Ferromagnetism and colossal magnetoresistance from phase competition

We report a multicomponent theory for the coexistence of charge ordering (CO), and antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) spin ordering. This kind of state is invoked for manganites by Moreo et al., Science 283, 2034 (1999) and observed in recent experiments. We show that doping an AFM or CO state always generates a FM component. FM, AFM, and CO necessarily coexist in a particle-hole asymmetric system. Melting of large AFM-CO orders by small magnetic fields and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) arise whenever the CO and AFM order parameters have similar magnitude and momentum structure. Hole doping favors FM metallic states while electron doping favors AFM-CO states, as in CMR manganites.