X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Altermagnetic α-MnTe

Landau Theory of Altermagnetism

We formulate a Landau theory for altermagnets, a class of collinear compensated magnets with spin-split bands. Starting from the nonrelativistic limit, this Landau theory goes beyond a conventional analysis by including spin-space symmetries, providing a simple framework for understanding the key features of this family of materials. We find a set of multipolar secondary order parameters connecting existing ideas about the spin symmetries of these systems, their order parameters, and the effect of nonzero spin-orbit coupling. We account for several features of canonical altermagnets such as RuO_{2}, MnTe, and CuF_{2} that go beyond symmetry alone, relating the order parameter to key observables such as magnetization, anomalous Hall conductivity, and magnetoelastic and magneto-optical probes. Finally, we comment on generalizations of our framework to a wider family of exotic magnetic systems derived from the zero spin-orbit coupled limit.