We study some properties of the Ising model in the plane of the complex (energy/temperature)-dependent variable
u=e−4K, where
K=J/(kBT), for nonzero external magnetic field,
H. Exact results are given for the phase diagram in the
u plane for the model in one dimension and on infinite-length quasi-one-dimensional strips. In the case of real
h=H/(kBT), these results provide new insights into features of our earlier study of this case. We also consider complex
h=H/(kBT) and
μ=e−2h. Calculations of complex-
u zeros of the partition function on sections of the square lattice are presented. For the case of imaginary
h, i.e.,
μ=eiθ, we use exact results for the quasi-1D strips together with these partition function zeros for the model in 2D to infer some properties of the resultant phase diagram in the
u plane. We find that in this case, the phase boundary
Bu contains a real line segment extending through part of the physical ferromagnetic interval
0≤u≤1, with a right-hand endpoint
urhe at the temperature for which the Yang-Lee edge singularity occurs at
μ=e±iθ. Conformal field theory arguments are used to relate the singularities at
urhe and the Yang-Lee edge.
Although the physical properties of the 2D and 1D Ising models are quite different, we point out an interesting connection between their complex-temperature phase diagrams. We carry out an exact determination of the complex-temperature phase diagram for the 1D Ising model for arbitrary spin s and show that in the u_s=e^{-K/s^2} plane (i) it consists of N_{c,1D}=4s^2 infinite regions separated by an equal number of boundary curves where the free energy is non-analytic; (ii) these curves extend from the origin to complex infinity, and in both limits are oriented along the angles \\theta_n = (1+2n)\\pi/(4s^2), for n=0,..., 4s^2-1; (iii) of these curves, there are N_{c,NE,1D}=N_{c,NW,1D}=[s^2] in the first and second (NE and NW) quadrants; and (iv) there is a boundary curve (line) along the negative real u_s axis if and only if s is half-integral. We note a close relation between these results and the number of arcs of zeros protruding into the FM phase in our recent calculation of partition function zeros for the 2D spin s Ising model.