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AIP conference proceedings

Scaling functions for multicritical phenomena

David R. Nelson

Published Jan 1, 1976• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Recent theoretical work has led to closed form expressions for the thermodynamic functions which characterize complicated multricritcal phenomeana. Renormalization group recursion relations are used to map multicritical systems out of the critical regime, at which point Landau theory with fluctuation corrections can be employed. We review here applications of this approach to tricritical points, spin flop transitions, dipolar systems, and Heisenberg ferromagnets below Tc. Although the calculations have presently been carried out only to first order ε=4−d, they nevertheless give a good qualtiative understanding of multicritical behavior. In particular, they provide a detailed picture of the crossover between competing kinds of critical behavior, and allow treatment of ordered phases with spontaneously broken symmetries.

DOI
10.1063/1.30387

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•Jul 18, 2007•0 citations
Recent theoretical work has led to closed form expressions for the thermodynamic functions which characterize complicated multricritcal phenomeana. Renormalization group recursion relations are used to map multicritical systems out of the critical regime, at which point Landau theory with fluctuation corrections can be employed. We review here applications of this approach to tricritical points, spin flop transitions, dipolar systems, and Heisenberg ferromagnets below Tc. Although the calculations have presently been carried out only to first order ε=4−d, they nevertheless give a good qualtiative understanding of multicritical behavior. In particular, they provide a detailed picture of the crossover between competing kinds of critical behavior, and allow treatment of ordered phases with spontaneously broken symmetries.
Renormalization-group recursion relations are used to construct equations of state to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$ for continuous spin models of critical behavior. The recursion relations map Hamiltonians out of the critical regime into regions of small correlation length, where Landau theory with fluctuation corrections is employed. This technique is used to discuss critical behavior along a $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ line of critical points, together with the effect of imposing an ordering field. An application of the method to tricritical phenomena is described briefly.
By expressing the free energy as a line integral along a renormalization-group trajectory, a technique for calculating the crossover scaling functions which describe tricritical systems, anisotropic spin systems, etc., is developed. This formalism is applied to the model recursion relations of Riedel and Wegner, which simulate crossover behavior. A simple mechanism for the breakdown of dimensionality dependent hyperscaling relationships emerges from the analysis. The specific-heat crossover scaling function describing crossovers from Gaussian to Heisenberg critical behavior is constructed to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$.
The expectations of phenomenological crossover scaling theory are worked out for two-point correlation functions in zero field above the primary critical point. Renormalization-group recursion relations are then used to construct the two-point correlation function for the changeover from tricritical to critical-line behavior, above the tricritical point, to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$, for $3\ensuremath{\le}d<4$. An explicit expression is obtained for the normalized double-scaling function ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}({q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}, \frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}})$, for the general scaling variable ${q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}$, and the crossover variable $w=\frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}}$, $q\ensuremath{\ll}{a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ being the wave vector; $\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\gg}a$ is a second-moment correlation length and aaa the lattice spacing. In the tricritical regime, $w\ensuremath{\simeq}0$, ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}$ (x2,w{x}^{2}, wx2,w) has the Ornstein-Zernicke form and the changeover to the critical regime $w\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{\infty}$ is explicitly discussed. The limitation of the results, within our calculations to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$, are pointed out.
Renormalization-group recursion relations are used to calculate to order $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$ the free-energy, ordering-susceptibility, and magnetization-crossover scaling functions for tricritical points in isotropic nnn-vector models. The equations of state describe critical and tricritical behavior in both ordered and disordered phases.
The conventional renormalization-group analysis of the tricritical behavior of a metamagnet is completed by a description of the first-order transition below the tricritical temperature, and the conditions for the discontinuity in the magnetization are explicitly verified in an Ising spin model. The singularity structure of the crossover scaling function is derived from relations between the scaling fields for the critical and tricritical fixed points. Numerical calculations illustrating various aspects of the theory are given for a square-lattice Ising model in a four-cell cluster approximation.
We discuss some problems related to quantum critical phenomena in superfluids and superconductors. In Ch. 1, we apply generalizations of hyperuniversality to quantum phase transitions at zero temperature. We find new universal amplitude combinations involving the superfluid density in Bose systems, as well as confirm and extend previous proposals for universal transport coefficients in two-dimensional superconducting films and magnetic-field-induced metal-insulator transitions. In Ch. 2, we apply the double-dimensionality expansion of Dorogovstev to derive renormalization-group recursion relations for a Bose fluid in a random external potential. We find a nontrivial fixed point. The onset of mean-field behavior for dimensions d > d[subscript]c = 4 is unconventional, yielding discontinuous exponents. Including positive temperatures, we give a clear picture of various crossover regimes. In Ch. 3, We give a detailed derivation of the critical thermodynamics of O(n) spin models, correct to O([epsilon] = 4 - d), using a generalization of the renormalization-group trajectory integral and noncritical matching technique introduced by Rudnick and Nelson. We especially emphasize the coexistence-curve behavior for spins with a continuous symmetry (n [...] 2), deriving detailed expressions for the renormalized spin-wave stiffness and longitudinal susceptibility.