Renormalisation-group calculation of correlation functions for the 2D random bond Ising and Potts models

We find the crossover behaviour of the disorder averaged spin-spin correlation function for the 2D Ising and 3-state Potts model with random bonds at the critical point. The procedure employed is the renormalisation approach of the perturbation series around the conformal field theories representing the pure models. We obtain a crossover in the amplitude for the correlation function for the Ising model, which does not change the critical exponent, and a shift in the critical exponent produced by randomness in the case of the Potts model. A comparison with numerical data is discussed briefly.     

Agreement percolation and phase coexistence in some Gibbs systems

We extend some relations between percolation and the dependence of Gibbs states on boundary conditions known for Ising ferromagnets to other systems and investigate their general validity: percolation is defined in terms of the agreement of a configuration with one of the ground states of the system. This extension is studied via examples and counterexamples, including the antiferromagnetic Ising and hard-core models on bipartite lattices, Potts models, and many-layered Ising and continuum Widom-Rowlinson models. In particular our results on the hard square lattice model make rigorous observations made by Hu and Mak on the basis of computer simulations. Moreover, we observe that the (naturally defined) clusters of the Widom-Rowlinson model play (for the WR model itself) the same role that the clusters of the Fortuin-Kasteleyn measure play for the ferromagnetic Potts models. The phase transition and percolation in this system can be mapped into the corresponding liquid-vapor transition of a one-component fluid.     

Spin glasses on thin graphs

In a recent paper [C. Baillie, D.A. Johnston and J.-P. Kownacki, Nucl. Phys. B 432 (1994) 551] we found strong evidence from simulations that the Ising antiferromagnet on “thin” random graphs — Feynman diagrams — displayed a mean-field spin-glass transition. The intrinsic interest of considering such random graphs is that they give mean-field theory results without long-range interactions or the drawbacks, arising from boundary problems, of the Bethe lattice. In this paper we reprise the saddle-point calculations for the Ising and Potts ferromagnet, antiferromagnet and spin glass on Feynman diagrams. We use standard results from bifurcation theory that enable us to treat an arbitrary number of replicas and any quenched bond distribution. We note the agreement between the ferromagnetic and spin-glass transition temperatures thus calculated and those derived by analogy with the Bethe lattice or in previous replica calculations.

We then investigate numerically spin glasses with a ±J bond distribution for the Ising and Q = 3, 4, 10, 50 state Potts models, paying particular attention to the independence of the spin-glass transition from the fraction of positive and negative bonds in the Ising case and the qualitative form of the overlap distribution P(q) for all of the models. The parallels with infinite-range spin-glass models in both the analytical calculations and simulations are pointed out.     

Random bond Potts model: The test of the replica symmetry breaking

The averaged spin-spin correlation function squared is calculated for the ferro-magnetic random bond Potts model in two dimensions. The technique being used is the renormalization group plus conformal field theory. The results are of the E-expansion type fixed point calculation, E being the deviation of the central charge (or the number of components) of the Potts model from the Ising model value. Calculations are done both for the replica symmetric and the replica symmetry broken fixed points. The results obtained allow for numerical simulation tests to decide between the two different criticalities of the random bond Potts model.     

Magnetization densities as replica parameters: The dilute ferromagnet

In this paper we compute exactly the ground state energy and entropy of the dilute ferromagnetic Ising model. The two thermodynamic quantities are also computed when a magnetic field with random locations is present. The result is reached in the replica approach frame by a class of replica order parameters introduced by Monasson (1998) [5]. The strategy is first illustrated considering the SK model, for which we will show the complete equivalence with the standard replica approach. Then, we apply to the diluted ferromagnetic Ising model with a random located magnetic field, which is mapped into a Potts model.     

The Dilute Potts Model on Random Surfaces

We present a new solution of the asymmetric two-matrix model in the large-N limit which only involves a saddle point analysis. The model can be interpreted as Ising in the presence of a magnetic field, on random dynamical lattices with the topology of the sphere (resp. the disk) for closed (resp. open) surfaces; we elaborate on the resulting phase diagram. The method can be equally well applied to a more general (Q+1)-matrix model which represents the dilute Potts model on random dynamical lattices. We discuss in particular duality of boundary conditions for open random surfaces.     

