No Arabic abstract
A relation between O$(n)$ models and Ising models has been recently conjectured [L. Casetti, C. Nardini, and R. Nerattini, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 057208 (2011)]. Such a relation, inspired by an energy landscape analysis, implies that the microcanonical density of states of an O$(n)$ spin model on a lattice can be effectively approximated in terms of the density of states of an Ising model defined on the same lattice and with the same interactions. Were this relation exact, it would imply that the critical energy densities of all the O$(n)$ models (i.e., the average values per spin of the O$(n)$ Hamiltonians at their respective critical temperatures) should be equal to that of the corresponding Ising model; it is therefore worth investigating how different the critical energies are and how this difference depends on $n$. We compare the critical energy densities of O$(n)$ models in three dimensions in some specific cases: the O$(1)$ or Ising model, the O$(2)$ or $XY$ model, the O$(3)$ or Heisenberg model, the O$(4)$ model and the O$(infty)$ or spherical model, all defined on regular cubic lattices and with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions. The values of the critical energy density in the $n=2$, $n=3$, and $n=4$ cases are derived through a finite-size scaling analysis of data produced by means of Monte Carlo simulations on lattices with up to $128^3$ sites. For $n=2$ and $n=3$ the accuracy of previously known results has been improved. We also derive an interpolation formula showing that the difference between the critical energy densities of O$(n)$ models and that of the Ising model is smaller than $1%$ if $n<8$ and never exceeds $3%$ for any $n$.
The critical behaviour of the O(n)-symmetric model with two n-vector fields is studied within the field-theoretical renormalization group approach in a D=4-2 epsilon expansion. Depending on the coupling constants the beta-functions, fixed points and critical exponents are calculated up to the one- and two-loop order, resp. (eta in two- and three-loop order). Continuous lines of fixed points and O(n)*O(2) invariant discrete solutions were found. Apart from already known fixed points two new ones were found. One agrees in one-loop order with a known fixed point, but differs from it in two-loop order.
In previous work with Scullard, we defined a graph polynomial P_B(q,T) that gives access to the critical temperature T_c of the q-state Potts model on a general two-dimensional lattice L. It depends on a basis B, containing n x m unit cells of L, and the relevant root of P_B(q,T) was observed to converge quickly to T_c in the limit n,m to infinity. Moreover, in exactly solvable cases there is no finite-size dependence at all. We reformulate this method as an eigenvalue problem within the periodic Temperley-Lieb algebra. This corresponds to taking m to infinity first, so the bases B are semi-infinite cylinders of circumference n. The limit implies faster convergence in n, while maintaining the n-independence in exactly solvable cases. In this setup, T_c(n) is determined by equating the largest eigenvalues of two topologically distinct sectors of the transfer matrix. Crucially, these two sectors determine the same critical exponent in the continuum limit, and the observed fast convergence is thus corroborated by results of conformal field theory. We obtain similar results for the dense and dilute phases of the O(N) loop model, using now a transfer matrix within the dilute periodic Temperley-Lieb algebra. The eigenvalue formulation allows us to double the size n for which T_c(n) can be obtained, using the same computational effort. We study in details three significant cases: (i) bond percolation on the kagome lattice, up to n = 14; (ii) site percolation on the square lattice, to n = 21; and (iii) self-avoiding polygons on the square lattice, to n = 19. Convergence properties of T_c(n) and extrapolation schemes are studied in details for the first two cases. This leads to rather accurate values for the percolation thresholds: p_c = 0.524404999167439(4) for bond percolation on the kagome lattice, and p_c = 0.59274605079210(2) for site percolation on the square lattice.
Monte Carlo (MC) analysis of the Goldstone mode singularities for the transverse and the longitudinal correlation functions, behaving as G_{perp}(k) simeq ak^{-lambda_{perp}} and G_{parallel}(k) simeq bk^{-lambda_{parallel}} in the ordered phase at k -> 0, is performed in the three-dimensional O(n) models with n=2, 4, 10. Our aim is to test some challenging theoretical predictions, according to which the exponents lambda_{perp} and lambda_{parallel} are non-trivial (3/2<lambda_{perp}<2 and 0<lambda_{parallel}<1 in three dimensions) and the ratio bM^2/a^2 (where M is a spontaneous magnetization) is universal. The trivial standard-theoretical values are lambda_{perp}=2 and lambda_{parallel}=1. Our earlier MC analysis gives lambda_{perp}=1.955 pm 0.020 and lambda_{parallel} about 0.9 for the O(4) model. A recent MC estimation of lambda_{parallel}, assuming corrections to scaling of the standard theory, yields lambda_{parallel} = 0.69 pm 0.10 for the O(2) model. Currently, we have performed a similar MC estimation for the O(10) model, yielding lambda_{perp} = 1.9723(90). We have observed that the plot of the effective transverse exponent for the O(4) model is systematically shifted down with respect to the same plot for the O(10) model by Delta lambda_{perp} = 0.0121(52). It is consistent with the idea that 2-lambda_{perp} decreases for large $n$ and tends to zero at n -> infty. We have also verified and confirmed the expected universality of bM^2/a^2 for the O(4) model, where simulations at two different temperatures (couplings) have been performed.
The multi-critical fixed points of $O(N)$ symmetric models cease to exist in the $Ntoinfty$ limit, but the mechanism regulating their annihilation still presents several enigmatic aspects. Here, we explore the evolution of high-order multi-critical points in the $(d,N)$ plane and uncover a complex mosaics for their asymptotic behaviour at large $N$. This picture is confirmed by various RG approaches and constitutes a fundamental step towards the full comprehension of critical behaviour in $O(N)$ field theories.
We solve analytically the renormalization-group equation for the potential of the O(N)-symmetric scalar theory in the large-N limit and in dimensions 2<d<4, in order to look for nonperturbative fixed points that were found numerically in a recent study. We find new real solutions with singularities in the higher derivatives of the potential at its minimum, and complex solutions with branch cuts along the negative real axis.