Ferromagnetic Ground States in Face-Centered Cubic Hubbard Clusters

In this study, the ground state energies of face-centered cubic Hubbard clusters are analyzed using the Lanczos method. Examination of the ground state energy as a function of the number of particle per site n showed an energy minimum for face-centered cubic structures. This energy minimum decreased in n with increasing coulombic interaction parameter U. We found that the ground state energy had a minimum at n = 0.6, when U = 3W, where W denotes the non-interacting energy bandwidth and the face-centered cubic structure was ferromagnetic. These results, when compared with the properties of nickel, shows strong similarity with other finite temperature analyses in the literature and supports the Hirsh's conjecture that the interatomic direct exchange interaction dominates in driving the system into a ferromagnetic phase.