Metallic Continuum Quantum Ferromagnets at Finite Temperature

We study via renormalization group (RG) and large N methods the problem of continuum SU(N) quantum Heisenberg ferromagnets (QHF) coupled to gapless electrons. We establish the phase diagram of the dissipative problem and investigate the changes in the Curie temperature, magnetization, and magnetic correlation length due to dissipation and both thermal and quantum fluctuations. We show that the interplay between the topological term (Berry's phase) and dissipation leads to non-trivial effects for the finite temperature critical behavior.Comment: Corrected typos, new discussion of T=0 results, to appear in Europhys. Let

Conductivity of suspended and non-suspended graphene at finite gate voltage

We compute the DC and the optical conductivity of graphene for finite values of the chemical potential by taking into account the effect of disorder, due to mid-gap states (unitary scatterers) and charged impurities, and the effect of both optical and acoustic phonons. The disorder due to mid-gap states is treated in the coherent potential approximation (CPA, a self-consistent approach based on the Dyson equation), whereas that due to charged impurities is also treated via the Dyson equation, with the self-energy computed using second order perturbation theory. The effect of the phonons is also included via the Dyson equation, with the self energy computed using first order perturbation theory. The self-energy due to phonons is computed both using the bare electronic Green's function and the full electronic Green's function, although we show that the effect of disorder on the phonon-propagator is negligible. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments. Quantitative agreement could be obtained if one assumes water molelcules under the graphene substrate. We also comment on the electron-hole asymmetry observed in the DC conductivity of suspended graphene.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure

Particle Creation by a Moving Boundary with Robin Boundary Condition

We consider a massless scalar field in 1+1 dimensions satisfying a Robin boundary condition (BC) at a non-relativistic moving boundary. We derive a Bogoliubov transformation between input and output bosonic field operators, which allows us to calculate the spectral distribution of created particles. The cases of Dirichlet and Neumann BC may be obtained from our result as limiting cases. These two limits yield the same spectrum, which turns out to be an upper bound for the spectra derived for Robin BC. We show that the particle emission effect can be considerably reduced (with respect to the Dirichlet/Neumann case) by selecting a particular value for the oscillation frequency of the boundary position

Distortion of the perfect lattice structure in bilayer graphene

We consider the instability of bilayer graphene with respect to a distorted configuration in the same spirit as the model introduced by Su, Schrieffer and Heeger. By computing the total energy of a distorted bilayer, we conclude that the ground state of the system favors a finite distortion. We explore how the equilibrium configuration changes with carrier density and an applied potential difference between the two layers

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