  The stability of ferromagnetism at the surface at finite temperatures is
investigated within the strongly correlated Hubbard model on a semi-infinite
lattice. Due to the reduced surface coordination number the effective Coulomb
correlation is enhanced at the surface compared to the bulk. Therefore, within
the well-known Stoner-picture of band ferromagnetism one would expect the
magnetic stability at the surface to be enhanced as well. However, by taking
electron correlations into account well beyond the Hartree-Fock (Stoner) level
we find the opposite behavior: As a function of temperature the magnetization
of the surface layer decreases faster than in the bulk. By varying the hopping
integral within the surface layer this behavior becomes even more pronounced. A
reduced hopping integral at the surface tends to destabilize surface
ferromagnetism whereas the magnetic stability gets enhanced by an increased
hopping integral. This behavior represents a pure correlation effect and can be
understood in terms of general arguments which are based on exact results in
the limit of strong Coulomb interaction.
