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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Effective exponents for critical wetting: The approach to the asymptotic region

Timothy Halpin-Healy

Published Jul 1, 1989• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Motivated by recent, apparently conflicting, Monte Carlo simulations of three-dimensional critical wetting in Ising systems and interface displacement models, we employ a linear functional renormalization group to calculate explicitly the effective surface magnetization exponent in fixed-temperature, field-driven wetting. Our results indicate, for some values of the parameters, a quick exit from the classical regime, followed by a slow, very broad crossover to pure unadulterated nonuniversal criticality that requires a many-decade decrease of the magnetic field.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.40.772

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arXiv:cond-mat/0409188•Physical Review E•Nov 30, 2004•4 citations
Motivated by recent, apparently conflicting, Monte Carlo simulations of three-dimensional critical wetting in Ising systems and interface displacement models, we employ a linear functional renormalization group to calculate explicitly the effective surface magnetization exponent in fixed-temperature, field-driven wetting. Our results indicate, for some values of the parameters, a quick exit from the classical regime, followed by a slow, very broad crossover to pure unadulterated nonuniversal criticality that requires a many-decade decrease of the magnetic field.
A semi-microscopic scaling-field theory is developed for crossover phenomena near critical and tricritical points. The theory is based on a renormalization-group description of a model with two competing fixed points (such as a critical and a tricritical fixed point) in terms of scaling fields. The coupled nonlinear differential equations for scaling fields are truncated such as to preserve the physics essential for crossover phenomena. The approach allows the explicit calculation of thermodynamic functions for (i) tricritical systems and (ii) critical systems with an irrelevant scaling field. We obtain, for example, an explicit expression for the scaling function of the susceptibility, which describes the crossover from the tricritical to the critical region. The idea of "flow diagrams" in the scaling-field space is used to characterize crossover phenomena globally in the whole critical region. The concept of asymptotic critical exponents is generalized and effective critical exponents are introduced as logarithmic derivatives of thermodynamic quantities with respect to experimental fields and scaling fields, respectively. By using the method of effective exponents the size of the crossover region between regions of different asymptotic critical behavior is estimated. For the susceptibility, the width of the crossover region in decades of the effective temperature variable is roughly equal to the inverse of the crossover exponent. In the case of a critical system with a slow transient the asymptotic critical exponent is only reached extremely close to the critical point (unless the amplitude of the transient vanishes). It might then be impossible to determine the asymptotic exponent experimentally or by conventional series-expansion techniques, and an analysis of the data in terms of effective exponents is the alternative. The scaling-field approach is applied to three systems with crossover phenomena: (i) the model for tricritical systems with molecular-field tricritical exponents, (ii) the Ashkin-Teller model in three dimensions, and (iii) a model for phase transitions with Fisher exponent renormalization due to a constraint.
We present a field-theoretical treatment of the critical behavior of a three-dimensional weakly diluted quenched Ising model. To this end we analyze in the replica limit $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{n}0$ the five-loop renormalization-group functions of the ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory with O(n)O(n)O(n)-symmetric and cubic interactions [H. Kleinert and V. Schulte-Frohlinde, Phys. Lett. B 342, 284 (1995)]. The minimal subtraction scheme allows one to develop either the $\sqrt{\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}$-expansion series or to proceed within the three-dimensional approach, performing expansions in terms of renormalized couplings. Doing so, we compare both perturbation approaches and discuss their convergence and possible Borel summability. To study the crossover effect we calculate the effective critical exponents. We report resummed numerical values for the effective and asymptotic critical exponents. The results obtained within the three-dimensional approach agree pretty well with recent Monte Carlo simulations. $\sqrt{\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}$ expansion does not allow reliable estimates for d=3.d=3.d=3.
