Role of commensurate and incommensurate low-energy excitations in the paramagnetic to hidden-order transition of URu₂Si₂

الأصل · EN

We report low-energy inelastic neutron scattering data of the paramagnetic (PM) to hidden-order (HO) phase transition at T₀=17.5 K in URu₂Si₂. While confirming previous results for the HO and PM phases, our data reveal a pronounced wavevector dependence of low-energy excitations across the phase transition. To analyze the energy scans we employ a damped harmonic oscillator model containing a fit parameter 1/Γ which is expected to diverge at a second-order phase transition. Counter to expectations the excitations at Q₁=(1.44,0,0) show an abrupt step-like suppression of 1/Γ below T₀, whereas excitations at Q₀=(1,0,0), associated with large-moment antiferromagnetism (LMAF) under pressure, show an enhancement and a pronounced peak of 1/Γ at T₀. Therefore, at the critical HO temperature T₀, LMAF fluctuations become nearly critical as well. This is the behavior expected of a super-vector order parameter with nearly degenerate components for the HO and LMAF leading to nearly isotropic fluctuations in the combined order-parameter space.