Phase Transition in the Random Anisotropy Model

The influence of a local anisotropy of random orientation on a ferromagnetic phase transition is studied for two cases of anisotropy axis distribution. To this end a model of a random anisotropy magnet is analyzed by means of the field theoretical renormalization group approach in two loop approximation refined by a resummation of the asymptotic series. The one-loop result of Aharony indicating the absence of a second-order phase transition for an isotropic distribution of random anisotropy axis at space dimension $d<4$ is corroborated. For a cubic distribution the accessible stable fixed point leads to disordered Ising-like critical exponents.Comment: 10 pages, 2 latex figures and a style file include

Critical slowing down in random anisotropy magnets

We study the purely relaxational critical dynamics with non-conserved order parameter (model A critical dynamics) for three-dimensional magnets with disorder in a form of the random anisotropy axis. For the random axis anisotropic distribution, the static asymptotic critical behaviour coincides with that of random site Ising systems. Therefore the asymptotic critical dynamics is governed by the dynamical exponent of the random Ising model. However, the disorder influences considerably the dynamical behaviour in the non-asymptotic regime. We perform a field-theoretical renormalization group analysis within the minimal subtraction scheme in two-loop approximation to investigate asymptotic and effective critical dynamics of random anisotropy systems. The results demonstrate the non-monotonic behaviour of the dynamical effective critical exponent $z_{\rm eff}$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, style file include

Model C critical dynamics of random anisotropy magnets

We study the relaxational critical dynamics of the three-dimensional random anisotropy magnets with the non-conserved n-component order parameter coupled to a conserved scalar density. In the random anisotropy magnets the structural disorder is present in a form of local quenched anisotropy axes of random orientation. When the anisotropy axes are randomly distributed along the edges of the n-dimensional hypercube, asymptotical dynamical critical properties coincide with those of the random-site Ising model. However structural disorder gives rise to considerable effects for non-asymptotic critical dynamics. We investigate this phenomenon by a field-theoretical renormalization group analysis in the two-loop order. We study critical slowing down and obtain quantitative estimates for the effective and asymptotic critical exponents of the order parameter and scalar density. The results predict complex scenarios for the effective critical exponent approaching an asymptotic regime.Comment: 8 figures, style files include

Static and dynamic structure factors in three-dimensional randomly diluted Ising models

We consider the three-dimensional randomly diluted Ising model and study the critical behavior of the static and dynamic spin-spin correlation functions (static and dynamic structure factors) at the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition in the high-temperature phase. We consider a purely relaxational dynamics without conservation laws, the so-called model A. We present Monte Carlo simulations and perturbative field-theoretical calculations. While the critical behavior of the static structure factor is quite similar to that occurring in pure Ising systems, the dynamic structure factor shows a substantially different critical behavior. In particular, the dynamic correlation function shows a large-time decay rate which is momentum independent. This effect is not related to the presence of the Griffiths tail, which is expected to be irrelevant in the critical limit, but rather to the breaking of translational invariance, which occurs for any sample and which, at the critical point, is not recovered even after the disorder average.Comment: 43 page

Real-Time Imaging of K atoms on Graphite: Interactions and Diffusion

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at liquid helium temperature is used to image potassium adsorbed on graphite at low coverage (~0.02 monolayer). Single atoms appear as protrusions on STM topographs. A statistical analysis of the position of the atoms demonstrates repulsion between adsorbates, which is quantified by comparison with molecular dynamics simulations. This gives access to the dipole moment of a single adsorbate, found to be 10.5 Debye. Time lapse imaging shows that long range order is broken by thermally activated diffusion, with a 32 meV barrier to hopping between graphite lattice sites

Critical dynamics of diluted relaxational models coupled to a conserved density (diluted model C)

We consider the influence of quenched disorder on the relaxational critical dynamics of a system characterized by a non-conserved order parameter coupled to the diffusive dynamics of a conserved scalar density (model C). Disorder leads to model A critical dynamics in the asymptotics, however it is the effective critical behavior which is often observed in experiments and in computer simulations and this is described by the full set of dynamical equations of diluted model C. Indeed different scenarios of effective critical behavior are predicted.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure