Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1907.12494 · Physical review. E

Universality of continuous phase transitions on random Voronoi graphs

Manuel Schrauth, Jefferson S. E. Portela

Published Dec 16, 2019• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Voronoi construction is ubiquitous across the natural sciences and engineering. In statistical mechanics, however, only its dual, the Delaunay triangulation, has been considered in the investigation of critical phenomena. In this paper we set to fill this gap by studying three prominent systems of classical statistical mechanics, the equilibrium spin-1/2 Ising model, the nonequilibrium contact process, and the conserved stochastic sandpile model on two-dimensional random Voronoi graphs. Particular motivation comes from the fact that these graphs have vertices of constant coordination number, making it possible to isolate topological effects of quenched disorder from node-intrinsic coordination number disorder. Using large-scale numerical simulations and finite-size scaling techniques, we are able to demonstrate that all three systems belong to their respective clean universality classes. Therefore, quenched disorder introduced by the randomness of the lattice is irrelevant and does not influence the character of the phase transitions. We report the critical points to considerable precision and, for the Ising model, also the first correction-to-scaling exponent.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.100.062118

Related papers

Two-dimensional Ising model on random lattices with constant coordination number

Manuel Schrauth, Julian A. J. Richter, Jefferson S. E. Portela

We study the two-dimensional Ising model on networks with quenched topological (connectivity) disorder. In particular, we construct random lattices of constant coordination number and perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations in order to obtain critical exponents using finite-size scaling relations. We find disorder-dependent effective critical exponents, similar to diluted models, showing thus no clear universal behavior. Considering the very recent results for the two-dimensional Ising model on proximity graphs and the coordination number correlation analysis suggested by Barghathi and Vojta [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120602 (2014)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.113.120602], our results indicate that the planarity and connectedness of the lattice play an important role on deciding whether the phase transition is stable against quenched topological disorder.

arXiv:1711.07981•Physical review. E•Feb 28, 2018•10 citations

Critical Phenomena in Topologically Disordered Systems

Manuel Schrauth

Clearly, in nature, but also in technological applications, complex systems built in an entirely ordered and regular fashion are the exception rather than the rule. In this thesis we explore how critical phenomena are influenced by quenched spatial randomness. Specifically, we consider physical systems undergoing a continuous phase transition in the presence of topological disorder, where the underlying structure, on which the system evolves, is given by a non-regular, discrete lattice. We therefore endeavour to achieve a thorough understanding of the interplay between collective dynamics and quenched randomness. According to the intriguing concept of universality, certain laws emerge from collectively behaving many-body systems at criticality, almost regardless of the precise microscopic realization of interactions in those systems. As a consequence, vastly different phenomena show striking similarities at their respective phase transitions. In this dissertation we pursue the question of whether the universal properties of critical phenomena are preserved when the system is subjected to topological perturbations. For this purpose, we perform numerical simulations of several prototypical systems of statistical physics which show a continuous phase transition. In particular, the equilibrium spin-1/2 Ising model and its generalizations represent -- among other applications -- fairly natural approaches to model magnetism in solids, whereas the non-equilibrium contact process serves as a toy model for percolation in porous media and epidemic spreading. Finally, the Manna sandpile model is strongly related to the concept of self-organized criticality, where a complex dynamic system reaches a critical state without fine-tuning of external variables. Our results reveal that the prevailing understanding of the influence of topological randomness on critical phenomena is insufficient. In particular, by considering very specific and newly developed lattice structures, we are able to show that -- contrary to the popular opinion -- spatial correlations in the number of interacting neighbours are not a key measure for predicting whether disorder ultimately alters the behaviour of a given critical system.

