Incipient magnetism in the cubic perovskites MgCNi3 and YBRh3: A comparison

TL;DR

This study uses density-functional methods to investigate incipient magnetism in cubic perovskites MgCNi3 and YBRh3, revealing paramagnetism at equilibrium and potential ferromagnetism in YBRh3 at expanded volumes.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of incipient magnetism in MgCNi3 and YBRh3 using first-principles calculations, highlighting volume-dependent magnetic behavior.

Findings

Both alloys are paramagnetic at equilibrium volume.

YBRh3 can become ferromagnetic at expanded volumes.

YBRh3 exhibits a local magnetic moment >0.25 μB per Rh atom.

Abstract

Using density-functional-based methods, we have studied the effects of incipient magnetism in the cubic perovskites MgCNi_{3} and YBRh_{3} . Our results show that (i) at the equilibrium volume, both MgCNi_{3} and YBRh_{3} alloys remain paramagnetic and (ii) at expanded volumes, only YBRh_{3} shows the possibility of a ferromagnetic phase with a local magnetic moment larger than 0.25 mu_{B} per Rh atom.