New Monte Carlo Renormalization Group Method for Phase Transitions of Lattice Systems

Anna Hazenfratz

Chin‐Kun Hu

Analytic calculations, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations [N. Metropolis and S. Ulam, J. Am. Stat. Asso 44, 335 (1949)] and renormalization group (RG) theory [K. G. Wilson, Phys. Rev. B 4, 3174 and 3184 (1971)] are important methods of statistical physics to study phase transitions and critical phenomena. This paper gives a brief historical review on analytic, MC, and RG approaches to some lattice critical systems in memory of late Professors Shang-keng Ma (1940-1983) and Yu-Ming Shih (1942-2005), who played some key roles in early developments of statistical physics of critical phenomena in Taiwan. The paper first introduces some developments in the study of critical phenomena from late 19th century to early 70s in the 20th century when renormalization group theory was formulated. The paper then reviews some topics on analytic, Monte Carlo, and RG approach to some lattice models, including variational RG approach to the Ising model, slow relaxation of a spin glass model at low temperatures, iterative method for quantum spin models, percolation theory of critical phenomena of Ising-like models and hard-core particle model, histogram Monte Carlo method and histogram Monte Carlo RG method, universal finite-size scaling functions of lattice models, critical slowing down of the Ising model, finite-size corrections for critical lattice models, and self-organized critical systems. Such topics are closely related to the author's own research experience. Finally, the paper outlines some very recent developments, summarizes main results of this paper, and points out some interesting problems for further studies, e.g. why a biological system can maintain in a non-equilibrium state for a very long time.

Mitsuhiro Itakura

With the help of the replica exchange Monte Carlo method and the improved Monte Carlo renormalization-group scheme, we investigate over a wide area in the phase diagram of the Gaussian random field Ising model on the simple cubic lattice. We found that the phase transition at a weak random field belongs to the same universality class as the zero-temperature phase transition. We also present a possible scenario for the replica symmetry-breaking transition.

David Paul Landau, Kurt Binder

David Paul Landau, Kurt Binder

Stephen H. Shenker, Jan Tobochnik

Monte Carlo renormalization-group methods were applied to the classical three-component Heisenberg model on a two-dimensional lattice. Expectation values of local correlations of spins and various sized block spins were computed using traditional Monte Carlo methods. By matching quantities at different length scales generated by different Monte Carlo Hamiltonians we directly determined the renormalization of the nearest-neighbor coupling. Using these data and the results of high-temperature expansions and low-temperature renormalization-group calculations we have determined that this model does not have a phase transition. We have also obtained the amplitude for the low-temperature divergence of the susceptibility and the correlation length.