Persistence of atomic magnetism in the paramagnetic phase of chromium

A temperature-dependent study of the Cr 3s x-ray-photoelectron-spectroscopy (XPS) line shape measured from Cr(001) is reported. As the temperature is raised from well below the N\'eel temperature TN (311 K) to far above it ({~}3.3TN), no variation of the 3s XPS line shape is observed. This invariance is insensitive to surface chemisorption, suggesting that the behavior is not determined by the enhanced Cr(001) surface magnetization. The results indicate that the atomic 3d spin density within 1 {} of the atomic center is the same in the antiferromagnetic (AF) and paramagnetic (PM) phases of Cr. No evidence is found for a theoretically predicted collapse of the atomic magnetic moment in PM Cr, or for the thermal population of spin fluctuations. The results are particularly striking, given the observation of the loss of AF order in Cr by valence-band photoemission. The local atomic 3d spin density therefore persists in the absence of short-range magnetic order within a range of {~}6 {}.