Spherical spin-orientation degeneracy of basic antiferromagnetic configurations due to the dipolar interaction in cubic lattices

Abstract

Based on a simple general relation for the Lorentz field, the precise values are obtained for the energies of ferromagnetic and basic antiferromagnetic states in sc, bcc, fcc, and diamond cubic lattices. Within both the 'nearest-neighbor' and group-theoretic approaches, a large variety of antiferromagnetic states revealed as corresponding to the lowest energies is addressed, with recognizing their spherical spin-orientation degeneracy, which turns out to be rather special in fcc lattices.