Quantum Critical Behavior of the Cluster Glass Phase

Matthew J. Case, V. Dobrosavljevic

Published 2006-12-06, updated 2007-10-22Version 2

In disordered itinerant magnets with arbitrary symmetry of the order parameter, the conventional quantum critical point between the ordered phase and the paramagnetic Fermi-liquid (PMFL) is destroyed due to the formation of an intervening cluster glass (CG) phase. In this Letter we discuss the quantum critical behavior at the CG-PMFL transition for systems with continuous symmetry. We show that fluctuations due to quantum Griffiths anomalies induce a first-order transition from the PMFL at T=0, while at higher temperatures a conventional continuous transition is restored. This behavior is a generic consequence of enhanced non-Ohmic dissipation caused by a broad distribution of energy scales within any quantum Griffiths phase in itinerant systems.