The bethe approximation to the three-state chiral clock model

The three-state chiral clock model is studied by means of the Bethe approximation. While the phase diagram obtained by this method resembles the mean-field phase diagram in the vicinity of the boundary to the paramagnetic phase, a significant improvement is achieved in the low and intermediate temperature regions: By a low-temperature expansion of the free energy, which is carried out to third order, we find that, up to this order, the Bethe approximation exactly reproduces the results of the low-temperature analysis of the full model by Yeomans and Fisher. This and the numerical evaluation of the free energy show that, as far as the longer wavelength phases are concerned, the Bethe approximation is in keeping with predictions of Yeomans and Fisher for low temperature, where mean-field theory is qualitatively misleading. At higher temperatures more complicated structures are found to evolve from the basic low-temperature phases by structure combination branching processes in the same fashion as in the phase diagram of the ANNNI model.     

Finite-size effects in the three-state quantum asymmetric clock model

The one-dimensional quantum hamiltonian of the asymmetric three-state clock model is studied using finite-size scaling. Various boundary conditions are considered on chains containing up to eight sites. We calculate the boundary of the commensurate phase and the mass gap index. The model shows an interesting finite-size dependence in connexion with the presence of the incommensurate phase indicating that for the infinite system there is no Lifshitz point.     

Depinning and wetting in two-dimensional Potts and chiral clock models

The interplay of depinning and interfacial adsorption or wetting phenomena is studied for two-dimensional three-state Potts and chiral clock models where the variables on opposite boundaries are fixed in different states and the interactions near one of the surfaces are weakened compared to the ones in the bulk. Using a transfer matrix approach and Monte Carlo techniques a new interfacial multicritical point is found at which both interfacial properties become critical simultaneously. However, in general the two types of transitions are decoupled.     

Phase transitions in three-dimensional three-state Potts model

We have performed a Monte Carlo investigation of the nature of the phase transition in the three-state, three-dimensional Potts model with nearest and next nearest neighbour coupling. We find strong evidence for a first-order phase transition in the case of ferromagnetic coupling. In the case of a first neighbour ferromagnetic coupling and second neighbour antiferromagnetic, there is evidence for a second-order transition. This result supports the idea that a second-order transition can be present in systems which, according to the Landau criterium, should only undergo a first-order transition.     

Domain walls, surface tension and wetting in the three-dimensional three-state Potts model

We study the thermodynamic properties of interfaces between differently ordered domains in the three-dimensional three-state Potts model. We perform simulations on lattices with cylindric geometry, using parallel and rotated fixed boundary conditions. Systematic control over finite-size effects and the number of interfaces is achieved. Global and local characterization of the interfacial structure is given and substantial evidence for complete wetting is presented.     

Wavevector scaling,surface critical behavior,and wetting in the 2-d, 3-state chiral clock model

The controversial 2-d, 3-state chiral Potts model is studied using transfer matrix finite size scaling. at =0, we find dq _N/dN ^–4/5, whereq is the wavevector, the chiral field, andN the strip width (N=4–10). The result is consistent with den Nijs's crossover exponent =1/6. With surface fields on the infinite free boundaries, exponents associated with bulk magnetizationy _H, surface magnetizationy _H, and surface susceptibility are computed vs. ; results are similar for or to the infinite direction. Preliminary results are given for the bulk specific heat critical amplitudes, to test the universality of amplitude ratios. The interface wetting line is located for 01/4 using simple transfer matrix calculations of surface tensions in the solid-on-solid approximation. Overhangs or bubbles seem relatively unimportant at all temperatures.     

Multilayer wetting in clock models

We show that the interface between two coexisting phases of theq-state clock model is wetted for any temperature by a stack of films of the phases corresponding to the intermediate angles, assumingq even andq4. This follows from the positivity of the spreading coefficients, which we prove using correlation inequalities. A small perturbation of the model exhibits a wetting transition in the low-temperature regime.     

Phase transitions of the five-state clock model on the square lattice

Using the tensor renormalization group method based on the higher-order singular value decomposition, we have studied the phase transitions of the five-state clock model on the square lattice. The temperature dependence of the specific heat indicates the system has two phase transitions, as verified clearly by the correlation function at three representative temperatures. By calculating the magnetic susceptibility, we obtained only the upper critical temperature as T_(c2)= 0.9565(7).Investigating the fixed-point tensor, we precisely locate the transition temperatures at T_(c1)= 0.9029(1) and T_(c2)= 0.9520(1),consistent well with the Monte Carlo and the density matrix renormalization group results.     

