Aperiodic extended surface perturbations in the Ising model

We study the influence of an aperiodic extended surface perturbation on the surface critical behaviour of the two-dimensional Ising model in the extreme anisotropic limit. The perturbation decays as a power of the distance l from the free surface with an oscillating amplitude where follows some aperiodic sequence with an asymptotic density equal to 1/2 so that the mean amplitude vanishes. The relevance of the perturbation is discussed by combining scaling arguments of Cordery and Burkhardt for the Hilhorst-van Leeuwen model and Luck for aperiodic perturbations. The relevance-irrelevance criterion involves the decay exponent , the wandering exponent which governs the fluctuation of the sequence and the bulk correlation length exponent . Analytical results are obtained for the surface magnetization which displays a rich variety of critical behaviours in the -plane. The results are checked through a numerical finite-size-scaling study. They show that second-order effects must be taken into account in the discussion of the relevance-irrelevance criterion. The scaling behaviours of the first gap and the surface energy are also discussed. Received 1 December 1998     

Ising films with surface defects

The influence of surface defects on the critical properties of magnetic films is studied for Ising models with nearest-neighbour ferromagnetic couplings. The defects include one or two adjacent lines of additional atoms and a step on the surface. For the calculations, both density-matrix renormalization group and Monte Carlo techniques are used. By changing the local couplings at the defects and the film thickness, non-universal features as well as interesting crossover phenomena in the magnetic exponents are observed. Received 27 July 2000 and Received in final form 5 October 2000     

Critical Binder cumulant of two-dimensional Ising models

The fourth-order cumulant of the magnetization, the Binder cumulant, is determined at the phase transition of Ising models on square and triangular lattices, using Monte Carlo techniques. Its value at criticality depends sensitively on boundary conditions, details of the clusters used in calculating the cumulant, and symmetry of the interactions or, here, lattice structure. Possibilities to identify generic critical cumulants are discussed.     

Condensation and metastability in the 2D Potts model

For the first order transition of the Ising model below , Isakov has proven that the free energy possesses an essential singularity in the applied field. Such a singularity in the control parameter, anticipated by condensation theory, is believed to be a generic feature of first order transitions, but too weak to be observable. We study these issues for the temperature driven transition of the q states 2D Potts model at . Adapting the droplet model to this case, we relate its parameters to the critical properties at and confront the free energy to the many informations brought by previous works. The essential singularity predicted at the transition temperature leads to observable effects in numerical data. On a finite lattice, a metastability domain of temperatures is identified, which shrinks to zero in the thermodynamical limit. Received 30 March 1999     

Monte Carlo test of the Goldstone mode singularity in 3D XY model

Monte Carlo simulations of magnetization and susceptibility in the 3D XY model are performed for system sizes up to L=384 (significantly exceeding the largest size L=160 considered in work published previously), and fields h ≥ 0.0003125 at two different coupling constants β=0.5, and β=0.55 in the ordered phase. We examine the prediction of the standard theory that the longitudinal susceptibility χ_∥ has a Goldstone mode singularity such that χ_∥ ∝h^-1/2 holds when h↦0. Most of our results, however, support another theoretical prediction that the singularity is of a more general form χ_∥ ∝h^ρ-1, where 1/2<ρ<1 is a universal exponent related to the ∼h^ρ variation of the magnetization.     

Critical phenomena at perfect and non-perfect surfaces

The effect of imperfections on surface critical properties is studied for Ising models with nearest-neighbour ferromagnetic couplings on simple cubic lattices. In particular, results of Monte Carlo simulations for flat, perfect surfaces are compared to those for flat surfaces with random, “weak” or “strong”, interactions between neighbouring spins in the surface layer, and for surfaces with steps of monoatomic height. Surface critical exponents at the ordinary transition, in particular ,are found to be robust against these perturbations. Received: 7 October 1997 / Accepted: 19 November 1997     

Monte Carlo studies of the square Ising model with next-nearest-neighbor interactions

We apply a new entropic scheme to study the critical behavior of the square-lattice Ising model with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions. Estimates of the present scheme are compared with those of the Metropolis algorithm. We consider interactions in the range where superantiferromagnetic (SAF) order appears at low temperatures. A recent prediction of a first-order transition along a certain range (0.5–1.2) of the interaction ratio (R=J_nnn/J_nn) is examined by generating accurate data for large lattices at a particular value of the ratio (R=1). Our study does not support a first-order transition and a convincing finite-size scaling analysis of the model is presented, yielding accurate estimates for all critical exponents for R=1. The magnetic exponents are found to obey “weak universality” in accordance with a previous conjecture.     

