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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Critical behavior at supercritical surface enhancement: Temperature singularity of surface magnetization and order-parameter profile to one-loop order

Hans Werner Diehl, Martin Smock

Published Mar 1, 1993• 93 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The surface critical behavior of semi-infinite systems belonging to the Ising universality class with short-range interactions is investigated for supercritical surface enhancement -c>0 and vanishing surface field ${\mathit{h}}_{1}$. Renormalization-group improved perturbation theory is applied to the standard semi-infinite scalar ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}^{4}$ model in d=4-\ensuremath{\epsilon} dimensions to compute the order-parameter profile to one-loop order both for temperatures T with \ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\equiv}(T-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}\mathit{b}}$)/${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}\mathit{b}}$\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0 and \ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0. The associated scaling functions are found to cross smoothly over from their short-distance behavior for distances z\ensuremath{\ll}${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathit{b}}$ (=bulk correlation length) to their long-distance behavior for z\ensuremath{\gg}${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathit{b}}$ without showing the peculiar nonmonotonic behavior asserted by Peliti and Leibler [J. Phys. C 16, 2635 (1983)]. Furthermore, the short-distance behavior of the profiles is shown to be fully consistent with a \ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\tau}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Vert}}}^{2\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}$ singularity of the surface magnetization ${\mathit{m}}_{1}$ plus a regular background term; that is, in contrast to results published recently by other authors, the amplitudes ${\mathit{A}}_{+}$ and ${\mathit{A}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ of the contributions ${\mathit{A}}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$\ensuremath{\tau} to ${\mathit{m}}_{1}$ linear in \ensuremath{\tau}>0 or \ensuremath{\tau}0 agree to one-loop order. Finally, we confirm that the universal profiles for the critical adsorption of fluids (governed by the critical-adsorption fixed point at c=+\ensuremath{\infty} and ${\mathit{h}}_{1}$=\ensuremath{\infty}) agree with the previous ones pertaining to the negative-c-transition fixed point at c=-\ensuremath{\infty} and ${\mathit{h}}_{1}$=0.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.47.5841

