We review the recent progress made in the application of the renormalization group method to the interacting quasi-one-dimensional electron gas. From the functional integral formulation of the partition function as expressed in terms of anticommuting Grassmann variables, the effects of single-electron interchain hopping on the mechanisms of propagation of correlations leading to long range ordering is analyzed in full details for the non-half-filled band case. Within a unified formalism, the scaling features of the purely one-dimensional correlations, the dimensionality crossover of both single and composite particles, the critical temperatures, and the responses functions are described.

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The efficient coupling between lattice degrees of freedom and spin degrees of freedom in magnetic materials can be used for refrigeration and energy conversion. This coupling is enhanced in materials exhibiting the giant magnetocaloric effect. First principle electronic structure calculations on hexagonal MnFe(P, Si) reveal a new form of magnetism: the coexistence of strong and weak magnetism in alternate atomic layers. The weak magnetism of Fe layers (disappearance of local magnetic moments at the Curie temperature) is responsible for a strong coupling with the crystal lattice while the strong magnetism in adjacent Mn-layers ensures Curie temperatures high enough to enable operation at and above room temperature. Varying the composition on these magnetic sublattices gives a handle to tune the working temperature and to achieve a strong reduction of the undesired thermal hysteresis. In this way we design novel materials based on abundantly available elements with properties matched to the requirements of an efficient refrigeration or energy-conversion cycle.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

The MnCoGe alloy can crystallize in either the hexagonal Ni2In- or the orthorhombic TiNiSi-type of structure. In both phases MnCoGe behaves like a typical ferromagnet with a second-order magnetic phase transition. For MnCoGeBx with B on interstitial positions, we discover a giant magnetocaloric effect associated with a single first-order magnetostructural phase transition, which can be achieved by tuning the magnetic and structural transitions to coincide. The results obtained on the MnCoGe-type alloys may be extensible to other types of magnetic materials undergoing a first-order structural transformation and can open up some possibilities for searching magnetic refrigerants for room-temperature applications.