Spontaneous magnon decays from nonrelativistic time-reversal symmetry breaking in altermagnets
The authors report here the fundamental insight that magnons in altermagnets can spontaneously decay. Unconventional time-reversal symmetry breaking and spin splitting in altermagnets open decay channels absent in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Using kinematic analysis, nonlinear spin-wave theory, and quantum simulations, they show that even weak band splitting can destabilize quasiparticles. These findings establish a quasiparticle stability trichotomy in collinear Heisenberg magnets and highlight altermagnets as a promising platform for exploring unconventional spin dynamics.
Authors
- Alexander Mook (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-9209)
- Masahito Mochizuki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0128-0580)
- Jairo Sinova
- A. L. Chernyshev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0965-568X)
- Matthias Gohlke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3915-8177)
- Rintaro Eto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8833-1311)
Institutions
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (JP)
- Waseda University (JP)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2025-08-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/p4f5-w5m2
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.99