•Jan 1, 2021•0 citations

Numerical Study of Stability of Clean Critical Points across Aperiodic, Topological, and Uncorrelated Disorder

Shuhao Fan, Lu Liu, Wenan Guo

Using the two-dimensional Ashkin-Teller (AT) model, we compare criticality on three non-periodic lattices: the Smith-hat aperiodic tiling, Voronoi-Delaunay (VD) random triangulations, and uncorrelated diluted square lattices. The decay of the block-averaged coordination fluctuation $σ_Q$ with exponent $α$ is used to describe the connectivity disorder. The first two lattices share the same exponent $α$, which differs from that of the third. We consider the regime where the correlation-length exponent $ν<1$, where randomness is relevant according to the Harris criterion $d ν\le 2$, but should be irrelevant in cases of the Smith-hat tiling and VD triangulations, where $αν>1$, according to the Harris--Barghathi--Vojta (HBV) criterion. For the diluted lattice, we indeed find that the clean universality behavior breaks down along the entire critical line, indicating a crossover to a fixed line dominated by disorder, in line with both the Harris criterion and the HBV criterion. In contrast, both VD and Smith-hat lattices display critical exponents consistent with the clean AT universality class, as validated by a Coulomb-gas self-consistency check, violating the Harris criterion while conforming to the HBV criterion.

arXiv:2609.17166•Sep 15, 2026•0 citations

Critical behavior of the spin-1 Blume-Capel model on two-dimensional Voronoi-Delaunay random lattices

Francivaldo Pinheiro Fernandes, Douglas F. de Albuquerque, F. W. S. Lima +1 more

The critical properties of the spin-1 Blume-Capel model in two dimensions is studied on Voronoi-Delaunay random lattices with quenched connectivity disorder. The system is treated by applying Monte Carlo simulations using the heat-bath update algorithm together with single histograms re-weighting techniques. We calculate the critical temperature as well as the critical exponents as a function of the crystal field $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$. It is found that this disordered system exhibits phase transitions of first- and second-order types that depend on the value of the crystal field. For values of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\le}3$, where the nearest-neighbor exchange interaction $J$ has been set to unity, the disordered system presents a second-order phase transition. The results suggest that the corresponding exponent ratio belongs to the same universality class as the regular two-dimensional ferromagnetic model. There exists a tricritical point close to ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{t}=3.05(4)$ with different critical exponents. For ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{t}\ensuremath{\le}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}<3.4$ this model undergoes a first-order phase transition. Finally, for $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\ge}3.4$ the system is always in the paramagnetic phase.

Physical Review E•Aug 26, 2015•9 citations

Effect of disorder on first-order phase transitions

Arash Bellafard

Disorder is an inevitable part of any condensed matter system and therefore its study has always been of great importance. The effect of quenched randomness on a system that exhibits a continuous phase transition in the absence of any impurity has been studied in the past and the results are relatively well understood. However, the effect of quenched randomness on \\emph{first-order} phase transitions is still not well understood. In this dissertation, we study the effect of quenched bond-randomness on the classical and quantum first-order phase transitions.In Chapter 2, we study the effect of the disordered three-color Ashkin-Teller model, whose pure version undergoes a first-order phase transition. We show that the rounding of the first-order transition of the pure model due to the impurities is manifested as a critical point. We conclusively rule out that the model belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. Furthermore, we find that the exponents $\\beta$ and $\\nu$ vary with disorder and the four-spin coupling strength.In Chapter 3, we extend our study of the disordered three-color Ashkin-Teller model. Utilizing extensive cluster Monte Carlo simulations on large lattice sizes of up to $128 \\times 128$ spins, each of which is represented by three colors taking values $\\pm 1$, we show that the rounding of the first-order phase transition is an emergent criticality.We find that the critical exponents, $\\nu$ and $\\beta$, change as the strength of disorder or the four-spin coupling varies, and we show that the correlation length critical exponent violates the lower bound $2/D \\le \\nu$, where $D$ is the dimension of the system.In Chapter 4, we study the \\emph{quantum} three-color Ashkin--Teller model and show that the quantum critical point in $(1+1)$ dimension is an unusual one, with activated scaling at the critical point and Griffiths-McCoy phase away from it. We find that the behavior is similar to the transverse random field Ising model, even though the pure system has a first-order transition in this case.

•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations

Phase Transitions on Random Lattices: How Random is Topological Disorder?

