Spin susceptibility of three-dimensional Dirac semimetals

Abstract

We theoretically study the spin susceptibility of Dirac semimetals using the linear response theory. The spin susceptibility is decomposed into an intraband contribution and an interband contribution. We obtain analytical expressions for the intraband and interband contributions of massless Dirac fermions. The spin susceptibility is independent of the Fermi energy while it depends on the cutoff energy, which is introduced to regularize the integration. We find that the cutoff energy is appropriately determined by comparing the results for the Wilson-Dirac lattice model, which approximates the massless Dirac Hamiltonian around the Dirac point. We also calculate the spin susceptibility of massive Dirac fermions for the model of topological insulators. We discuss the effect of the band inversion and the strength of spin-orbit coupling.