The travelling salesman problem on randomly diluted lattices: Results for small-size systems

If one places N cities randomly on a lattice of size L, we find that and vary with the city concentration p=N/L ², where is the average optimal travel distance per city in the Euclidean metric and is the same in the Manhattan metric. We have studied such optimum tours for visiting all the cities using a branch and bound algorithm, giving the exact optimized tours for small system sizes () and near-optimal tours for bigger system sizes (). Extrapolating the results for , we find that for p=1, and and with as . Although the problem is trivial for p=1, for it certainly reduces to the standard travelling salesman problem on continuum which is NP-hard. We did not observe any irregular behaviour at any intermediate point. The crossover from the triviality to the NP-hard problem presumably occurs at p=1. Received 15 April 2000     

Critical phenomena at edges and corners

Using Monte-Carlo techniques, the critical behaviour at edges and corners of the three-dimensional Ising model is studied. In particular, the critical exponent of the local magnetization at edges formed by two intersecting free surfaces is estimated to be, as a function of the opening angle , for , for , and for . The critical exponent of the corner magnetization of a cube is found to be . The Monte-Carlo estimates are compared to results of mean field theory, renormalization group calculations and high temperature series expansions. Received: 29 January 1998 / Accepted: 17 March 1998     

Ground state phase diagram of a spin-2 antiferromagnet on the square lattice

We use the vertex state model approach to construct optimum ground states for a large class of quantum spin-2 antiferromagnets on the square lattice. Optimum ground states are exact ground states of the model which minimize all local interaction operators. The ground state contains two continuous parameters and exhibits a second order phase transition from a disordered phase with exponentially decaying correlation functions to a Néel ordered phase. The behaviour is very similar to that of the corresponding ground state of a quantum spin-3/2 model on the hexagonal lattice, which has been investigated in an earlier paper. Received 8 April 1999     

Ground state properties of a spin-3/2 model on a decorated square lattice

We present the construction of an optimum ground state for a quantum spin-3/2 antiferromagnet. The spins reside on a decorated square lattice, in which the basis consists of a plaquette of four sites. By using the vertex state model approach we generate the ground state from the same vertices as those used for the corresponding ground state on the hexagonal lattice. The properties of these two ground states are very similar. Particularly there is also a parameter-controlled phase transition from a disordered to a Néel ordered phase. In the regime of this transition, ground state properties can be obtained from an integrable classical vertex model. Received 28 June 1999     

Ostwald ripening with kinetically limited bond formation

We present Monte Carlo simulations of the ripening of 2D islands in the case when the formation of the monomer-monomer bonds is kinetically limited. The results obtained indicate that such limitations may modify the early stage of the kinetics. Asymptotically, the ripening is described by the Lifshitz-Slyozov law. Received 29 August 2000     

Comparative study of the critical behavior in one-dimensional random and aperiodic environments

We consider cooperative processes (quantum spin chains and random walks) in one-dimensional fluctuating random and aperiodic environments characterized by fluctuating exponents . At the critical point the random and aperiodic systems scale essentially anisotropically in a similar fashion: length (L) and time (t) scales are related as . Also some critical exponents, characterizing the singularities of average quantities, are found to be universal functions of , whereas some others do depend on details of the distribution of the disorder. In the off-critical region there is an important difference between the two types of environments: in aperiodic systems there are no extra (Griffiths)-singularities. Received: 5 February 1998 / Accepted: 17 April 1998     

Uniaxially anisotropic antiferromagnets in a field on a square lattice

Classical uniaxially anisotropic Heisenberg and XY antiferromagnets in a field along the easy axis on a square lattice are analysed, applying ground state considerations and Monte Carlo techniques. The models are known to display antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases. In the Heisenberg case, a single-ion anisotropy is added to the XXZ antiferromagnet, enhancing or competing with the uniaxial exchange anisotropy. Its effect on the stability of non-collinear structures of biconical type is studied. In the case of the anisotropic XY antiferromagnet, the transition region between the antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases is found to be dominated by degenerate bidirectional fluctuations. The phase diagram is observed to resemble closely that of the XXZ antiferromagnet without single-ion anisotropy.     

