
Department of Physics Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
11-1-2010
Publication Source
Physical Review B
Volume
82
Start Page
184401-1
Last Page
184401-8
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.82.184401
Abstract
This paper treats the dipolar interactions of a two-dimensional system of discs upon which a triangle of spins is mounted. We obtain the leading term of the multipole expansion of the interaction energy of discs on which is mounted a regular n-gon of spins. A definition of the toroidal magnetic moment Ti of the ith plaquette is proposed such that the magnetostatic interaction between plaquettes i and j is proportional to TiTj. The system for n=3 is shown to undergo a sequence of interesting phase transitions as the temperature is lowered. We are mainly concerned with the “solid” phase in which bond-orientational order but not positional order is long ranged. As the temperature is lowered in the solid phase, the first phase transition involving the orientation or toroidal magnetism of the discs is into a “gauge toroid” phase in which the product of a magnetic toroidal parameter and an orientation variable (for the discs) orders but due to a local gauge symmetry these variables themselves do not individually order. Finally, in the lowest temperature phase the gauge symmetry is broken and toroidal order and orientational order both develop. In the “gauge toroidal” phase time-reversal invariance is broken and in the lowest temperature phase inversion symmetry is also broken. In none of these phases is there long-range order in any Fourier component of the average spin. Symmetry considerations are used to construct the magnetoelectric free energy and thereby to deduce which coefficients of the linear magnetoelectric tensor are allowed to be nonzero. In none of the phases does symmetry permit a spontaneous polarization.
Recommended Citation
Harris, A. (2010). A System Exhibiting Toroidal Order. Physical Review B, 82 184401-1-184401-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.184401
Date Posted: 12 August 2015
This document has been peer reviewed.