Mayer coefficients in two-dimensional coulomb systems

We show that, for neutral systems of particles of arbitrary charges in two dimensions, with hard cores, coefficients of the Mayer series for the pressure exist in the thermodynamic limit below certain thresholds in the temperature. Our methods apply also to correlation functions and yield bounds on the asymptotic behavior of their Mayer coefficients.     

Thermodynamic Limit for Polydisperse Fluids

We examine the thermodynamic limit of fluids of hard core particles that are polydisperse in size and shape. In addition, particles may interact magnetically. Free energy of such systems is a random variable because it depends on the choice of particles. We prove that the thermodynamic limit exists with probability 1, and is independent of the choice of particles. Our proof applies to polydisperse hard-sphere fluids, colloids and ferrofluids. The existence of a thermodynamic limit implies system shape and size independence of thermodynamic properties of a system.     

Coulomb interaction symmetries and the Mayer series in the two-dimensional dipole gas

We study the Mayer series of the two-dimensional dipole gas in the high-temperature, low-density regime. Without performing any multiscale analysis, we obtain bounds showing that the Mayer coefficients are finite in the thermodynamic limit. These bounds are obtained by exploiting a particular partial symmetry of the interaction (which we nameO-symmetry), already used in some problems related to the two-dimensional Coulomb gas. By direct bounds on some Mayer graphs we also conjecture that any technique based uniquely on theO-symmetry will not be sufficient to prove analyticity of the series.     

On the gas-liquid phase transition

A new approach to the problem of the gas-liquid phase transition, based on the Mayer cluster expansion of the partition function, is proposed. It is shown that the necessary and sufficient condition for phase transition to occur is that there exist a temperatureT= T_c > 0 such that forT T _c, all theb _l (except perhaps a finite number of them) are positive, where theb _l, are the cluster integrals (as defined by Mayer) in the thermodynamic limit. Explicit expressions for the isotherms for gas-saturated vapor and liquid phases are given.     

Bosonic Monocluster Expansion

We compute Green's functions of a Bosonic field theory with cutoffs by means of a “minimal” expansion which in a single move, interpolating a generalized propagator, performs the usual tasks of the cluster and Mayer expansion. In this way it allows a direct construction of the infinite volume or thermodynamic limit and it brings constructive Bosonic expansions closer to constructive Fermionic expansions and to perturbation theory. Received: 18 May 2000 / Accepted: 21 March 2001     

Statistical mechanics of quasi-one-dimensional systems

A definition of a quasi-one-dimensional system as a generalized Cayley or Husimi tree with a nonzero surface to bulk ratio in the thermodynamic limit is given. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the thermodynamic limit of the free energy for such a system are derived and a thorough discussion of the thermodynamic limit properties of the one-particle distribution functions is given. These results are made more precise for the case of systems with Hamiltonians which are invariant under a special type of measure-preserving group of transformations, in particular for the d-dimensional rotation group. For this latter case, the phase transitions which can occur in quasi-one-dimensional systems upon application of small external fields are studied in some detail. A number of completely solved examples is given to illustrate the general theory. These include the classical Heisenberg model on a Cayley tree and generalizations thereof.     

Wall and boundary free energies

The asymptotic free energy of planar walls and boundaries is analyzed for scalar and vector spin systems. Under the hypothesis of correlation decay, various alternative definitions are found to be equivalent in the thermodynamic limit and independent of the associated walls. Furthermore, a torus, or box having periodic boundary conditions, is shown to have no boundary or surface free energy. For vector spin systems withn-component spins, existence of the thermodynamic limit is shown forn=2 and positive interactions.     

Cluster Expansion in the Canonical Ensemble

We consider a system of particles confined in a box ${\Lambda \subset \mathbb{R}^d}$ interacting via a tempered and stable pair potential. We prove the validity of the cluster expansion for the canonical partition function in the high temperature - low density regime. The convergence is uniform in the volume and in the thermodynamic limit it reproduces Mayer??s virial expansion providing an alternative and more direct derivation which avoids the deep combinatorial issues present in the original proof.     

On the thermodynamic stability of odd-frequency superconductors

The thermodynamic stability of odd-frequency pairing states is investigated within an Eliashberg-type framework. We find the rigorous result that in the weak coupling limit a continuous transition from the normal state to a spatially homogeneous odd-in-ω superconducting state is forbidden, irrespective of details of the pairing interaction and of the spin symmetry of the gap function. For isotropic systems, it is shown that the inclusion of strong coupling corrections does not invalidate this result. We discuss a few scenarios that might escape these thermodynamic constraints and permit stable odd-frequency pairing states.     

The classical mechanics of one-dimensional systems of infinitely many particles

We apply the existence theorem for solutions of the equations of motion for infinite systems to study the time evolution of measures on the set of locally finite configurations of particles. The set of allowed initial configurations and the time evolution mappings are shown to be measurable. It is shown that infinite volume limit states of thermodynamic ensembles at low activity or for positive potentials are concentrated on the set of allowed initial configurations and are invariant under the time evolution. The total entropy per unit volume is shown to be constant in time for a large class of states, if the potential satisfies a stability condition.On leave from: Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, California.     

A metric space of interactions and the thermodynamic limit

A metric space of interactions is formed for classical continuous systems and for quantum and classical lattice systems. It is shown that the thermodynamic limit of the grand canonical pressure exists on an extended class of potentials. In each neighborhood of each superstable lower regular, weakly tempered pair interaction and for each of a countable number of test functions there is an interaction for which the Fisher thermodynamic limit of the correlation functionals applied to the test function exists.     

