Modulated phases and the mean-field theory of magnetism with competing interactions

The mean-field theory of an Ising magnet with infinitely weak, infinitely long-range potentials of arbitrary sign is presented in terms of a variational principle for the magnetization. Previous studies of the theory have revealed paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and modulated phases. For a particular choice of potential, which is an obvious continuous version of the between-plane ANNNI model interaction, exact solutions of the stationary condition implied by the variational principle are obtained. This leads us to formulate a trial magnetization to well describe the modulated phase in general. To illustrate the utility of the trial magnetization, both analytic and numerical calculations are performed, which determine the wavenumber in certain portions of the modulated phase for the above-mentioned potential.