Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-condensed-matter-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014/4/b/solution

A point magnetic dipole produces
For and neighbour separation , its characteristic magnitude is
The axial field is twice this scale; the exact orientation and crystal geometry are unspecified. The corresponding pair magnetic dipole interaction has energy scale , giving
An axial orientation changes this to about . A real ordering temperature depends on a lattice sum, symmetry and fluctuations, so this is a nearest-neighbour energy estimate, not a complete ordering calculation. It establishes that ordinary dipolar coupling is far too weak to explain a thousand-kelvin ferromagnetic transition.

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