Spin Ice under Pressure: Symmetry Enhancement and Infinite Order Multicriticality

2010/03/25 by Ludovic D. C. Jaubert, J. T. Chalker, P. C. W. Holdsworth +3 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Coulomb #Distortion (music) #Ferroics #Magnetic monopole #Order (exchange) #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum critical point #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin ice #Symmetry (geometry) #Tetragonal crystal system #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.087201

published as Physical Review Letters 105, 105 (2010) 087201

arxiv created 2010/03/25 · openalex publication_date 2010/08/17 · arxiv updated 2010/09/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study the low-temperature behavior of spin ice when uniaxial pressure induces a tetragonal distortion. There is a phase transition between a Coulomb liquid and a fully magnetized phase. Unusually, it combines features of discontinuous and continuous transitions: the order parameter exhibits a jump, but this is accompanied by a divergent susceptibility and vanishing domain wall tension. All these aspects can be understood as a consequence of an emergent SU(2) symmetry at the critical point. We map out a possible experimental realization.

Citations

• Magnetization curve of spin ice in a [111] magnetic field
• Classical to quantum mappings for geometrically frustrated systems: Spin-ice in a [100] field
• Three-Dimensional Kasteleyn Transition: Spin Ice in a [100] Field
• Origin of spin-ice behavior in Ising pyrochlore magnets with long-range dipole interactions: an insight from mean-field theory

Cited by

• Effects of uniaxial pressure on the spin ice Ho2Ti2O7
• Higgs transitions of spin ice
• Confinement of monopoles and scaling theory near unconventional critical points