Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1976

Keywords

Ferromagnetism

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Tsu-Ming Wu

Second Advisor

Newton I. Greenberg

Third Advisor

Charles R. Burr

Abstract

The melting temperature and the Curie temperature of a system of spins are calculated in order to study the possibility of ferromagnetism in the liquid state. A model which was proposed by Honda and Kato is used. The calculations are trade in the mean field approximation. Some terms in the Hamiltonian of the system which were neglected by Honda and Kato are shown to be important when the minimization of the free energy is taken into account. It is found that, on the basis of this model, it is possible for a liquid to be ferromagnetic if the ratio of the cohesive energy to the exchange energy is not too large and if the exchange integral is not too short-ranged.

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