Dynamical properties of a three-dimensional diluted Heisenberg model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnetic excitations in a three-dimensional diluted Heisenberg model change as the system approaches the percolation threshold, revealing the vanishing of spin stiffness and shrinking magnon stability.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of magnon spectra and density of states near the percolation threshold using a self-consistent local RPA approach, with large system simulations.

Findings

Magnon modes become unstable near the percolation threshold.

Spin stiffness vanishes exactly at the percolation threshold.

Magnon spectrum and density of states are significantly affected by dilution.

Abstract

We study the magnetic excitation spectrum in three-dimensional diluted ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor systems down to the percolation threshold. The disorder effects resulting from the dilution are handled accurately within self-consistent local random phase approximation approach. The calculations are performed using relatively large systems containing typically 20 000 localized spins, a systematic average over many configurations of disorder is performed. We analyze in details the change in the magnon spectrum and magnon density of states as we increase the dilution. The zone of stability of the well-defined magnon modes is shown to shrink drastically as we approach the percolation threshold. We also calculate the spin stiffness which appears to vanish at the percolation threshold exactly. A comparison with available data, based on a different theoretical approach, is also provided. We hope that this study will motivate new experimental studies based on inelastic neutron-scattering measurements.