A Phenomenological Theory of Loop-Current Phases

Abstract

A phenomenological theory of the loop-current and loop-spin-current phases is proposed. In order to investigate the stability of these phases, a Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson type action is constructed as a functional of the orbital magnetization. From the analysis of this action based on the Landau theory and momentum-shell one-loop renormalization group theory, it is found that the loop-current and loop-spin-current phases are stable if a certain interaction between the orbital magnetizations is sufficiently large. Moreover, these phases are likely to be stable in systems with large orbital susceptibility, for example, Dirac electron systems.