New algorithm and results for the three-dimensional random field Ising Model

The random field Ising model with Gaussian disorder is studied using a new Monte Carlo algorithm. The algorithm combines the advantanges of the replica exchange method and the two-replica cluster method and is much more efficient than the Metropolis algorithm for some disorder realizations. Three-dimensional sytems of size $24^3$ are studied. Each realization of disorder is simulated at a value of temperature and uniform field that is adjusted to the phase transition region for that disorder realization. Energy and magnetization distributions show large variations from one realization of disorder to another. For some realizations of disorder there are three well separated peaks in the magnetization distribution and two well separated peaks in the energy distribution suggesting a first-order transition.Comment: 24 pages, 23 figure

Magnetic phase diagram of the Hubbard model

The competition between commensurate and incommensurate spin-density-wave phases in the infinite-dimensional single-band Hubbard model is examined with quantum Monte Carlo simulation and strong and weak coupling approximations. Quantum fluctuations modify the weak-coupling phase diagram by factors of order unity and produce remarkable agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo data, but strong-coupling theories (that map onto effective Falicov-Kimball models) display pathological behavior. The single-band model can be used to describe much of the experimental data in Cr and its dilute alloys with V and Mn.Comment: 12 pages plus 3 uuencoded postscript figures, ReVTe

Excitonic Correlations in the Intermetallic Fe2VAl

The intermetallic compound Fe2VAl looks non-metallic in transport and strongly metallic in thermodynamic and photoemission data. It has in its band structure a highly differentiated set of valence and conduction bands leading to a semimetallic system with a very low density of carriers. The pseudogap itself is due to interaction of Al states with the d orbitals of Fe and V, but the resulting carriers have little Al character. The effects of generalized gradient corrections to the local density band structure as well spin-orbit coupling are shown to be significant, reducing the carrier density by a factor of three. Doping of this nonmagnetic compound by 0.5 electrons per cell in a virtual crystal fashion results in a moment of 0.5 bohr magnetons and destroys the pseudogap. We assess the tendencies toward formation of an excitonic condensate and toward an excitonic Wigner crystal, and find both to be unlikely. We propose a model is which the observed properties result from excitonic correlations arising from two interpenetrating lattices of distinctive electrons (e_g on V) and holes (t_2g on Fe) of low density (one carrier of each sign per 350 formula units).Comment: 8 2-column pages, 8 postscript figure

Spectral functions of the Falicov-Kimball model with electronic ferroelectricity

We calculate the angular resolved photoemission spectrum of the Falicov-Kimball model with electronic ferroelectricity where $d$- and $f$-electrons have different hoppings. In mix-valence regimes, the presence of strong scattering processes between $d$-$f$ excitons and a hole, created by emission of an electron, leads to the formation of pseudospin polarons and novel electronic structures with bandwidth scaling with that of $d$-$f$ excitons. Especially, in the two-dimensional case, we find that flat regions exist near the bottom of the quasiparticle band in a wide range of the $d$- and $f$-level energy difference.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Effects of Pore Walls and Randomness on Phase Transitions in Porous Media

We study spin models within the mean field approximation to elucidate the topology of the phase diagrams of systems modeling the liquid-vapor transition and the separation of He$^3$--He$^4$ mixtures in periodic porous media. These topologies are found to be identical to those of the corresponding random field and random anisotropy spin systems with a bimodal distribution of the randomness. Our results suggest that the presence of walls (periodic or otherwise) are a key factor determining the nature of the phase diagram in porous media.Comment: REVTeX, 11 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Tricritical behaviour in deterministic aperiodic Ising systems

We use a mixed-spin model, with aperiodic ferromagnetic exchange interactions and crystalline fields, to investigate the effects of deterministic geometric fluctuations on first-order transitions and tricritical phenomena. The interactions and the crystal field parameters are distributed according to some two-letter substitution rules. From a Migdal-Kadanoff real-space renormalization-group calculation, which turns out to be exact on a suitable hierarchical lattice, we show that the effects of aperiodicity are qualitatively similar for tricritical and simple critical behaviour. In particular, the fixed point associated with tricritical behaviour becomes fully unstable beyond a certain threshold dimension (which depends on the aperiodicity), and is replaced by a two-cycle that controls a weakened and temperature-depressed tricritical singularity.Comment: Formatting improved. 7 pages, 2 figures (included). Journal reference adde

Magnetic phases near the Van Hove singularity in s- and d-band Hubbard model

We investigate the magnetic instabilities of the nondegenerate (s-band) and a degenerate (d-band) Hubbard model in two dimensions using many-body effects due to the particle-particle diagrams and Hund's rule local correlations. The density of states and the position of Van Hove singularity change depending on the value of next-nearest neighbor hopping t'. The Stoner parameter is strongly reduced in the s-band case, and ferromagnetism survives only if electron density is small, and the band is almost flat at small momenta due to next-nearest neighbor hopping. In contrast, for the d-band case the reduction of the Stoner parameter which follows from particle-particle correlations is much smaller and ferromagnetism survives to a large extent. Inclusion of local spin-spin correlations has a limited destabilizing effect on the magnetic states.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Influence of Hybridization on the Properties of the Spinless Falicov-Kimball Model

Without a hybridization between the localized f- and the conduction (c-) electron states the spinless Falicov-Kimball model (FKM) is exactly solvable in the limit of high spatial dimension, as first shown by Brandt and Mielsch. Here I show that at least for sufficiently small c-f-interaction this exact inhomogeneous ground state is also obtained in Hartree-Fock approximation. With hybridization the model is no longer exactly solvable, but the approximation yields that the inhomogeneous charge-density wave (CDW) ground state remains stable also for finite hybridization V smaller than a critical hybridization V_c, above which no inhomogeneous CDW solution but only a homogeneous solution is obtained. The spinless FKM does not allow for a ''ferroelectric'' ground state with a spontaneous polarization, i.e. there is no nonvanishing $$-expectation value in the limit of vanishing hybridization.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Theory of Electronic Ferroelectricity

We present a theory of the linear and nonlinear optical characteristics of the insulating phase of the Falicov-Kimball model within the self-consistent mean-field approximation. The Coulomb attraction between the itinerant d-electrons and the localized f-holes gives rise to a built-in coherence between the d and f-states, which breaks the inversion symmetry of the underlying crystal, leading to: (1) electronic ferroelectricity, (2) ferroelectric resonance, and (3) a nonvanishing susceptibility for second-harmonic generation. As experimental tests of such a built-in coherence in mixed-valent compounds we propose measurements of the static dielectric constant, the microwave absorption spectrum, and the dynamic second-order susceptibility.Comment: 15 pages, 5 PostScript figures, submitted to Physical Review

Theory for Spin-Polarized Oscillations in Nonlinear Magneto-Optics due to Quantum Well States

Using an electronic tight-binding theory we calculate the nonlinear magneto-optical response from an x-Cu/1Fe/Cu(001) film as a function of frequency and Cu overlayer thickness (x=3 ... 25). We find very strong spin-polarized quantum well oscillations in the nonlinear magneto-optical Kerr effect (NOLIMOKE). These are enhanced by the large density of Fe $d$ states close to the Fermi level acting as intermediate states for frequency doubling. In good agreement with experiment we find two oscillation periods of 6-7 and 11 monolayers the latter being more pronounced.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, 3 postscript figure