Theory of neutron scattering for gapless neutral spin-1 collective mode in graphite

Abstract

Using tight binding band picture for 2D graphite, and the Hubbard interaction, recently we obtained a gapless, neutral spin-1 collective mode branch in graphite [Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 016402]. In this paper we present a detailed RPA analysis of the Neutron Scattering cross section for this collective mode. Near K-point and very close to Γ-point, the intensity of neutron scattering peaks vanishes as q³. This is shown using a simple Dirac cone model for the graphite band structure, which captures the small-q behavior of the system. As we move away from the Γ- and K-points in the Brillouin zone of the collective mode momenta, we can identify our collective mode quanta with spin triplet excitons with the spatial extent of the order of a few to a couple of lattice parameter a, with more or less anisotropic character, which differs from point to point. We also demonstrate that the inclusion of the long range tail of the Coulomb interaction in real graphite, does not affect our spin-1 collective mode qualitatively. This collective mode could be probed at different energy scales by thermal, hot and epithermal neutron scattering experiments. However, the smallness of the calculated scattering intensity, arising from a reduced form factor of carbon 2pz orbital makes the detection challenging.