Hatem Barghathi, Thomas Vojta

We study the effects of topological (connectivity) disorder on phase transitions. We identify a broad class of random lattices whose disorder fluctuations decay much faster with increasing length scale than those of generic random systems, yielding a wandering exponent of ω=(d-1)/(2d) in d dimensions. The stability of clean critical points is thus governed by the criterion (d+1)ν>2 rather than the usual Harris criterion dν>2, making topological disorder less relevant than generic randomness. The Imry-Ma criterion is also modified, allowing first-order transitions to survive in all dimensions d>1. These results explain a host of puzzling violations of the original criteria for equilibrium and nonequilibrium phase transitions on random lattices. We discuss applications, and we illustrate our theory by computer simulations of random Voronoi and other lattices.

arXiv:1402.4425•Physical Review Letters•Sep 19, 2014•40 citations
The Voronoi construction is ubiquitous across the natural sciences and engineering. In statistical mechanics, however, only its dual, the Delaunay triangulation, has been considered in the investigation of critical phenomena. In this paper we set to fill this gap by studying three prominent systems of classical statistical mechanics, the equilibrium spin-1/2 Ising model, the nonequilibrium contact process, and the conserved stochastic sandpile model on two-dimensional random Voronoi graphs. Particular motivation comes from the fact that these graphs have vertices of constant coordination number, making it possible to isolate topological effects of quenched disorder from node-intrinsic coordination number disorder. Using large-scale numerical simulations and finite-size scaling techniques, we are able to demonstrate that all three systems belong to their respective clean universality classes. Therefore, quenched disorder introduced by the randomness of the lattice is irrelevant and does not influence the character of the phase transitions. We report the critical points to considerable precision and, for the Ising model, also the first correction-to-scaling exponent.
We study the two-dimensional Ising model on networks with quenched topological (connectivity) disorder. In particular, we construct random lattices of constant coordination number and perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations in order to obtain critical exponents using finite-size scaling relations. We find disorder-dependent effective critical exponents, similar to diluted models, showing thus no clear universal behavior. Considering the very recent results for the two-dimensional Ising model on proximity graphs and the coordination number correlation analysis suggested by Barghathi and Vojta [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120602 (2014)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.113.120602], our results indicate that the planarity and connectedness of the lattice play an important role on deciding whether the phase transition is stable against quenched topological disorder.
Clearly, in nature, but also in technological applications, complex systems built in an entirely ordered and regular fashion are the exception rather than the rule. In this thesis we explore how critical phenomena are influenced by quenched spatial randomness. Specifically, we consider physical systems undergoing a continuous phase transition in the presence of topological disorder, where the underlying structure, on which the system evolves, is given by a non-regular, discrete lattice. We therefore endeavour to achieve a thorough understanding of the interplay between collective dynamics and quenched randomness. According to the intriguing concept of universality, certain laws emerge from collectively behaving many-body systems at criticality, almost regardless of the precise microscopic realization of interactions in those systems. As a consequence, vastly different phenomena show striking similarities at their respective phase transitions. In this dissertation we pursue the question of whether the universal properties of critical phenomena are preserved when the system is subjected to topological perturbations. For this purpose, we perform numerical simulations of several prototypical systems of statistical physics which show a continuous phase transition. In particular, the equilibrium spin-1/2 Ising model and its generalizations represent -- among other applications -- fairly natural approaches to model magnetism in solids, whereas the non-equilibrium contact process serves as a toy model for percolation in porous media and epidemic spreading. Finally, the Manna sandpile model is strongly related to the concept of self-organized criticality, where a complex dynamic system reaches a critical state without fine-tuning of external variables. Our results reveal that the prevailing understanding of the influence of topological randomness on critical phenomena is insufficient. In particular, by considering very specific and newly developed lattice structures, we are able to show that -- contrary to the popular opinion -- spatial correlations in the number of interacting neighbours are not a key measure for predicting whether disorder ultimately alters the behaviour of a given critical system.
