which involves fluctuating scalar and vector fields describing kinematic and dynamic interactions, respectively. The ground state phase diagram of this model is obtained within the 1/N-expansion and 2+\epsilon renormalization group approaches. The temperature dependence of correlation length in the renormalized classical and quantum critical regimes is discussed. In the region of the symmetry broken ground state \rho_in<\rho_out, \chi_in<\chi_out (rho_in,out and chi_in,out are the in- and out-of-plane spin stiffnesses and susceptibilities), where the mass M_\mu of the vector field can be arbitrarily small, physical properties at finite temperatures are universal functions of rho_in,out, chi_in,out, and temperature T. For small M_\mu these properties show a crossover from low- to high temperature regime at T \sim M_\mu. For \rho_in>\rho_out or \chi_in>\chi_out finite-temperature properties are universal functions only at sufficiently large M_\mu. The high-energy behaviour in the latter regime is similar to the Landau-pole dependence of the physical charge e in quantum electrodynamics, with mass M_\mu playing a role of e^{-1}. The application of the results obtained to the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet is considered

Quasiparticle anisotropy and pseudogap formation: a weak-coupling renormalization-group analysis

We calculate the self-energy at weak-coupling for the t-t' Hubbard model within the one-loop functional RG approach. At van Hove (vH) band fillings the quasiparticle (qp) concept is found invalid at k(F)=(pi, 0). At low temperature the qp weight along the Fermi surface continuously vanishes from a finite value at the zone diagonal towards the (pi, 0) point. Away from vH band fillings the qp peak is formed inside a pseudogap of size Delta, and within a finite frequency window vertical bar omega vertical bar << Delta around the Fermi energy the electronic self-energy has the conventional Fermi-liquid form. With increasing separation between Fermi level and vHs the spectral anomalies gradually disappear. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved