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arXiv:2605.29810 · Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment

Criticality in the disordered N -color Ashkin–Teller model

Youssef Makoudi, Gesualdo Delfino A

Published Aug 1, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Abstract The N -color Ashkin–Teller model corresponds to N Ising models coupled by four-spin interactions. We consider the two-dimensional case in presence of quenched disorder and use scale invariant scattering theory to determine all the solutions of the exact renormalization group fixed points equations. The weak disorder sector is characterized by a solution that, for any fixed N larger than 1, is a line of fixed points with Ising thermal exponents and continuously varying magnetic exponents. The number of fixed point solutions allowed by the symmetries of the model increases at strong disorder illustrating the growing dependence on the distributions of the two random couplings. The presence of some critical exponents which do not depend on the symmetry parameter N confirms this type of superuniversality as a peculiar feature of random criticality.

DOI
10.1088/1742-5468/ae992e

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Abstract The N -color Ashkin–Teller model corresponds to N Ising models coupled by four-spin interactions. We consider the two-dimensional case in presence of quenched disorder and use scale invariant scattering theory to determine all the solutions of the exact renormalization group fixed points equations. The weak disorder sector is characterized by a solution that, for any fixed N larger than 1, is a line of fixed points with Ising thermal exponents and continuously varying magnetic exponents. The number of fixed point solutions allowed by the symmetries of the model increases at strong disorder illustrating the growing dependence on the distributions of the two random couplings. The presence of some critical exponents which do not depend on the symmetry parameter N confirms this type of superuniversality as a peculiar feature of random criticality.
Abstract We use scale invariant scattering theory to exactly determine the lines of renormalization group fixed points for O(N )-symmetric models with quenched disorder in two dimensions. Random fixed points are characterized by two disorder parameters: a modulus that vanishes when approaching the pure case, and a phase angle. The critical lines fall into three classes depending on the values of the disorder modulus. Besides the class corresponding to the pure case, a second class has maximal value of the disorder modulus and includes Nishimori-like multicritical points as well as zero temperature fixed points. The third class contains critical lines that interpolate, as N varies, between the first two classes. For positive N , it contains a single line of infrared fixed points spanning the values of N from 2−1 \sqrt{2}-1 2​−1 2 − 1 to 1. The symmetry sector of the energy density operator is superuniversal (i.e. N -independent) along this line. For N = 2 a line of fixed points exists only in the pure case, but accounts also for the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase observed in presence of disorder.
Abstract We obtain the exact scale invariant scattering solutions for two-dimensional field theories with replicated permutational symmetry S q . After sending to zero the number of replicas they correspond to the renormalization group fixed points of the q -state Potts model with quenched disorder. We find that all solutions with non-zero disorder possess q -independent sectors, pointing to superuniversality (i.e. symmetry independence) of some critical exponents. The solution corresponding to the random bond ferromagnet, for which disorder vanishes as q → 2 , allows for superuniversality of the correlation length exponent ν (Delfino 2017 Phys. Rev. Lett . 118 250601). Of the two solutions which are strongly disordered for all values of q , one is completely q -independent and accounts for the zero-temperature percolation fixed point of the randomly bond diluted ferromagnet. The other is the main candidate to describe the Nishimori-like fixed point of the Potts model with ± J disorder, and leaves room for superuniversality of the magnetic exponent η , a possibility not yet excluded by available numerical data.
Abstract We consider N two-dimensional Ising models coupled in the presence of quenched disorder and use scale invariant scattering theory to exactly show the presence of a line of renormalization group fixed points for any fixed value of N other than 1. We show how this result relates to perturbative studies and sheds light on numerical simulations. We also observe that the limit N → 1 may be of interest for the Ising spin glass, and point out the potential relevance for nonuniversality in other contexts of random criticality.
The critical behavior of two-dimensional (2D) anisotropic systems with weak quenched disorder described by the so-called generalized Ashkin-Teller model (GATM) is studied. In the critical region this model is shown to be described by a multifermion field theory similar to the Gross-Neveu model with a few independent quartic coupling constants. Renormalization group calculations are used to obtain the temperature dependence near the critical point of some thermodynamic quantities and the large-distance behavior of the two-spin correlation function. The equation of state at criticality is also obtained in this framework. We find that random models described by the GATM belong to the same universality class as that of the two-dimensional Ising model. The critical exponent \ensuremath{\nu} of the correlation length for the three- and four-state random-bond Potts models is also calculated in a three-loop approximation. We show that this exponent is given by an apparently convergent series in \ensuremath{\epsilon}=c-1/2 (with c the central charge of the Potts model) and that the numerical values of \ensuremath{\nu} are very close to that of the 2D Ising model. This work therefore supports the conjecture (valid only approximately for the three- and four-state Potts models) of a superuniversality for the 2D disordered models with discrete symmetries. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The N -color quantum Ashkin–Teller spin chain is a prototypical model for the study of strong-randomness phenomena at first-order and continuous quantum phase transitions. In this paper, we first review the existing strong-disorder renormalization group approaches to the random quantum Ashkin–Teller chain in the weak-coupling as well as the strong-coupling regimes. We then introduce a novel general variable transformation that unifies the treatment of the strong-coupling regime. This allows us to determine the phase diagram for all color numbers N , and the critical behavior for all . In the case of two colors, N = 2, a partially ordered product phase separates the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases in the strong-coupling regime. This phase is absent for all , i.e., there is a direct phase boundary between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases. In agreement with the quantum version of the Aizenman–Wehr theorem, all phase transitions are continuous, even if their clean counterparts are of first order. We also discuss the various critical and multicritical points. They are all of infinite-randomness type, but depending on the coupling strength, they belong to different universality classes.
We study the critical behavior of the 2D N-color Ashkin-Teller model in the presence of random bond disorder whose correlations decays with the distance r as a power-law r -a .We consider the case when the spins of different colors sitting at the same site are coupled by the same bond and map this problem onto the 2D system of N/2 flavors of interacting Dirac fermions in the presence of correlated disorder.Using renormalization group we show that for N = 2, a "weakly universal" scaling behavior at the continuous transition becomes universal with new critical exponents.For N > 2, the first-order phase transition is rounded by the correlated disorder and turns into a continuous one.