Universal low-temperature tricritical point in metallic ferromagnets and ferrimagnets

An earlier theory of the quantum phase transition in metallic ferromagnets is revisited and generalized in three ways. It is shown that the mechanism that leads to a fluctuation-induced first-order transition in metallic ferromagnets with a low Curie temperature is valid, (1) irrespective of whether the magnetic moments are supplied by the conduction electrons or by electrons in another band, (2) for ferromagnets in the XY and Ising universality classes as well as for Heisenberg ferromagnets, and (3) for ferrimagnets as well as for ferromagnets. This vastly expands the class of materials for which a first-order transition at low temperatures is expected, and it explains why strongly anisotropic ferromagnets, such as UGe2, display a first-order transition as well as Heisenberg magnets.Comment: 11pp, 2 fig

Columnar Fluctuations as a Source of Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior in Weak Metallic Magnets

It is shown that columnar fluctuations, in conjunction with weak quenched disorder, lead to a T^{3/2} temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity. This is proposed as an explanation of the observed non-Fermi-liquid behavior in the helimagnet MnSi, with one possible realization of the columnar fluctuations provided by skyrmion lines that have independently been proposed to be present in this material.Comment: 4pp, 4 figure

Breakdown of Hydrodynamic Transport Theory in the Ordered Phase of Helimagnets

It is shown that strong fluctuations preclude a hydrodynamic description of transport phenomena in helimagnets, such as MnSi, at T>0. This breakdown of hydrodynamics is analogous to the one in chiral liquid crystals. Mode-mode coupling effects lead to infinite renormalizations of various transport coefficients, and the actual macroscopic description is nonlocal. At T=0 these effects are weakened due to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and the renormalizations remain finite. Observable consequences of these results, as manifested in the neutron scattering cross-section, are discussedComment: 4pp., 1 eps figur

Pair Connectedness and Shortest Path Scaling in Critical Percolation

We present high statistics data on the distribution of shortest path lengths between two near-by points on the same cluster at the percolation threshold. Our data are based on a new and very efficient algorithm. For $d=2$ they clearly disprove a recent conjecture by M. Porto et al., Phys. Rev. {\bf E 58}, R5205 (1998). Our data also provide upper bounds on the probability that two near-by points are on different infinite clusters.Comment: 7 pages, including 4 postscript figure

Onset of phase correlations in YBa2Cu3O{7-x} as determined from reversible magnetization measurements

Isofield magnetization curves are obtained and analyzed for three single crystals of YBa2Cu3O{7-x}, ranging from optimally doped to very underdoped, as well as the BCS superconductor Nb, in the presence of magnetic fields applied both parallel and perpendicular to the $ab$ planes. Near Tc, the magnetization exhibits a temperature dependence \sqrt{M} [Ta(H)-T]^m. In accordance with recent theories, we associated Ta(H) with the onset of coherent phase fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter. For Nb and optimally doped YBaCuO, Ta(H) is essentially identical to the mean-field transition line Tc(H). The fitting exponent m=0.5 takes its mean-field value for Nb, and varies just slightly from 0.5 for optimally doped YBaCuO. However, underdoped YBCO samples exhibit anomalous behavior, with Ta(H)>Tc for H applied parallel to the c axis, suggesting that the magnetization is probing a region of temperatures above Tc where phase correlations persist. In this region, the fitting exponent falls in the range 0.5 < m < 0.8 for H\parallel c, compared with m~0. for $H\parallel ab planes. The results are interpreted in terms of an anisotropic pairing symmetry of the order parameter: d-wave along the ab planes and s-wave along the c axis.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

On the Lawrence–Doniach and Anisotropic Ginzburg–Landau Models for Layered Superconductors

The authors consider two models, the Lawrence-Doniach and the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau models for layered superconductors such as the recently discovered high-temperature superconductors. A mathematical description of both models is given and existence results for their solution are derived. The authors then relate the two models in the sense that they show that as the layer spacing tends to zero, the Lawrence-Doniach model reduces to the anisotropic Ginzburg- Landau model. Finally, simplified versions of the models are derived that can be used to accurately simulate high-temperature superconductors

Ordered Phases of Itinerant Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Magnets and Their Electronic Properties

A field theory appropriate for magnets that display helical order due to the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya mechanism, a class that includes MnSi and FeGe, is used to derive the phase diagram in a mean-field approximation. The helical phase, the conical phase in an external magnetic field, and recent proposals for the structure of the A-phase and the non-Fermi-liquid region in the paramagnetic phase are discussed. It is shown that the orientation of the helical pitch vector along an external magnetic field within the conical phase occurs via two distinct phase transitions. The Goldstone modes that result from the long-range order in the various phases are determined, and their consequences for electronic properties, in particular the specific heat, the single-particle relaxation time, and the electrical and thermal conductivities, are derived. Various aspects of the ferromagnetic limit, and qualitative differences between the transport properties of helimagnets and ferromagnets, are also discussed.Comment: 22pp, 8 eps fig

Superconducting fluctuations in the reversible magnetization of the iron-pnictide Ba1−xKxFe2As2Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2

We report on isofield magnetization curves obtained as a function of temperature in two single crystals of $Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2$ with superconducting transition temperature $T_c$=28K and 32.7 K. Results obtained for fields above 20 kOe show a well defined rounding effect on the reversible region extending 1-3 K above $T_c(H)$ masking the transition. This rounding appears to be due to three-dimensional critical fluctuations, as the higher field curves obey a well know scaling law for this type of critical fluctuations. We also analysed the asymptotic behavior of $\sqrt M$vs.T curves in the reversible region which probes the shape of the gap near $T_c(H)$. Results of the analysis suggests that phase fluctuations are important in $Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2$ which is consistent with nodes in the gap.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Molecular observation of contour-length fluctuations limiting topological confinement in polymer melts

In order to study the mechanisms limiting the topological chain confinement in polymer melts, we have performed neutron-spin-echo investigations of the single-chain dynamic-structure factor from polyethylene melts over a large range of chain lengths. While at high molecular weight the reptation model is corroborated, a systematic loosening of the confinement with decreasing chain length is found. The dynamic-structure factors are quantitatively described by the effect of contour-length fluctuations on the confining tube, establishing this mechanism on a molecular level in space and time

Dynamics of a trapped Brownian particle in shear flows

The Brownian motion of a particle in a harmonic potential, which is simultaneously exposed either to a linear shear flow or to a plane Poiseuille flow is investigated. In the shear plane of both flows the probability distribution of the particle becomes anisotropic and the dynamics is changed in a characteristic manner compared to a trapped particle in a quiescent fluid. The particle distribution takes either an elliptical or a parachute shape or a superposition of both depending on the mean particle position in the shear plane. Simultaneously, shear-induced cross-correlations between particle fluctuations along orthogonal directions in the shear plane are found. They are asymmetric in time. In Poiseuille flow thermal particle fluctuations perpendicular to the flow direction in the shear plane induce a shift of the particle's mean position away from the potential minimum. Two complementary methods are suggested to measure shear-induced cross-correlations between particle fluctuations along orthogonal directions.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure