Quantum Metamagnetic Transitions Induced by Changes in Fermi-Surface Topology: Applications to a Weak Itinerant-Electron Ferromagnet ZrZn₂

Abstract

We clarify that metamagnetic transitions in three dimensions show unusual properties as quantum phase transitions if they are accompanied by changes in Fermi-surface topology. An unconventional universality deeply affected by the topological nature of Lifshitz-type transitions emerges around the marginal quantum critical point (MQCP). Here, the MQCP is defined by the meeting point of the finite temperature critical line and a quantum critical line running on the zero temperature plane. The MQCP offers a marked contrast with the Ising universality and the gas–liquid-type criticality satisfied for conventional metamagnetic transitions. At the MQCP, the inverse magnetic susceptibility χ⁻¹ has a diverging slope as a function of the magnetization m (namely, |dχ⁻¹⁄dm|→∞) in one side of the transition, which should not occur in any conventional quantum critical phenomena. The exponent of the divergence can be estimated even at finite temperatures. We propose that such an unconventional universality indeed accounts for the metamagnetic transition in ZrZn₂.