Spin Fluctuation Theory of Itinerant Electron Ferromagnetism –A Unified Picture

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Spin fluctuations and the thermodynamical properties of itinerant electron ferromagnets are discussed from a general point of view by using a simple model with a small number of physical parameters and approximations in the functional integral formalism. We give unified expressions for the Curie temperature and the magnetic susceptibility which interpolate between the weakly and strongly ferromagnetic limits. In general, both the transversal and longitudinal components of the local spin fluctuations contribute to the Curie constant and the former (latter) is predominant in the local moment (weakly ferromagnetic) limit. It is pointed out that the amplitude of the local spin fluctuations can be saturated when there is an upper or lower bound of the energy band not too far from the Fermi level, resulting in a Curie-Weiss susceptibility of a local moment type, even without well-defined local moments. A transition between two different kinds of local spin states can also be expected in some cases.