406 Ch.

7 Itinerant Electron Magnetism

that the formation of the SDW decreases p ( e ~ by ) gapping away part

of the Femi surface, and that the effect is quite dramatic for pure Cr.
That charge carriers are missing, is also clear from the resistivity data
(Fig. 7.11, left). Another remarkable feature is the appearance of a
strong resistivity anisotropy in single-domain samples.
Our previous arguments would indicate that the transition to the
SDW state is of second order. However, experiments show that chromium
undergoes a weakly first-order transition at T ~ = 3 1 1 K .Apparently, it is
quite difficult to devise a microscopic model of Cr, which would predict
a mildly discontinuous transition. In any case, the coupling to the lat-
tice degrees of freedom is likely to be important. It is observed that the
SDW is coupled to a strain wave which, in turn, causes a charge density
wave. Higher-order harmonics of the SDW are also seen.

Solutions to the Problems

Problem 7.1 a) Using the steps which lead to (7.46), for non-interacting
electrons
x(O)(q= 0) = I d € (-2) P(€). (7.107)

We follow the standard procedure of the Sommerfeld expansion. Since (-8f /&)
becomes vanishingly small beyond a distance of a few kBTs on either side of
the chemical potential p , the integral can be extended to f o o . Expanding p
in a Taylor series about c = p

(7.108)

where, in the last line, we used the standard result for the temperature depen-
dence of the chemical potential. It is apparent that, depending on the detailed
form of the density of states, the coefficient of T 2 can be either positive, or
negative.
b) Let the band lie in the interval [-F,$1, and the density of states
satisfies p ( c ) = p ( - c ) . For half-filling, EF = 0. It is easy to check that the