Spin polarization in a two-dimensional electron gas

Abstract

We evaluate the charge and longitudinal spin response functions of a two-dimensional electron gas with $e^2/r$ interactions in an arbitrary state of spin polarization, using a structurally self-consistent approach to treat exchange and correlations. From the results we assess the nature of the magnetic order in the electronic ground state in zero magnetic field as a function of electron density. We find that states of partial spin polarization are thermodynamically unstable at all values of the coupling strength and that a first-order phase transition occurs with increasing coupling strength from the magnetically disorderd (paramagnetic) phase to the fully spin-polarized (ferromagnetic) phase. This behavior is in qualitative agreement with diffusion Monte Carlo data, although the location of the phase transition is underestimated in our calculations.

12 pages, 10 figuers

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Competition of Exchange and Correlation Energies in Two-Dimensional $N$-component Electron Gas Ferromagnetism