Enhancement of ferromagnetism by p-wave Cooper pairing in superconducting ferromagnets

Abstract

In superconducting ferromagnets for which the Curie temperature $T_m$ exceeds the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$, it was suggested that ferromagnetic spin fluctuations could lead to superconductivity with p-wave spin triplet Cooper pairing. Using the Stoner model of itinerant ferromagnetism, we study the feedback effect of the p-wave superconductivity on the ferromagnetism. Below $T_c$, the ferromagnetism is enhanced by the p-wave superconductivity. At zero temperature, the critical Stoner value for itinerant ferromagnetism is reduced by the strength of the p-wave pairing potential, and the magnetization increases correspondingly. More important, our results suggest that once Stoner ferromagnetism is established, $T_m$ is unlikely to ever be below $T_c$. For strong and weak ferromagnetism, three and two peaks in the temperature dependence of the specific heat are respectively predicted, the upper peak in the latter case corresponding to a first-order transition.

6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B