Itinerant ferromagnetism with finite ranged interactions

TL;DR

This paper develops a formalism to analyze fluctuation effects in itinerant ferromagnets with realistic finite ranged Coulomb interactions, revealing suppression of the tricritical point and enabling experimental observation of ferromagnetic correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a new formalism that incorporates finite ranged Coulomb interactions into fluctuation analysis, aligning theoretical predictions with experimental observations.

Findings

Finite ranged interactions suppress the tricritical point temperature.

Exotic spin spiral and paired density wave phases are retained.

Finite ranged interactions damp molecular instabilities in ultracold gases.

Abstract

Quantum fluctuations are of central importance in itinerant ferromagnets; in the case of the Stoner Hamiltonian, with contact interactions, they deliver a rich phase diagram featuring a first order ferromagnetic transition preempted by a spin spiral and a paired density wave. However, to date all analyses of fluctuation corrections neglect the finite ranged nature of the Coulomb interaction. We develop the formalism to consider the effects of fluctuations with a realistic screened Coulomb potential. The finite ranged interaction suppresses the tricritical point temperature of the first order ferromagnetic transition, bringing theory into line with experiment, whilst retaining the exotic spin spiral and paired density wave. In an ultracold atomic gas a finite ranged interaction damps the competing molecular instability, permitting the observation of ferromagnetic correlations.