Coexistence of ferromagnetic fluctuations and superconductivity in the actinide superconductor UTe2

Abstract

We report low-temperature muon spin relaxation/rotation (muSR) measurements on single crystals of the actinide superconductor UTe2. Below 5 K we observe a continuous slowing down of magnetic fluctuations that persists through the superconducting (SC) transition temperature (Tc = 1.6 K), but we find no evidence of long-range or local magnetic order down to 0.025 K. The temperature dependence of the dynamic relaxation rate down to 0.4 K agrees with the self-consistent renormalization theory of spin fluctuations for a three-dimensional weak itinerant ferromagnetic metal. Our muSR measurements also indicate that the superconductivity coexists with the magnetic fluctuations.