Spin dynamics and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in chromium with commensurate spin-density wave order

We theoretically investigate spin dynamics and L₃-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) of chromium with commensurate spin-density wave (SDW) order, based on a multiband Hubbard model composed of 3d and 4s orbitals. Obtaining the ground state with the SDW mean-field approximation, we calculate the dynamical transverse and longitudinal spin susceptibility by using random-phase approximation. We find that a collective spin-wave excitation seen in inelastic neutron scattering hardly damps up to ∼0.6 eV. Above the energy, the excitation overlaps individual particle-hole excitations as expected, leading to broad spectral weight. On the other hand, the collective spin-wave excitation in RIXS spectra has a tendency to be masked by large spectral weight coming from particle-hole excitations with various orbital channels. This is in contrast with inelastic neutron scattering, where only selected diagonal orbital channels contribute to the spectral weight. However, it may be possible to detect the spin-wave excitation in RIXS experiments in the future if resolution is high enough.