Abstract
We study the phase transitions of N-component generalized helimagnets. In the neighborhood of two dimensions, a renormalization group study reveals a rich fixed point structure as well as a nematiclike phase with partial spin ordering. In the physical case , relevant to real magnets with noncollinear ordering, we show that this implies an XY-like transition between the ordered phase and the nematiclike phase. A non-Abelian mean-field calculation is shown to lead to the same picture but then the principal chiral fixed point, which had been proposed earlier as the relevant fixed point for helimagnets, plays no role due to the appearance of a first-order line.
- Received 21 December 1995
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3148
©1996 American Physical Society