Nonanalytic Magnetization Dependence of the Magnon Effective Mass in Itinerant Quantum Ferromagnets

Abstract

The spin wave dispersion relation in both clean and disordered itinerant quantum ferromagnets is calculated. It is found that effects akin to weak-localization physics cause the frequency of the spin-waves to be a nonanalytic function of the magnetization m. For low frequencies Ω, small wavevectors k, and small m, the dispersion relation is found to be of the form Ω~ m^{1-α} k^2, with α= (4-d)/2 (2<d<4) for disordered systems, and α= (3-d) (1<d<3) for clean ones. In d=4 (disordered) and d=3 (clean), Ω~ m ln(1/m) k^2. Experiments to test these predictions are proposed.