Nonlinear response to external magnetic fields

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study conditions under which a system of itinerate spin-12 fermions might exhibit a macroscopic linear response to external magnetic fields after long times. Exact expressions are obtained for the nonlinear response of the magnetization and the total energy. We find that for a constant field there is no response (our model contains no mechanism for the relaxation of spins). For an oscillatory field there is a response in which secular terms (in the time) appear which are associated both with nonlinear terms in the external field and with contributions from the background medium. The secular terms involving the magnetic field would not be seen if one used the usual approximations of microscopic linear response theory. They give rise to new conditions which must be satisfied if the system is to exhibit a macroscopic linear response in the long-time limit.