The role of bandstructure in the thermodynamic properties of itinerant metamagnets

Abstract

It is known that itinerant metamagnetic transitions can be driven by features in the electronic density of states. We study the signatures of these transitions in the entropy and specific heat for a variety of different cases, identifying the key features which differ from naive expectations, such as enhanced critical fields and non-Fermi liquid temperature dependencies. We begin with the generic case of a logarithmically divergent density of states, as caused by a two dimensional van Hove singularity. We then study a specific model for the bandstructure of Sr3Ru2O7, a material with a well-studied metamagnetic transition and quantum critical endpoint. We consider how far the behaviour of the system can be explained by the density of states rather than quantum fluctuations, and the distinctive features of this mechanism. One of the characteristic features of Sr3Ru2O7 is an unusual phase with a higher entropy than its surroundings, we consider how this may arise in the context of a density of states picture and find that we can reproduce the thermodynamic behaviour and first-order phase transitions.