Strehlow, P.; Neubert, S.; Klemke, B.; Meissner, M.: Thermal transport in spin ice. Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics 24 (2012), p. 347-359
10.1007/s00161-011-0229-2
Abstract:
In order to analyse low temperature heat transport in the spin ice compound Dy2Ti2O7, we derive thermodynamic field equations that are based on the kinetic theory of phonons and their interaction with localised magnetic excitations. It is shown that the solution of the derived field equations for given boundary and initial values of heat-pulse experiments well describes all measured temperature profiles recorded in the temperature range from 0.3 to 15K and in magnetic fields up to 1.5T. The evaluated temperature and field dependencies of both the specific heat contributions and their corresponding relaxation times indicate that the magnetic excitations above the ground-state manifold of the spin ice compound Dy2Ti2O7 take the form of magnetic monopoles.