Itinerant electron surface magnetism

Although many experiments have been applied to study the surface magnetism, only a few give a direct and unambiguous answer to a so simple question as “what is the value of the surface magnetic moment”. Some examples of all these experiments are reviewed to show the main differences between two- and three-dimensional magnetism. Then we show that the magnetic moment can be enhanced near the surface in itinerant electron magnetism. This may be the case of He3 atoms in confined geometries, or of transition metal surfaces or more generally when the local surface density of states at the Fermi level is much larger than the bulk one.