Potts model on complex networks

We consider the general p-state Potts model on random networks with a given degree distribution (random Bethe lattices). We find the effect of the suppression of a first order phase transition in this model when the degree distribution of the network is fat-tailed, that is, in more precise terms, when the second moment of the distribution diverges. In this situation the transition is continuous and of infinite order, and size effect is anomalously strong. In particular, in the case of p = 1, we arrive at the exact solution, which coincides with the known solution of the percolation problem on these networks.Received: 3 December 2003, Published online: 17 February 2004PACS: 05.10.-a Computational methods in statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics - 05.40.-a Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion - 05.50. + q Lattice theory and statistics (Ising, Potts, etc.) - 87.18.Sn Neural networks     

Phase transition in the 2D random Potts model in the large-q limit

Phase transition in the two-dimensional q-state Potts model with random ferromagnetic couplings is studied in the large-q limit by a combinatorial optimization algorithm and by approximate mappings. We conjecture that the critical behavior of the model is controlled by the isotropic version of the infinite randomness fixed point of the random transverse-field Ising spin chain and the critical exponents are exactly given by beta=(3-sqrt[5])/4, beta(s)=1/2, and nu=1. The specific heat has a logarithmic singularity, but at the transition point there are very strong sample-to-sample fluctuations. Discretized randomness results in discontinuities in the internal energy.     

Continuum limit on a 2-dimensional random lattice

We investigate the continuum limit of the Ising model on a 2-dimensional random lattice using Monte Carlo and strong coupling techniques. No evidence is found for deviation from the behaviour of the standard Ising model on a regular lattice; we do not see the modified critical properties found in the bond-diluted Ising model. Our results suggest that the continuum limit is the usual non-interacting Majorana fermion theory.     

Variational principle for regular and random Ising models on the cactus tree or on the usual lattice in the “cactus approximation”

The distribution functions and the free energy are expressed in terms of the effective fields for the regular and random Ising models of an arbitrary spin S on the generalized cactus tree. The same expressions apply to systems on the usual lattice in the “cactus approximation” in the cluster variation method. For an ensemble of random Ising models of an arbitrary spin S on the generalized cactus tree, the equation for the probability distribution function of the effective fields is set up and the averaged free energy is expressed in terms of the probability distribution. The same expressions apply to the system on the usual lattice in the “cactus approximation”. We discuss the quantities on the usual lattice when the system or the ensemble of random systems has the translational symmetry. Variational properties of the free energy for a system and of the averaged free energy for an ensemble of random systems are noted. The “cactus approximations” are applicable to the Heisenberg model as well as to the Ising model of an arbitrary spin, and to ensembles of random systems of these models.     

Phenomenological renormalization group approach to the anisotropic two-layer Ising model

The anisotropic two-layer Ising model is studied by the phenomenological renormalization group method. It is found that the anisotropic two-layer Ising model with symmetric couplings belongs to the same universality class as the two dimensional Ising model.Received: 2 March 2003, Published online: 11 August 2003PACS: 05.50.+q Lattice theory and statistics (Ising, Potts, etc.) - 02.70.-c Computational techniques     

Phase diagram of the three states Potts model with next nearest neighbour interactions on the Bethe lattice

We have found an exact phase diagram of the Potts model with competing nearest neighbor and next nearest neighbor interactions on the Bethe lattice of order two. The diagram consists of five phases: ferromagnetic, paramagnetic, modulated, antiphase and paramodulated, all meeting at the multicritical point . We report on a new phase which we denote as paramodulated, found at low temperatures and characterized by zero average magnetization lying inside the modulated phase. Such a phase, inherent in the Potts model has no analogues in the Ising setting.     

Potts model,Dirac propagator,and conformational statistics of semiflexible polymers

A new discretized version of the Dirac propagator ind space and one time dimensions is obtained with the help of the 2d-state, one-dimensional Potts model. The Euclidean version of this propagator describes all conformational properties of semiflexible polymers. It also describes all properties of fully directed self-avoiding walks. The case of semiflexible copolymers composed of a random sequence of fully flexible and semirigid monomer units is also considered. As a by-product, some new results for disordered one-dimensional Ising and Potts models are obtained. In the case of the Potts model the nontrivial extension of the results to higher dimensions is discussed briefly.     