We performed extensive simulations of the random-bond Ising model confined between walls where competitive surface fields act. By properly taking the thermodynamic limit we unambiguously determined wetting transition points of the system, as extrapolation of localization-delocalization transitions of the interface between domains of different orientation driven by the respective fields. The finite-size scaling theory for wetting with short-range fields [E. V. Albano and K. Binder, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 036101 (2012)] establishes that the average magnetization of the sample, with critical exponent $\ensuremath{\beta}$, is the proper order parameter for the study of wetting. While the hyperscaling relationship given by $\ensuremath{\gamma}+2\ensuremath{\beta}={\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}+{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ requires $\ensuremath{\beta}=1/2$ ($\ensuremath{\gamma}=4, {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}=3$, and ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=2$), the thermodynamic scaling establishes that ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{s}=\ensuremath{\gamma}+\ensuremath{\beta}$, which in contrast requires $\ensuremath{\beta}=0$ (${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{s}=4$), where $\ensuremath{\gamma}, {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}, {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$, and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{s}$ are the critical exponents of the susceptibility, the correlation lengths parallel and perpendicular to the interface, and the gap exponent, respectively. So, we formulate a finite-size scaling theory for wetting without hyperscaling and perform numerical simulations that provide strong evidence of hyperscaling violation (i.e., $\ensuremath{\beta}=0$) and a direct measurement of the susceptibility critical exponent $\ensuremath{\gamma}/{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=2.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2$, in agreement with theoretical results for the strong fluctuation regime of wetting transitions with quenched noise.
With use of a novel Monte Carlo method suited for the study of surface phenomena, the authors have investigated a three-dimensional Ising model with modified surface exchange. The results verify the scaling behavior of the magnetization profile and confirm and extend renormalization-group predictions. The surface-layer magnetization exponent is ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{1}=0.78\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ except at the "special" (multicritical) transition where ${{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{1}}^{m}=0.175\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.025$ and the crossover exponent is $\ensuremath{\phi}=0.56\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.04$.
A long-standing problem in condensed matter physics concerns the nature of the critical wetting phase transition in the Ising model or, more generally, in 3D systems with short-ranged forces.This is of fundamental interest because 3D corresponds to the upper critical dimension of the transition and it is not clear a priori whether the behaviour of the system will be mean-field-like or fluctuation-dominated.Renormalization group studies of the standard coarse-grained effective interfacial Hamiltonian model famously predict strong non-universal critical exponents which depend on the value of the so-called wetting parameter ω.However, these predictions are at odds with extensive Monte Carlo simulations of wetting in the Ising model, due to Binder, Landau and coworkers, which appear to be more mean-field-like.Further amendments to the interfacial Hamiltonian, which included the presence of a position-dependent stiffness, worsened the problem by paradoxically predicting fluctuation-induced first-order wetting behaviour.Here we show from re-analysis of a microscopic Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson model of 3D short-ranged wetting that correlation functions are characterized by two diverging parallel length scales, not one, as previously thought.This has a simple diagrammatic explanation using a non-local interfacial Hamiltonian and yields a thermodynamically consistent theory of wetting in keeping with exact sum rules.The non-local model crucially contains long-ranged two-body interfacial interactions, characterized by the new length scale, which were missing in earlier treatments.For critical wetting the second length cuts off the spectrum of interfacial fluctuations determining the repulsion from the wall.We show how this corrects previous renormalization group predictions for fluctuation effects, based on local interfacial Hamiltonians.In particular, lowering the cut-off leads to a substantial reduction in the effective value of the wetting parameter controlling the non-universality and also prevents the transition being driven first-order.Quantitative comparison with the Ising model simulation studies is also made.
We study how the formalism of the hierarchical reference theory (HRT) can be extended to inhomogeneous systems. HRT is a liquid-state theory which implements the basic ideas of the Wilson momentum-shell renormalization group (RG) to microscopic Hamiltonians. In the case of homogeneous systems, HRT provides accurate results even in the critical region, where it reproduces scaling and nonclassical critical exponents. We applied the HRT to study wetting critical phenomena in a planar geometry. Our formalism avoids the explicit definition of effective surface Hamiltonians but leads, close to the wetting transition, to the same renormalization group equation already studied by RG techiques. However, HRT also provides information on the nonuniversal quantities because it does not require any preliminary coarse graining procedure. A simple approximation to the infinite HRT set of equations is discussed. The HRT evolution equation for the surface free energy is numerically integrated in a semi-infinite three-dimensional Ising model and the complete wetting phase transition is analyzed. A renormalization of the adsorption critical amplitude and of the wetting parameter is observed. Our results are compared to available Monte Carlo simulations.