Using the two-dimensional Ashkin-Teller (AT) model, we compare criticality on three non-periodic lattices: the Smith-hat aperiodic tiling, Voronoi-Delaunay (VD) random triangulations, and uncorrelated diluted square lattices. The decay of the block-averaged coordination fluctuation σQσ_QσQ​ with exponent ααα is used to describe the connectivity disorder. The first two lattices share the same exponent ααα, which differs from that of the third. We consider the regime where the correlation-length exponent ν<1ν<1ν<1, where randomness is relevant according to the Harris criterion dν≤2d ν\le 2dν≤2, but should be irrelevant in cases of the Smith-hat tiling and VD triangulations, where αν>1αν>1αν>1, according to the Harris--Barghathi--Vojta (HBV) criterion. For the diluted lattice, we indeed find that the clean universality behavior breaks down along the entire critical line, indicating a crossover to a fixed line dominated by disorder, in line with both the Harris criterion and the HBV criterion. In contrast, both VD and Smith-hat lattices display critical exponents consistent with the clean AT universality class, as validated by a Coulomb-gas self-consistency check, violating the Harris criterion while conforming to the HBV criterion.
The critical properties of the spin-1 Blume-Capel model in two dimensions is studied on Voronoi-Delaunay random lattices with quenched connectivity disorder. The system is treated by applying Monte Carlo simulations using the heat-bath update algorithm together with single histograms re-weighting techniques. We calculate the critical temperature as well as the critical exponents as a function of the crystal field $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$. It is found that this disordered system exhibits phase transitions of first- and second-order types that depend on the value of the crystal field. For values of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\le}3$, where the nearest-neighbor exchange interaction JJJ has been set to unity, the disordered system presents a second-order phase transition. The results suggest that the corresponding exponent ratio belongs to the same universality class as the regular two-dimensional ferromagnetic model. There exists a tricritical point close to ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{t}=3.05(4)$ with different critical exponents. For ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{t}\ensuremath{\le}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}<3.4$ this model undergoes a first-order phase transition. Finally, for $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\ge}3.4$ the system is always in the paramagnetic phase.
Disorder is an inevitable part of any condensed matter system and therefore its study has always been of great importance. The effect of quenched randomness on a system that exhibits a continuous phase transition in the absence of any impurity has been studied in the past and the results are relatively well understood. However, the effect of quenched randomness on \\emph{first-order} phase transitions is still not well understood. In this dissertation, we study the effect of quenched bond-randomness on the classical and quantum first-order phase transitions.In Chapter 2, we study the effect of the disordered three-color Ashkin-Teller model, whose pure version undergoes a first-order phase transition. We show that the rounding of the first-order transition of the pure model due to the impurities is manifested as a critical point. We conclusively rule out that the model belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. Furthermore, we find that the exponents beta\\betabeta and nu\\nunu vary with disorder and the four-spin coupling strength.In Chapter 3, we extend our study of the disordered three-color Ashkin-Teller model. Utilizing extensive cluster Monte Carlo simulations on large lattice sizes of up to 128times128128 \\times 128128times128 spins, each of which is represented by three colors taking values pm1\\pm 1pm1, we show that the rounding of the first-order phase transition is an emergent criticality.We find that the critical exponents, nu\\nunu and beta\\betabeta, change as the strength of disorder or the four-spin coupling varies, and we show that the correlation length critical exponent violates the lower bound 2/Dlenu2/D \\le \\nu2/Dlenu, where DDD is the dimension of the system.In Chapter 4, we study the \\emph{quantum} three-color Ashkin--Teller model and show that the quantum critical point in (1+1)(1+1)(1+1) dimension is an unusual one, with activated scaling at the critical point and Griffiths-McCoy phase away from it. We find that the behavior is similar to the transverse random field Ising model, even though the pure system has a first-order transition in this case.
We study the effects of topological (connectivity) disorder on phase transitions. We identify a broad class of random lattices whose disorder fluctuations decay much faster with increasing length scale than those of generic random systems, yielding a wandering exponent of ω=(d-1)/(2d) in d dimensions. The stability of clean critical points is thus governed by the criterion (d+1)ν>2 rather than the usual Harris criterion dν>2, making topological disorder less relevant than generic randomness. The Imry-Ma criterion is also modified, allowing first-order transitions to survive in all dimensions d>1. These results explain a host of puzzling violations of the original criteria for equilibrium and nonequilibrium phase transitions on random lattices. We discuss applications, and we illustrate our theory by computer simulations of random Voronoi and other lattices.