Discrete approximations to vector spin models

We strengthen a result of two of us on the existence of effective interactions for discretised continuous-spin models. We also point out that such an interaction cannot exist at very low temperatures. Moreover, we compare two ways of discretising continuous-spin models, and show that, except for very low temperatures, they behave similarly in two dimensions. We also discuss some possibilities in higher dimensions.

Gibbs-non-Gibbs properties for n-vector lattice and mean-field models

We review some recent developments in the study of Gibbs and non-Gibbs properties of transformed n-vector lattice and mean-field models under various transformations. Also, some new results for the loss and recovery of the Gibbs property of planar rotor models during stochastic time evolution are presented.

Continuous Spin Mean-Field models: Limiting kernels and Gibbs Properties of local transforms

We extend the notion of Gibbsianness for mean-field systems to the set-up of general (possibly continuous) local state spaces. We investigate the Gibbs properties of systems arising from an initial mean-field Gibbs measure by application of given local transition kernels. This generalizes previous case-studies made for spins taking finitely many values to the first step in direction to a general theory, containing the following parts: (1) A formula for the limiting conditional probability distributions of the transformed system. It holds both in the Gibbs and non-Gibbs regime and invokes a minimization problem for a constrained rate-function. (2) A criterion for Gibbsianness of the transformed system for initial Lipschitz-Hamiltonians involving concentration properties of the transition kernels. (3) A continuity estimate for the single-site conditional distributions of the transformed system. While (2) and (3) have provable lattice-counterparts, the characterization of (1) is stronger in mean-field. As applications we show short-time Gibbsianness of rotator mean-field models on the (q-1)-dimensional sphere under diffusive time-evolution and the preservation of Gibbsianness under local coarse-graining of the initial local spin space.

The Posterior metric and the Goodness of Gibbsianness for transforms of Gibbs measures

We present a general method to derive continuity estimates for conditional probabilities of general (possibly continuous) spin models sub jected to local transformations. Such systems arise in the study of a stochastic time-evolution of Gibbs measures or as noisy observations. We exhibit the minimal necessary structure for such double-layer systems. Assuming no a priori metric on the local state spaces, we define the posterior metric on the local image space. We show that it allows in a natural way to divide the local part of the continuity estimates from the spatial part (which is treated by Dobrushin uniqueness here). We show in the concrete example of the time evolution of rotators on the q-1 dimensional sphere how this method can be used to obtain estimates in terms of the familiar Euclidean metric.