We study the phase diagram of the three-state Potts model on a triangular lattice with general interactions (ferro- and/or antiferromagnetic) between nearest-neighbor spins. When the interactions along two lattice-vector directions are antiferromagnetic and infinitely strong, this model becomes equivalent to a six-vertex model and exhibits a first-order potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) transition from an ordered phase into a critical phase. Comparing the excitations that occurred by relaxing the restriction of infinite-strength interactions and those in the eight-vertex model, we analytically obtain the critical index for those excitations and demonstrate the existence of a critical phase for the case of finite antiferromagnetic interactions in two directions and ferromagnetic interactions in the other direction. When the interactions are antiferromagnetic in all three directions, Monte Carlo simulations show that a first-order line emerges from the KDP point and separates completely an ordered phase and a disordered phase. Along the special line where all three antiferromagnetic interactions have the same strength, the cell-spin analysis reveals that the symmetry of the ground states is dual to the symmetry of the n=3 ferromagnetic cubic model which is known to exhibit a first-order phase transition.
Abstract The Monte Carlo method has been used to study phase transitions and critical properties of the antiferromagnetic 3-state Potts model on a body-centered cubic lattice with interactions of the first (J1) and second (J2) nearest neighbors. The competition of exchange interactions in the range –2/3 < J2 < 0 was determined to result in a phase separation. In the low-temperature region, an ordered phase, lying inside the phase with broken sublattice symmetry, was found. The magnetic structures of the ground state corresponding to different regions of the phase diagram have been obtained. The analysis of the phase transition order has been carried out using the Binder cumulant method and the histogram method. It has been revealed that the interaction of the second nearest neighbors leads to a change in the type of phase transition. Static critical exponents have been calculated based on scaling relations. The critical exponents correspond to the universality class of the three-dimensional XY model.
We study the square-lattice three-state Potts model with the ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor coupling at finite temperature. Using the level-spectroscopy method, we numerically analyze the excitation spectrum of the transfer matrices and precisely determine the global phase diagram. Then we find that, contrary to a previous result based on the finite-size scaling, the massless region continues up to the decoupling point with Z3 x Z3 criticality in the antiferromagnetic region. We also check the universal relations among excitation levels to provide the reliability of our result.
We study the three-state antiferromagnetic Potts model on the simple-cubic lattice, paying attention to the surface critical behaviors. When the nearest-neighboring interactions of the surface is tuned, we obtain a phase diagram similar to the XY model, owing to the emergent O(2) symmetry of the bulk critical point. For the ordinary transition, we get ${y}_{h1}=0.780(3), {\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}=1.44(1)$, and ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=0.736(6)$; for the special transition, we get ${y}_{s}=0.59(1), {y}_{h1}=1.693(2), {\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}=\ensuremath{-}0.391(4)$, and ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=\ensuremath{-}0.179(5)$; in the extraordinary-log phase, the surface correlation function ${C}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}(r)$ decays logarithmically with decaying exponent
q=0.60(2), however, the correlation ${C}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}(r)$ still decays algebraically with critical exponent ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=\ensuremath{-}0.442(5)$. If the ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighboring surface interactions are added, we find two transition points, the first one is a special point between the ordinary phase and the extraordinary-log phase, the second one is a transition between the extraordinary-log phase and the
Z6 symmetry-breaking phase, with critical exponent
ys=0.41(2). The scaling behaviors of the second transition is very interesting, the surface spin-correlation function ${C}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}(r)$, and the surface squared staggered magnetization at this point decays logarithmically with exponent
q=0.37(1); however, the surface structure factor with the smallest wave vector and the correlation function ${C}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}(r)$ satisfy power-law decaying, with critical exponents ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}=\ensuremath{-}0.69(1)$ and ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=\ensuremath{-}0.37(1)$, respectively.
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.