Tipping without Flipping: A Novel Metastable "Tilted" State in Anisotropic Ferromagnets in External Fields

TL;DR

This paper uncovers a novel metastable 'tilted' magnetic state in anisotropic ferromagnets under external fields, revealing continuous transitions and anomalous susceptibilities with exact scaling relations.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a metastable 'tilted' phase in ferromagnets and characterizes the nature of phase transitions involving this state.

Findings

Existence of stable and metastable tilted phases.

Continuous transitions between these phases controlled by field or temperature.

Anomalous divergence of longitudinal susceptibility near transitions.

Abstract

We show that in suitable anisotropic ferromagnets, both stable and metastable ``tilted'' phases occur, in which the magnetization ${\vec M}$ makes an angle between zero and $180$ degrees with the externally applied ${\vec H}$. Tuning either the magnitude of the external field or the temperature can lead to continuous transitions between these states. A unique feature is that one of these transitions is between two {\it metastable} states. Near the transitions the longitudinal susceptibility becomes anomalous with an exponent which has an {\it exact} scaling relation with the critical exponents.