We study effects of competing pairwise higher-order interactions (HOI) with alternating signs and exponentially decreasing intensity on critical behavior of the
XY model. It is found that critical properties of such a generalized model can be very different from the standard
XY model and can strongly depend on whether the number of HOI terms is odd or even. Inclusion of any odd number of HOI terms results in two consecutive phase transitions to distinct ferromagnetic quasi-long-range order phases. Even number of HOI terms leads to two phase transitions only if the decay of the HOI intensities is relatively slow. Then the high-temperature transition to the ferromagnetic phase is followed by another transition to a peculiar competition-induced canted ferromagnetic phase. In the limit of an infinite number of HOI terms only one phase transition is confirmed, and under the conditions of fierce competition between the even and odd terms the transition temperature can be suppressed practically to zero.
We study numerically the ground-state morphology and properties of the low-lying states of an XY model with competing interactions for several values of the concentration x and of the ratio between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange constants, \ensuremath{\lambda}. If \ensuremath{\lambda}>1, the ground state is likely to be a spin glass for all nonzero concentrations. In the region \ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\le}1, the ground state is a disordered canted ferromagnet for low dilutions with a transition to a pure spin-glass phase at a \ensuremath{\lambda}-dependent critical concentration. The analysis of the spin-spin correlation functions gives insight on the mechanism responsible for the degradation of the magnetic order at low dilutions. An unusual law of decay of correlations suggests that the canted ferromagnetic phase that we find at small \ensuremath{\lambda} and x may actually be a phase with power-law decay of correlations.
The phase diagrams of Ising antiferromagnets in a magnetic field
H are investigated for various values of the ratio
R between nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interaction. While meanfield approximations and the existing real-space renormalization-group treatments yield phase diagrams which are sometimes even qualitatively incorrect, accurate results are obtained from Monte Carlo calculations. For
R<0 only an antiferromagnetically ordered phase exists. Its transition to the disordered phase is first order for temperatures below the tricritical point (
Tt,
Ht). For $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ also ${T}_{t}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. For
R=0 we find very good agreement with the results of M\"uller-Hartmann and Zittartz. For
R>0 and
H1<H<H2 a new phase with anomalous high ground-state degeneracy is found (two sublattices have only one-dimensional order). These sublattices undergo order-disorder transitions at
T=0, such that for
T>0 one is left with a "superantiferromagnetic" phase. At low temperatures in this phase a pronounced tendency is observed to form a simpler (2 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} 2) superstructure but with many antiphase domain boundaries. For $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\frac{1}{2}$ and
H<H1 the regime of the antiferromagnetic phases goes to zero temperature, while for
R>21 the superantiferromagnetic phase exists also for
H<H1. The order-disorder transition associated with this phase seems to have non-Ising critical exponents which vary as a function of
R and
H. Estimates for the exponents lead us to suggest that Suzuki's "weak universality" is valid. The behavior of the model at
T=0 is related to known results on hard-core lattice gases. It is shown that it is useful to interpret the transitions at
T=0 as generalized percolation transitions. Since the model may have applications to adsorbate phases in registered structures at (100) surfaces of cubic crystals, the transcription of our results to temperature-coverage phase diagrams and adsorption isotherms is discussed in detail, and possible experimental applications are mentioned.
Critical properties of an Ising bilayer system, consisting of two triangular planes with antiferromagnetic (AF)
JA and ferromagnetic (FM)
JB exchange interactions, coupled by the interlayer exchange
JAB, are studied by Monte Carlo simulation. The FM plane is found to induce in the AF one some effects similar to those resulting from the joint presence of a next-nearest-neighbor FM coupling and an external magnetic field in the single triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnet. The similarities include the appearance of the quasi-long-range-order BKT phase with algebraically decaying correlations for smaller
JAB, as well as the phase transitions belonging to the three-state Potts universality class for larger
JAB. On the other hand, no first-order phase transitions are observed. A new phenomenon is a cross-over from the BKT to the Wannier state at higher temperatures, that can be stabilized over a relatively wide temperature range. In the strong
JAB limit, the critical behavior of the entire bilayer is governed by the behavior of the plane with a dominant intraplane interaction. If
JA is dominant, then the strong
JAB coupling makes the system kinetically freeze at lower temperatures.
Critical properties of the two-dimensional XY model involving solely nematic-like terms of the second and third orders are investigated by spin-wave analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that, even though neither of the nematic-like terms alone can induce magnetic ordering, their coexistence and competition leads to an extended phase of the magnetic quasi-long-range-order phase, wedged between the two nematic-like phases induced by the respective couplings. Thus, except for the multicritical point, at which all the phases meet, for any finite value of the coupling parameters ratio there are two phase transition: one from the paramagnetic phase to one of the two nematic-like phases followed by another one at lower temperatures to the magnetic phase. The finite-size scaling analysis indicates that the phase transitions between the magnetic and nematic-like phases belong to the Ising and three-state Potts universality classes. Inside the competition-induced algebraic magnetic phase, the spin-pair correlation function is found to decay even much more slowly than in the standard XY model with purely magnetic interactions. Such a magnetic phase is characterized by an extremely low vortex-antivortex pair density attaining a minimum close to the point at which the two couplings are of about equal strength.
We calculate the magnetic phase diagram of the spin- 1 / 2 nearest neighbor XXZ pyrochlore model using the pseudo-Majorana functional renormalization group in the temperature flow formalism. Our phase diagram as a function of temperature and coupling ratio, allowing both longitudinal and transverse couplings to be ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, reveals a large nonmagnetic regime at low temperatures, which includes the quantum spin ice phase near the antiferromagnetic Ising model, as well as the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and XY models. We are able to detect magnetic phase transitions via critical finite size scaling down to temperatures two orders of magnitude smaller than the spin interactions, demonstrating the remarkably good performance of our method upon approaching the ground state. Specifically, the low-temperature transition from the zero-flux quantum spin ice phase into the transverse ferromagnetic phase shows very good agreement with previous quantum Monte Carlo results. Comparing our findings with classical results, we identify a quantum order-by-disorder effect near the antiferromagnetic XY model. In magnetically disordered regimes, we find characteristic patterns of broadened pinch points in the spin structure factor and investigate their evolution when approaching magnetically ordered phases. We also compute linear responses to lattice symmetry breaking perturbations and identify a possible lattice nematic ground state of the antiferromagnetic XY model.