Critical spin dynamics of Heisenberg ferromagnets revisited

Abstract

We calculate the dynamic structure factor $S (\boldsymbol{k},\omega)$ in the paramagnetic regime of quantum Heisenberg ferromagnets for temperatures $T$ close to the critical temperature $T_c$ using our recently developed functional renormalization group approach to quantum spin systems. In $d=3$ dimensions we find that for small momenta $\boldsymbol{k}$ and frequencies $\omega$ the dynamic structure factor assumes the scaling form $S(\boldsymbol{k},\omega) = (\tau T G (\boldsymbol{k})/\pi)\Phi (k\xi, \omega\tau)$, where $ G (\boldsymbol{k})$ is the static spin-spin correlation function, $\xi$ is the correlation length, and the characteristic time-scale $\tau$ is proportional to $\xi^{5/2}$. We explicitly calculate the dynamic scaling function $\Phi (x,y)$ and find satisfactory agreement with neutron scattering experiments probing the critical spin dynamics in EuO and EuS. Precisely at the critical point where $\xi = \infty$ our result for the dynamic structure factor can be written as $S (\boldsymbol{k},\omega) = (\pi\omega_k)^{-1} T_c G (\boldsymbol{k}) \Psi_c (\omega/\omega_k)$, where $\omega_k \propto k^{5/2}$. We find that $\Psi_c(\nu)$ vanishes as $\nu^{-13/5}$ for large $\nu$, and as $\nu^{3/5}$ for small $\nu$. While the large-frequency behavior of $\Psi_c (\nu)$ is consistent with calculations based on mode-coupling theory and with perturbative renormalization group calculations to second order in $\epsilon = 6-d$, our result for small frequencies disagrees with previous calculations. We argue that up until now neither experiments nor numerical simulations are sufficiently accurate to determine the low-frequency behavior of $\Psi_c (\nu)$. We also calculate the low-temperature behavior of $S ( \boldsymbol{k},\omega)$ in one- and two dimensional ferromagnets and find that it satisfies dynamic scaling with exponent $z=2$ and exhibits a pseudogap for small frequencies.