Pauli paramagnetism

Pauli paramagnetism is the weak positive magnetic susceptibility of conduction electrons, produced when a magnetic field changes the spin populations of states near the Fermi energy.

Zeeman effect: The splitting of atomic or electronic energy levels by a magnetic field. It shifts opposite-spin electron energies in opposite directions, creating the occupation imbalance.
Electron spin: An intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by electrons. Its two orientations provide the populations that the field redistributes.
Pauli susceptibility: The magnetic susceptibility arising from spin polarization of itinerant electrons. This is the measurable quantity produced by Pauli paramagnetism.
Curie law: The relation stating that the susceptibility of noninteracting localized moments varies inversely with temperature. Unlike localized moments, Pauli susceptibility is nearly temperature-independent in ordinary metals.
Fermi energy: The chemical potential of a fermion system at zero temperature. Only states close to this energy can change occupation under a weak field.
Bohr magneton: The natural unit of magnetic moment for an electron. It sets the magnetic energy scale of the spin splitting.
Density-functional theory: A quantum-mechanical method for calculating electronic structure from electron density. Calculated states at the Fermi energy help estimate spin susceptibility in real materials.
Curie–Weiss law: A magnetic-susceptibility relation with an inverse-temperature dependence shifted by an interaction temperature. Its strong temperature dependence contrasts with the weak thermal variation of Pauli response.
Density of states: The number of available states per energy interval in a system. Its value at the Fermi energy sets the size of the Pauli response.
Magnetic susceptibility: The proportionality between a material's magnetization and an applied magnetic field in the linear regime. Pauli paramagnetism is one microscopic contribution to this bulk response.

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