17,984 research outputs found
Interplay between disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in ferromagnetic alloys: The case of UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x)
We consider, theoretically and experimentally, the effects of structural
disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in the magnetic and transport
properties of certain ferromagnetic alloys.We study the particular case of
UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x). The low temperature resistivity, rho(T,x), exhibits Fermi
liquid (FL) behavior as a function of temperature T for all values of x, which
can be interpreted as a result of the magnetic scattering of the conduction
electrons from the localized U spins. The residual resistivity, rho(0,x),
follows the behavior of a disordered binary alloy. The observed non-monotonic
dependence of the Curie temperature, Tc(x), with x can be explained within a
model of localized spins interacting with an electronic bath whose transport
properties cross-over from ballistic to diffusive regimes. Our results clearly
show that the Curie temperature of certain alloys can be enhanced due to the
interplay between quantum and thermal fluctuations with disorder.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
On Dirac-like Monopoles in a Lorentz- and CPT-violating Electrodynamics
We study magnetic monopoles in a Lorentz- and CPT-odd electrodynamical
framework in (3+1) dimensions. This is the standard Maxwell model extended by
means of a Chern-Simons-like term, (
constant), which respects gauge invariance but violates both Lorentz and CPT
symmetries (as a consequence, duality is also lost). Our main interest concerns
the analysis of the model in the presence of Dirac monopoles, so that the
Bianchi identity no longer holds, which naively yields the non-conservation of
electric charge. Since gauge symmetry is respected, the issue of charge
conservation is more involved. Actually, the inconsistency may be circumvented,
if we assume that the appearance of a monopole induces an extra electric
current. The reduction of the model to (2+1) dimensions in the presence of both
the magnetic sources and Lorentz-violating terms is presented. There, a
quantization condition involving the scalar remnant of , say, the mass
parameter, is obtained. We also point out that the breaking of duality may be
associated with an asymmetry between electric and magnetic sources in this
background, so that the electromagnetic force experienced by a magnetic pole is
supplemented by an extra term proportional to , whenever compared to the
one acting on an electric charge.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, typed in te
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