The Kasteleyn transition in three dimensions: spin ice in a [100] field

Ludovic D. C. Jaubert (1) , J. T. Chalker (2) , Peter C.W. Holdsworth (1) , R. Moessner (3)

1 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon
2 Theoretical Physics, Oxford University
3 MPI-PKS - Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme

We discuss the nearest neighbour spin ice model in the presence of a magnetic field placed along the cubic [100] direction. As recently shown in Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 067207, 2008, the symmetry sustaining ordering transition observed at low temperature is a three dimensional Kasteleyn transition. We confirm this with numerical data using a non-local algorithm that conserves the topological constraints at low temperature and from analytic calculations from a Bethe lattice of corner sharing tetrahedra . We present a thermodynamic description of the Kasteleyn transition and discuss the relevance of our results to recent neutron scattering experiments on spin ice materials.

Mots clés: spin ice; frustration; phase transition; Kasteleyn; magnetic field

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Ludovic D. C. Jaubert, J. T. Chalker, Peter C.W. Holdsworth, R. Moessner. The Kasteleyn transition in three dimensions: spin ice in a [100] field. HIGHLY FRUSTRATED MAGNETISM 2008, Sep 2008, Braunschweig, Germany. 012024 (7pp), ⟨10.1088/1742-6596/145/1/012024⟩. ⟨ensl-00366133⟩