Critical properties of a three-dimensional p-spin model

In this paper we study the critical properties of a finite dimensional generalization of the p-spin model. We find evidence that in dimension three, contrary to its mean field limit, the glass transition is associated to a diverging susceptibility (and correlation length). Received 13 May 1998     

Random and aperiodic quantum spin chains: A comparative study

According to the Harris-Luck criterion the relevance of a fluctuating interaction at the critical point is connected to the value of the fluctuation exponent . Here we consider different types of relevant fluctuations in the quantum Ising chain and investigate the universality class of random as well as deterministic-aperiodic models. At the critical point the random and aperiodic systems behave similarly, due to the same type of extreme broad distribution of the energy scales at low energies. The critical exponents of some averaged quantities are found to be a universal function of , but some others do depend on other parameters of the distribution of the couplings. In the off-critical region there is an important difference between the two systems: there are no Griffiths singularities in aperiodic models. Received: 18 November 1997 / Received in final form: 24 November 1997 / Accepted: 8 January 1997     

Reparametrization invariance: a gauge-like symmetry of ultrametrically organised states

The reparametrization transformation between ultrametrically organised states of replicated disordered systems is explicitly defined. The invariance of the longitudinal free energy under this transformation, i.e. reparametrization invariance, is shown to be a direct consequence of the higher level symmetry of replica equivalence. The double limit of infinite step replica symmetry breaking and is needed to derive this continuous gauge-like symmetry from the discrete permutation invariance of the n replicas. Goldstone's theorem and Ward identities can be deduced from the disappearance of the second (and higher order) variation of the longitudinal free energy. We recall also how these and other exact statements follow from permutation symmetry after introducing the concept of “infinitesimal" permutations. Received 21 July 2000     

One-dimensional Ising-like systems: an analytical investigation of the static and dynamic properties, applied to spin-crossover relaxation

We investigate the dynamical properties of the 1-D Ising-like Hamiltonian taking into account short and long range interactions, in order to predict the static and dynamic behavior of spin crossover systems. The stochastic treatment is carried out within the frame of the local equilibrium method [1]. The calculations yield, at thermodynamic equilibrium, the exact analytic expression previously obtained by the transfer matrix technique [2]. We mainly discuss the shape of the relaxation curves: (i) for large (positive) values of the short range interaction parameter, a saturation of the relaxation curves is observed, reminiscent of the behavior of the width of the static hysteresis loop [3]; (ii) a sigmoidal (self-accelerated) behavior is obtained for large enough interactions of any type; (iii) the relaxation curves exhibit a sizeable tail (with respect to the mean-field curves) which is clearly associated with the transient onset of first-neighbor correlations in the system, due to the effect of short-range interactions. The case of negative short-range interaction is briefly discussed in terms of two-step properties. Received 29 October 1999 and Received in final form 30 December 1999     

Phase transitions in “small” systems

Traditionally, phase transitions are defined in the thermodynamic limit only. We discuss how phase transitions of first order (with phase separation and surface tension), continuous transitions and (multi)-critical points can be seen and classified for small systems. “Small” systems are systems where the linear dimension is of the characteristic range of the interaction between the particles; i.e. also astrophysical systems are “small” in this sense. Boltzmann defines the entropy as the logarithm of the area of the surface in the mechanical N-body phase space at total energy E. The topology of S(E,N) or more precisely, of the curvature determinant allows the classification of phase transitions without taking the thermodynamic limit. Micro-canonical thermo-statistics and phase transitions will be discussed here for a system coupled by short range forces in another situation where entropy is not extensive. The first calculation of the entire entropy surface S(E,N) for the diluted Potts model (ordinary (q=3)-Potts model plus vacancies) on a square lattice is shown. The regions in {E,N} where D>0 correspond to pure phases, ordered resp. disordered, and D<0 represent transitions of first order with phase separation and “surface tension”. These regions are bordered by a line with D=0. A line of continuous transitions starts at the critical point of the ordinary (q=3)-Potts model and runs down to a branching point P_m. Along this line vanishes in the direction of the eigenvector of D with the largest eigen-value . It characterizes a maximum of the largest eigenvalue . This corresponds to a critical line where the transition is continuous and the surface tension disappears. Here the neighboring phases are indistinguishable. The region where two or more lines with D=0 cross is the region of the (multi)-critical point. The micro-canonical ensemble allows to put these phenomena entirely on the level of mechanics. Received 18 October 1999 and received in final form 17 November 1999