Correlation inequalities and the thermodynamic limit for classical and quantum continuous systems

We use Ginibre's general formulation of Griffiths' inequalities to derive new correlation inequalities for two-component classical and quantum mechanical systems of distinguishable particles interacting via two body potentials of positive type. As a consequence we obtain existence of the thermodynamic limit of the thermodynamic and correlation functions in the grand canonical ensemble at arbitrary temperatures and chemical potentials. For a large class of systems we show that the limiting correlation functions are clustering. (In a subsequent article these results are extended to the correlation functions of two-component quantum mechanical gases with Bose-Einstein statistics). Finally, a general construction of the thermodynamic limit of the pressure for gases which are not H-stable, above collapse temperature, is presented.Research supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant MPS 75-11864A Sloan Foundation Fellow     

Consequences of convexity: A variational principle for the pressure and related results

Variational principles are derived for the entropy density, the free energy density and the pressure of continuous quantum systems. They are of a form weaker than desired; however, the only assumptions made are those of the existence of the local pressure and the existence and concavity of the thermodynamic limit s(v, ε) of the entropy density. Further consequences of the concavity of s are: generalized thermodynamic relations and a weak version of Gibbs' phase rule.     

De Haas-van Alphen effect and Seebeck effect in inversion layers and superlattices

Effect of collision broadening on the de Haas-van Alphen oscillations and the thermal voltage in two-dimensional systems is investigated in the quantum limit. It is shown that the limit of validity of the well-known thermodynamic expression for the Seebeck coefficient S_xx is further restricted due to the peculiar transport properties in two dimensions.     

Trees at an Interface

A lattice tree at an interface between two solvents of different quality is examined as a model of a branched polymer at an interface. Existence of the free energy is shown, and the existence of critical lines in its phase diagram is proven. In particular, there is a line of first order transitions separating a positive phase from a negative phase (the tree being predominantly on either side of the interface in these phases), and a curve of localization–delocalization transitions which separate the delocalized positive and negative phases from a phase where the tree is localized at the interface. This model is generalized to a branched copolymer which is examined in a certain averaged quenched ensemble. Existence of a thermodynamic limit is shown for this model, and it is also shown that the model is self-averaging. Lastly, a model of branched polymers interacting with one another through a membrane is considered. The existence of a limiting free energy is shown, and it is demonstrated that if the interaction is strong enough, then the two branched polymers will adsorb on one another.     

Core-halo distribution in the Hamiltonian mean-field model

We study a paradigmatic system with long-range interactions: the Hamiltonian mean-field (HMF) model. It is shown that in the thermodynamic limit this model does not relax to the usual equilibrium Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. Instead, the final stationary state has a peculiar core-halo structure. In the thermodynamic limit, HMF is neither ergodic nor mixing. Nevertheless, we find that using dynamical properties of Hamiltonian systems it is possible to quantitatively predict both the spin distribution and the velocity distribution functions in the final stationary state, without any adjustable parameters. We also show that HMF undergoes a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition between paramagnetic and ferromagnetic states.     

Griffiths' singularities in diluted ising models on the Cayley tree

The Griffiths singularities are fully exhibited for a class of diluted ferromagnetic Ising models defined on the Cayley tree (Bethe lattice). For the deterministic model the Lee-Yang circle theorem is explicitly proven for the magnetization at the origin and it is shown that, in the thermodynamic limit, the Lee-Yang singularities become dense in the entire unit circle for the whole ferromagnetic phase. Smoothness (infinite differentiability) of the quenched magnetizationm at the origin with respect to the external magnetic field is also proven for convenient choices of temperature and disorder. From our analysis we also conclude that the existence of metastable states is impossible for the random models under consideration.     

Renormalization group analysis of a simple hierarchical fermion model

A simple hierarchical fermion model is constructed which gives rise to an exact renormalization transformation in a 2-dimensional, parameter space. The behaviour of this transformation is studied. It has two hyperbolic fixed points for which the existence of aglobal critical line is proven. The asymptotic behaviour of the transformation is used to prove the existence of the thermodynamic limit in a certain domain in parameter space. Also the existence of a continuum limit for these theories is investigated using informatioin about the asymptotic renomralization behaviour. It turns out that the trivial fixed point gives rise to a twoparameter family of continuum limits corresponding to that part of parameter space where the renormalization trajectories originate at this fixed point. Although the model is not very realistic it serves as a simple example of the application of the renormalization group to proving the existence of the thermodynamic limit and the continuum limit of lattice models. Moreover, it illustrates possible complications that can arise in global renormalization group behaviour, and that might also be present in other models where no global analysis of the renormalization transformation has yet been achieved.A part of the material here presented was used in the author's thesis     

Existence of the thermodynamic limit in nonequilibrium systems

The existence of a thermodynamic limit in nonequilibrium stochastic and quantal systems is proven for finite-range interactions and macrovariables which are bounded in the sense of norm. This condition is easily confirmed to be satisfied for specific models, such as the kinetic Ising model and quantal spin systems.Partially financed by Japanese Scientific Research Fund of the Ministry of Education.     

Thermodynamic limit for the one-dimensional Ising systems with random interaction of finite range

The existence of the thermodynamic limit is proved for the random one-dimensional Ising systems under the assumption that the interaction energies are random variables taking on continuous values and the distribution of the random variables is given by a continuous function. It is assumed that the total number of possible configurations for each lattice site is finite and the range of interaction is finite.