On the Interplay of Magnetic and Molecular Forces in Curie–Weiss Ferrofluid Models

We consider a mean-field continuum model of classical particles in Rd with Ising or Heisenberg spins. The interaction has two ingredients, a ferromagnetic spin coupling and a spin-independent molecular force. We show that a feedback between these forces gives rise to a first-order phase transition with simultaneous jumps of particle density and magnetization per particle, either at the threshold of ferromagnetic order or within the ferromagnetic region. If the direct particle interaction alone already implies a phase transition, then the additional spin coupling leads to an even richer phase diagram containing triple (or higher order) points.