2006/12/18 by Timothy E. Saunders, T. E. Saunders, J. T. Chalker · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.157201
published as Physical Review Letters 98, 157201 (2007) · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2006/12/18 · openalex publication_date 2007/04/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the consequences for geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets of weak disorder in the strength of exchange interactions. Taking as a model the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet with nearest neighbor exchange on the pyrochlore lattice, we examine low-temperature behavior. We show that spatial modulation of exchange generates long-range effective interactions within the extensively degenerate ground states of the clean system. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we find a spin glass transition at a temperature set by the disorder strength. Disorder of this type, which is generated by random strains in the presence of magnetoelastic coupling, may account for the spin freezing observed in many geometrically frustrated magnets.