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Physical Review Letters

Geometrical aspects of critical Ising configurations in two dimensions

Henk W. J. Blöte, Yolanda M. M. Knops, Bernard Nienhuis

Published Jun 8, 1992• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a physical interpretation of a number of exotic exponents of the two-dimensional Ising model, i.e., exponents that do have a conformal classification, but outside the unitary grid. They describe the scaling behavior of geometric properties of Ising and random clusters. For instance, the probability that two spins at a distance r lie on the perimeter of the same Ising cluster decays as ${\mathit{r}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}5/4}$ at criticality. These results are obtained via mappings on the Coulomb gas. A part of the Coulomb gas scenario is verified by means of finite-size scaling of transfer-matrix results.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.68.3440

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We present a physical interpretation of a number of exotic exponents of the two-dimensional Ising model, i.e., exponents that do have a conformal classification, but outside the unitary grid. They describe the scaling behavior of geometric properties of Ising and random clusters. For instance, the probability that two spins at a distance r lie on the perimeter of the same Ising cluster decays as r\ensuremath−5/4{\mathit{r}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}5/4}r\ensuremath−5/4 at criticality. These results are obtained via mappings on the Coulomb gas. A part of the Coulomb gas scenario is verified by means of finite-size scaling of transfer-matrix results.
We consider geometrical or Ising clusters (i.e., domains of parallel spins) in the square lattice random-field Ising model by varying the strength of the Gaussian random field $\ensuremath{\Delta}$. In agreement with the conclusion of a previous investigation [Phys. Rev. E 63, 066109 (2001)], the geometrical correlation length, i.e., the average size of the clusters $\ensuremath{\xi}$ is finite for $\ensuremath{\Delta}>{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{c}\ensuremath{\approx}1.65$ and divergent for $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\leqslant}{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{c}$. The scaling function of the distribution of the mass of the clusters as well as the geometrical correlation function are found to involve the scaling exponents of critical percolation. On the other hand, the divergence of the correlation length, $\ensuremath{\xi}(\ensuremath{\Delta})\ensuremath{\sim}{(\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{c})}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\nu}}$, with $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\approx}2$, is related to that of tricritical percolation. It is verified numerically that critical geometrical correlations transform conformally.
The fractal dimensions and the percolation exponents of geometrical spin clusters of like sign at criticality are obtained numerically for an Ising model with temperature dependent annealed bond dilution, also known as the thermalized bond Ising model (TBIM), in two dimensions. For this purpose, a modified Wolff single-cluster Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate equilibrium spin configurations on square lattices in the critical region. A tie-breaking rule is employed to identify nonintersecting spin cluster boundaries along the edges of the dual lattice. The values obtained for the fractal dimensions of the spanning geometrical clusters D c , and their interfaces D I , are in perfect agreement with those reported for the standard two-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model. Furthermore, the variance of the winding angles results in a diffusivity κ = 3 for the two-dimensional thermalized bond Ising model, thus placing it in the universality class of the regular Ising model. A finite-size scaling analysis of the largest geometrical clusters results in a reliable estimation of the critical percolation exponents for the geometrical clusters in the limit of an infinite lattice size. The percolation exponents thus obtained are also found to be consistent with those reported for the regular Ising model. These consistencies are explained in terms of the Fisher renormalization relations, which express the thermodynamic critical exponents of systems with annealed bond dilution in terms of those of the regular model system.
The fractal structure and scaling properties of a 2d slice of the 3d Ising model is studied using Monte Carlo techniques. The percolation transition of geometric spin (GS) clusters is found to occur at the Curie point, reflecting the critical behavior of the 3d model. The fractal dimension and the winding angle statistics of the perimeter and external perimeter of the geometric spin clusters at the critical point suggest that, if conformally invariant in the scaling limit, they can be described by the theory of Schramm-Löwner evolution (SLE κ ) with diffusivity of κ=5 and 16/5, respectively, putting them in the same universality class as the interfaces in 2d tricritical Ising model. It is also found that the Fortuin-Kasteleyn (FK) clusters associated with the cross-sections undergo a nontrivial percolation transition, in the same universality class as the ordinary 2d critical percolation.
We present a Monte Carlo study of the geometric properties of Fortuin-Kasteleyn (FK) clusters of the Ising model on square [two-dimensional (2D)] and simple-cubic [three-dimensional (3D)] lattices. The wrapping probability, a dimensionless quantity characterizing the topology of the FK clusters on a torus, is found to suffer from smaller finite-size corrections than the well-known Binder ratio and yields a high-precision critical coupling as Kc(3D)=0.221654631(8){K}_{c}(3\mathrm{D})=0.221\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}654\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}631(8)Kc​(3D)=0.221654631(8). We then study other geometric properties of FK clusters at criticality. It is demonstrated that the distribution of the critical largest-cluster size C1{C}_{1}C1​ follows a single-variable function as $P({C}_{1},L)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}d{C}_{1}=\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{P}(x)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}dx$ with $x\ensuremath{\equiv}{C}_{1}/{L}^{{d}_{\mathrm{F}}}$ (LLL is the linear size), where the fractal dimension dF{d}_{\mathrm{F}}dF​ is identical to the magnetic exponent. An interesting bimodal feature is observed in distribution $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{P}(x)$ in three dimensions, and attributed to the different approaching behaviors for $K\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{K}_{c}+{0}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$. To characterize the compactness of the FK clusters, we measure their graph distances and determine the shortest-path exponents as dmin(3D)=1.25936(12){d}_{\mathrm{min}}(3\mathrm{D})=1.259\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}36(12)dmin​(3D)=1.25936(12) and dmin(2D)=1.0940(2){d}_{\mathrm{min}}(2\mathrm{D})=1.094\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}0(2)dmin​(2D)=1.0940(2). Further, by excluding all the bridges from the occupied bonds, we obtain bridge-free configurations and determine the backbone exponents as dB(3D)=2.1673(15){d}_{\mathrm{B}}(3\mathrm{D})=2.167\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}3(15)dB​(3D)=2.1673(15) and dB(2D)=1.7321(4){d}_{\mathrm{B}}(2\mathrm{D})=1.732\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}1(4)dB​(2D)=1.7321(4). The estimates of the universal wrapping probabilities for the 3D Ising model and of the geometric critical exponents dmin{d}_{\mathrm{min}}dmin​ and dB{d}_{\mathrm{B}}dB​ either improve over the existing results or have not been reported yet. We believe that these numerical results would provide a testing ground in the development of further theoretical treatments of the 3D Ising model.
The study of the Ising model from a percolation perspective has played a significant role in the modern theory of critical phenomena. We consider the celebrated square-lattice Ising model and construct percolation clusters by placing bonds, with probability p, between any pair of parallel spins within an extended range beyond nearest neighbors. At the Ising criticality, we observe two percolation transitions as p increases: starting from a disordered phase with only small clusters, the percolation system enters into a stable critical phase that persists over a wide range p_{c_{1}}<p<p_{c_{2}}, and then develops a long-ranged percolation order with giant clusters for both up and down spins. At p_{c1} and for the stable critical phase, the critical behaviors agree well with those for the Fortuin-Kasteleyn random clusters and the spin domains of the Ising model, respectively. At p_{c2}, the fractal dimension of clusters and the scaling exponent along p direction are estimated as y_{h2}=1.9580(6) and y_{p2}=0.552(9), of which the exact values remain unknown. These findings reveal interesting geometric properties of the two-dimensional Ising model that has been studied for more than 100 years.