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The surface critical behavior of semi-infinite systems belonging to the Ising universality class with short-range interactions is investigated for supercritical surface enhancement -c>0 and vanishing surface field h1{\mathit{h}}_{1}h1​. Renormalization-group improved perturbation theory is applied to the standard semi-infinite scalar \ensuremathφ4{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}^{4}\ensuremathφ4 model in d=4-\ensuremath{\epsilon} dimensions to compute the order-parameter profile to one-loop order both for temperatures T with \ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\equiv}(T-Tcb{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}\mathit{b}}Tcb​)/Tcb{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}\mathit{b}}Tcb​\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0 and \ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0. The associated scaling functions are found to cross smoothly over from their short-distance behavior for distances z\ensuremath{\ll}\ensuremathξb{\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathit{b}}\ensuremathξb​ (=bulk correlation length) to their long-distance behavior for z\ensuremath{\gg}\ensuremathξb{\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathit{b}}\ensuremathξb​ without showing the peculiar nonmonotonic behavior asserted by Peliti and Leibler [J. Phys. C 16, 2635 (1983)]. Furthermore, the short-distance behavior of the profiles is shown to be fully consistent with a \ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath∥2\ensuremath−\ensuremathα{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Vert}}}^{2\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}\ensuremath∥2\ensuremath−\ensuremathα singularity of the surface magnetization m1{\mathit{m}}_{1}m1​ plus a regular background term; that is, in contrast to results published recently by other authors, the amplitudes A+{\mathit{A}}_{+}A+​ and A\ensuremath−{\mathit{A}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}A\ensuremath−​ of the contributions A\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi{\mathit{A}}_{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}A\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi​\ensuremath{\tau} to m1{\mathit{m}}_{1}m1​ linear in \ensuremath{\tau}>0 or \ensuremath{\tau}0 agree to one-loop order. Finally, we confirm that the universal profiles for the critical adsorption of fluids (governed by the critical-adsorption fixed point at c=+\ensuremath{\infty} and h1{\mathit{h}}_{1}h1​=\ensuremath{\infty}) agree with the previous ones pertaining to the negative-c-transition fixed point at c=-\ensuremath{\infty} and h1{\mathit{h}}_{1}h1​=0.
We study the surface critical behavior of semi-infinite systems belonging to the bulk universality class of the Ising model. Special attention is paid to the local behavior of experimentally relevant quantities such as the order parameter and the correlation function in the crossover regimes between different surface universality classes, where the surface field h1 and the temperature enhancement c can induce additional macroscopic length scales. Starting from the field-theoretical φ4 model and employing renormalization-group improved perturbation theory (ϵ-expansion), explicit results for the local behavior of the correlation and structure function (zero-loop) and the order parameter (one-loop) are derived. Supplementing earlier studies that focused on the special transition, we here pay particular attention to the situation where a large c suppresses the tendency to order in the surface (ordinary transition) but a surface field h1 generates a small surface magnetization m1. Our results are in good agreement with recent phenomenological considerations and Monte Carlo studies devoted to similar questions and, combined with the latter, provide a much more detailed understanding of the local properties of systems with weak surface fields.
The effects of weak symmetry-breaking surface fields on the surface critical behavior of semi-infinite systems with a scalar order parameter are investigated near a bulk critical point. Previous field-theoretic analyses in 4-\ensuremath{\epsilon} dimensions are generalized by incorporating an additional surface term w0{\mathit{w}}_{0}w0​${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}_{\mathit{s}}^{3}$ in the Hamiltonian. The mapping of microscopic models of the lattice-gas type on a continuum field theory is reconsidered, and we conclude that the cubic surface field w0{\mathit{w}}_{0}w0​ generically does not vanish both in the case of an Ising ferromagnet in an applied magnetic field H (where w0{\mathit{w}}_{0}w0​\ensuremath{\sim}H as H\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0) as well as in the case of critical adsorption of fluids onto a wall or an interface. Explicit results of a perturbative renormalization-group analysis are given, which show that a fixed point with nonvanishing cubic surface field w∗{\mathit{w}}^{\mathrm{*}}w∗=O(\ensuremath{\surd}\ensuremath{\epsilon} ) exists but that at order \ensuremath{\epsilon} the usual w∗{\mathit{w}}^{\mathrm{*}}w∗=0 fixed point is stable in the w direction. The associated correction-to-scaling exponent is ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\omega}}}_{\mathit{w}}$=\ensuremath{\epsilon}+O(${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}^{2}$). It is shown that the ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}_{\mathit{s}}^{3}$ term leads to a mixing of surface enhancement and surface field in the leading odd relevant surface scaling field. Furthermore, it is proven beyond perturbation theory that a (redundant) surface operator exists, that corresponds to a similar mixing in the leading even surface scaling field.The implications of this mixing for the critical behavior near the special surface transition are discussed both for the case of Ising ferromagnets as well as that of fluids. In the case of fluids, the mixing entails that quenched surface disorder of the random bond type is sufficient to prevent the occurrence of a (multicritical) special transition for bulk dimensions d\ensuremath{\le}3 A number of other redundant surface operators are identified, and a general redundancy criterion for surface operators (analogous to Wegner's for bulk operators) is given. Finally, a fixed point with w∗{\mathit{w}}^{\mathrm{*}}w∗=iO(\ensuremath{\surd}\ensuremath{\epsilon} ) is obtained, which describes the Yang-Lee edge singularities of an equivalent (d-1)-dimensional bulk system with long-range interactions. The associated critical exponents can be determined to all orders in \ensuremath{\epsilon}.
We study the surface critical behavior of semi-infinite systems with an n-component order parameter and short-range interactions at a bulk tricritical point. The special surface transition is investigated in detail for space dimensionalities d=3-\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremath{\le}3 using field-theoretic renormalization-group methods. For \ensuremath{\epsilon}>0 its infrared-stable fixed point is described by a Hamiltonian which contains a \ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\varphi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\ensuremath{\Vert}}^{4}$ surface interaction of strength O(${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}^{1/2}$) in addition to the familiar \ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\varphi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\ensuremath{\Vert}}^{6}$ bulk interaction of strength O(\ensuremath{\epsilon}). For d\ensuremath{\equiv}3, logarithmic corrections of a non-power-law form appear. The renormalization of a proper continuum model is expounded and the implications of the results are discussed, especially with regard to the adsorption of polymers from a \ensuremath{\theta} solution.
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