Limits to magnetic quantum criticality from nuclear spins

Abstract

The phenomenology of quantum phase transitions concerns physics at low temperatures and energies, and corresponding solid-state experiments often reach millikelvin temperatures. However, this is a scale where in many solids the influence of nuclear spins and their hyperfine interaction is no longer negligible. This may limit the observability of electronic quantum critical phenomena. Here we discuss how continuous magnetic quantum phase transitions get influenced, modified, or destroyed by the coupling to nuclear spins. We use simple yet paradigmatic spin models for magnetic quantum criticality and determine modifications to the phase diagram, the excitation spectrum, and thermodynamics due to the presence of nuclear spins. We estimate crossover scales below which purely electronic quantum criticality is no longer observable, and discuss the novel physics emerging at low temperatures. Our results are relevant for a variety of compounds displaying magnetic quantum phase transitions and, more generally, highlight the sensitivity of quantum critical systems to small perturbations.