Nonequilibrium phase transitions in a simple three-state lattice gas

We investigate the dynamics of a three-state stochastic lattice gas consisting of holes and two oppositely charged species of particles, under the influence of an electric field at zero total charge. Interacting only through an excluded-volume constraint, particles exchange with holes and, on a slower time scale, with each other. Using a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and meanfield equations of motion, we study a set of suitably defined order parameters, their histograms and fluctuations, as well as the current through the system. With increasing particle density and drive, the system first orders into a charge-segregated state, and then disorders again near complete filling. The transition is first order at low densities and turns second order at higher ones. The finite-size and aspect-ratio dependence of characteristic quantities is discussed at the mean-field level.     

Coupled Hamiltonians and three-dimensional short-range wetting transitions

We address three problems faced by effective interfacial Hamiltonian models of wetting based on a single collective coordinate

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(y) representing the position of the unbinding fluid interface. Problems (P1) and (P2) refer to the predictions of non-universality at the upper critical dimension d = 3 at critical and complete wetting, respectively, which are not borne out by Ising model simulation studies. (P3) relates to mean-field correlation function structure in the underlying continuum Landau model. Building on earlier work by Parry and Boulter we investigate the hypothesis that these concerns arise due to the coupling of order parameter fluctuations near the unbinding interface and wall. For quite general choices of collective coordinates X_i(y) we show that arbitrary two-field models H[X₁,X₂] can recover the required anomalous structure of mean-field correlation functions (P3). To go beyond mean-field theory we introduce a set

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of Hamiltonians based on proper collective coordinates s(y) near the wall which have both interfacial and spin-like components. We argue that an optimum model H[s,

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]

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, in which the degree of coupling is controlled by an angle like variable δ^*, best describes the non-universality of the Ising model and investigate its critical behaviour. For critical wetting the appropriate Ginzburg criterion shows that the true asymptotic critical regime for the local susceptibility χ₁ is dramatically reduced consistent with observations of mean-field behaviour in simulations (P1). For complete wetting the model yields a precise expression for the temperature dependence of the renormalised critical amplitude θ in good agreement with simulations (P2). We highlight the importance of a new wetting parameter which describes the physics that emerges due to the coupling effects.     

Critical exponents of the three-state potts model

The Fernandez-Pacheco duality invariant renormalization group is applied to the hamiltonian version of the two-dimensional three-state Potts model. The fixed point is located at exactly the self-dual critical point K¹ = 1. The thermal exponent is calculated to be y_T=1.1814. This value is in excellent agreement with the low temperature series expansion result of Zwanzig and Ranshaw (y_T = 1.174) and the strong coupling expansion result of Elitzur, Pearson and Shigemitsu (y_T = 1.190). It also seems to lend strong support to den Nijs' recent conjecture that the exact value should be y_T = 6/5.     

A Monte Carlo study of the asymmetric clock or chiral Potts model in two dimensions

The phase diagram of the two-dimensional, three-state chiral Potts or asymmetric clock model is studied using Monte Carlo techniques. The phase boundaries are compared to those obtained using the finite-size renormalization group and the free fermion approximation. The incommensurate phase is described in detail and crossover effects near the Lifshitz point are discussed.     

Domain growth in chiral phase transitions

We study the kinetics of chiral phase transitions in quark matter. We discuss the phase diagram of this system in both a microscopic framework (using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model) and a phenomenological framework (using the Landau free energy). Then, we study the far-from-equilibrium coarsening dynamics subsequent to a quench from the chirally-symmetric phase to the massive quark phase. Depending on the nature of the quench, the system evolves via either spinodal decomposition or nucleation and growth. The morphology of the ordering system is characterized using the order-parameter correlation function, structure factor, domain growth laws, etc.     

The chiral and deconfinement phase transitions

By introducing the dressed Polayakov loop or dual chiral condensate as a candidate order parameter to describe the deconfinement phase transition for light flavors, we discuss the interplay between the chiral and deconfinement phase transitions, and propose the possible QCD phase diagram at finite temperature and density. We also introduce a dynamical gluodynamic model with dimension-2 gluon condensate, which can describe the color electric deconfinement as well as the color magnetic confinement.     

Pairwise correlations and wetting transitions at a solid-gas interface

We summarize the main results of our study of the density-density correlation function for Sullivan's model of a gas adsorbed on a solid substrate. In the approach to complete wetting, when a thick film of liquid density is adsorbed at the substrate, long-ranged transverse (parallel to the surface) correlations develop at the edge of the film where the density profile is similar to that of a liquid-gas interface. For a class I wetting situation the range of the transverse correlations increases and ultimately diverges as the bulk gas pressure approaches the saturated vapour pressure. We comment on other situations where long-ranged correlations arise and mention the possibility of observing these in diffraction experiments and in computer simulations. Sullivan's model always predicts a second-order phase transition between class II and class I wetting. By extending his model and allowing the attractive part of the solid-fluid potential to be longer-ranged than the attractive fluid-fluid potential we find that this wetting transition can become a first-order (Cahn) transition.