Precursor phenomena in frustrated systems

To understand the origin of the dynamical transition, between high-temperature exponential relaxation and low-temperature nonexponential relaxation, that occurs well above the static transition in glassy systems, a frustrated spin model, with and without disorder, is considered. The model has two phase transitions, the lower being a standard spin glass transition (in the presence of disorder) or fully frustrated Ising (in the absence of disorder), and the higher being a Potts transition. Monte Carlo results clarify that in the model with (or without) disorder the precursor phenomena are related to the Griffiths (or Potts) transition. The Griffiths transition is a vanishing transition which occurs above the Potts transition and is present only when disorder is present, while the Potts transition which signals the effect due to frustration is always present. These results suggest that precursor phenomena in frustrated systems are due either to disorder and/or to frustration, giving a consistent interpretation also for the limiting cases of Ising spin glass and of Ising fully frustrated model, where also the Potts transition is vanishing. This interpretation could play a relevant role in glassy systems beyond the spin systems case.     

The High Temperature Ising Model on the Triangular Lattice is a Critical Bernoulli Percolation Model

We define a new percolation model by generalising the FK representation of the Ising model, and show that on the triangular lattice and at high temperatures, the critical point in the new model corresponds to the Ising model. Since the new model can be viewed as Bernoulli percolation on a random graph, our result makes an explicit connection between Ising percolation and critical Bernoulli percolation, and gives a new justification of the conjecture that the high temperature Ising model on the triangular lattice is in the same universality class as Bernoulli percolation.     

A measure of statistical complexity based on predictive information with application to finite spin systems

We propose the binding information as an information theoretic measure of complexity between multiple random variables, such as those found in the Ising or Potts models of interacting spins, and compare it with several previously proposed measures of statistical complexity, including excess entropy, Bialek et al.?s predictive information, and the multi-information. We discuss and prove some of the properties of binding information, particularly in relation to multi-information and entropy, and show that, in the case of binary random variables, the processes which maximise binding information are the ‘parity’ processes. The computation of binding information is demonstrated on Ising models of finite spin systems, showing that various upper and lower bounds are respected and also that there is a strong relationship between the introduction of high-order interactions and an increase of binding-information. Finally we discuss some of the implications this has for the use of the binding information as a measure of complexity.     

Improved phenomenological renormalization schemes

An analysis is made of various methods of phenomenological renormalization based on finite-dimensional scaling equations for inverse correlation lengths, the singular part of the free energy density, and their derivatives. The analysis is made using two-dimensional Ising and Potts lattices and the three-dimensional Ising model. Variants of equations for the phenomenological renormalization group are obtained which ensure more rapid convergence than the conventionally used Nightingale phenomenological renormalization scheme. An estimate is obtained for the critical finite-dimensional scaling amplitude of the internal energy in the three-dimensional Ising model. It is shown that the two-dimensional Ising and Potts models contain no finite-dimensional corrections to the internal energy so that the positions of the critical points for these models can be determined exactly from solutions for strips of finite width. It is also found that for the two-dimensional Ising model the scaling finite-dimensional equation for the derivative of the inverse correlation length with respect to temperature gives the exact value of the thermal critical index.     

Onsager's reaction field for the Potts model from the path integral

A new path integral formulation for theq-state Potts model is proposed. This formulation reproduces known results for the Ising model (q=2) and naturally extends these results for arbitraryq. The mean field results for both the Ising and the Potts models are obtained as a leading saddle point contribution to the corresponding functional integrals, while the systematic computation of corrections to the saddle point contribution produces the Onsager reaction field terms, which forq=2 coincide with results already known for the Ising model.     

Effects of quenched disorder in the two-dimensional Potts model: a Monte Carlo study

Motivated by recent experiments on phase behavior of systems confined in porous media, we have studied the effect of randomness on the nature of the phase transition in the two-dimensional Potts model. To model the effects of the porous matrix we introduce a random distribution of couplings P(J(ij))=pdelta(J(ij)-J1)+(1-p)delta(J(ij)-J2) in the q state Potts Hamiltonian. An extensive Monte Carlo study is made on this system for q=5. We studied two different cases of disorder (a) J(1)/J(2)-->infinity and p=0.8 and (b) J(1)/J(2)=10 and p=0.5. We observed, in both cases, that the weak first order transition that appears in the pure case, changes to a second-order transition. A finite size scaling analysis shows that the correlation length exponent nu is close to 1 and the best fit to the dependence of the specific heat on system size is logarithmic. This suggests that both cases belong to the universality class of the Ising model. In contrast, the magnetic exponents point to a different universality class.