Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical review. B, Solid state

Effective critical and tricritical exponents

Eberhard K. Riedel, Franz Wegner

Published Jan 1, 1974• 194 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.9.294

Related papers

Crossover Phenomena, Critical and Tricritical Phase Transitions

Eberhard K. Riedel

A theory for tricritical phenomena proposed by Wegner and the author is described on an elementary level. The emphasis of the discussion is on (i) the differences between critical and tricritical phase transitions, (ii) the crossover phenomena that occur near tricritical points, and (iii) the determination of tricritical exponents, scaling fields and scaling functions. The results have been obtained by renormalization‐group techniques and a scaling field approach to crossover phenomena. The elements of these techniques are briefly explained.

Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM)•Jan 1, 1974•1 citation

Crossover theory for disordered ferromagnets

Hans-O Heuer, D. Wagner

We show that the critical behavior of disordered ferromagnets can be understood in terms of an effective, translational invariant Hamiltonian with renormalized coupling parameters which exhibit a tricritical as well as a critical point. The stable critical fixed point describes the critical behavior of weakly disordered systems, whereas the tricritical fixed point is responsible for the critical behavior of strongly disordered systems at least in the experimentally accessible range of temperature. This necessitates a crossover theory to describe the crossover between these two fixed points and to calculate critical properties as a function of concentration and temperature. In this paper we study the symmetric phase. Susceptibility and specific heat are calculated in scaling form using nonlinear scaling fields to verify that disordered ferromagnets exhibit universal critical behavior. The corresponding effective exponents exhibit nonmonotonous concentration- and temperature-dependent behavior. According to our theory, Fisher-renormalized tricritical behavior dominates in the experimentally accessible temperature range which leads to extreme values of the effective exponents ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{eff}}$=2 and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{eff}}$=-1 in the limit of strong dilution. However, in accord with the Harris criterion we verify that the asymptotic behavior (T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${T}_{c}$) is not changed by dilution if the critical exponent of the specific heat of the pure system ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{pure}<0}$, independent of the value of the concentration.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Aug 1, 1989•20 citations

Logarithmic Corrections to the Molecular-Field Behavior of Critical and Tricritical Systems

Franz Wegner, Eberhard K. Riedel

The asymptotic critical form of thermodynamic functions is analyzed by means of renormalization-group techniques. If certain exponent relations are satisfied, then the critical behavior is not described by a simple power law, but a power law multiplied by a fractional power of a logarithm. The approach is applied to two special systems whose critical exponents are molecular-field-like. (i) For ordinary critical transitions in four dimensions we find the same logarithmic factors previously computed by Larkin and Khmel'nitskii. (ii) For tricritical transitions in three dimensions we compute the logarithmic corrections to the molecularfield tricritical behavior discussed in an earlier publication.

Physical review. B, Solid state•Jan 1, 1973•335 citations

Renormalization-group theory and calculations of tricritical behavior

Bernard Nienhuis, Michael Nauenberg

The conventional renormalization-group analysis of the tricritical behavior of a metamagnet is completed by a description of the first-order transition below the tricritical temperature, and the conditions for the discontinuity in the magnetization are explicitly verified in an Ising spin model. The singularity structure of the crossover scaling function is derived from relations between the scaling fields for the critical and tricritical fixed points. Numerical calculations illustrating various aspects of the theory are given for a square-lattice Ising model in a four-cell cluster approximation.

Physical review. B, Solid state•Mar 1, 1976•49 citations

Crossover scaling functions for two-point correlations near tricritical points

W. K. Theumann

The expectations of phenomenological crossover scaling theory are worked out for two-point correlation functions in zero field above the primary critical point. Renormalization-group recursion relations are then used to construct the two-point correlation function for the changeover from tricritical to critical-line behavior, above the tricritical point, to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$, for $3\ensuremath{\le}d<4$. An explicit expression is obtained for the normalized double-scaling function ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}({q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}, \frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}})$, for the general scaling variable ${q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}$, and the crossover variable $w=\frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}}$, $q\ensuremath{\ll}{a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ being the wave vector; $\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\gg}a$ is a second-moment correlation length and $a$ the lattice spacing. In the tricritical regime, $w\ensuremath{\simeq}0$, ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}$ (${x}^{2}, w$) has the Ornstein-Zernicke form and the changeover to the critical regime $w\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{\infty}$ is explicitly discussed. The limitation of the results, within our calculations to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$, are pointed out.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Dec 1, 1978•4 citations

Crossover renormalization-group approach to semi-infinite inhomogeneous critical behavior

A. M. Nemirovsky, Zhen‐Gang Wang, Karl F. Freed

The inhomogeneous nature of critical phenomena in semi-infinite systems is studied by calculating the full crossover for both the two-point correlation function and the surface susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{11}$(z) as a function of the distance z from the surface at z=0 for a semi-infinite system near the special transition. We introduce z-dependent counterterms to derive the renormalization-group (RG) equation describing this full crossover. The solution to the RG equation in the one-loop approximation is obtained explicitly and in the long-distance regime is shown to approach bulk behavior exponentially fast. In contrast to the usual approach, our RG equation also contains all information about the short-distance (near-surface) behavior of the theory and its crossover to the bulk. Applications of our method to the descriptions of crossovers for other problems of critical phenomena with several competing lengths are also discussed.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Sep 1, 1987•3 citations
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.
A theory for tricritical phenomena proposed by Wegner and the author is described on an elementary level. The emphasis of the discussion is on (i) the differences between critical and tricritical phase transitions, (ii) the crossover phenomena that occur near tricritical points, and (iii) the determination of tricritical exponents, scaling fields and scaling functions. The results have been obtained by renormalization‐group techniques and a scaling field approach to crossover phenomena. The elements of these techniques are briefly explained.
We show that the critical behavior of disordered ferromagnets can be understood in terms of an effective, translational invariant Hamiltonian with renormalized coupling parameters which exhibit a tricritical as well as a critical point. The stable critical fixed point describes the critical behavior of weakly disordered systems, whereas the tricritical fixed point is responsible for the critical behavior of strongly disordered systems at least in the experimentally accessible range of temperature. This necessitates a crossover theory to describe the crossover between these two fixed points and to calculate critical properties as a function of concentration and temperature. In this paper we study the symmetric phase. Susceptibility and specific heat are calculated in scaling form using nonlinear scaling fields to verify that disordered ferromagnets exhibit universal critical behavior. The corresponding effective exponents exhibit nonmonotonous concentration- and temperature-dependent behavior. According to our theory, Fisher-renormalized tricritical behavior dominates in the experimentally accessible temperature range which leads to extreme values of the effective exponents ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{eff}}$=2 and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{eff}}$=-1 in the limit of strong dilution. However, in accord with the Harris criterion we verify that the asymptotic behavior (T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}Tc{T}_{c}Tc​) is not changed by dilution if the critical exponent of the specific heat of the pure system ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{pure}<0}$, independent of the value of the concentration.
The asymptotic critical form of thermodynamic functions is analyzed by means of renormalization-group techniques. If certain exponent relations are satisfied, then the critical behavior is not described by a simple power law, but a power law multiplied by a fractional power of a logarithm. The approach is applied to two special systems whose critical exponents are molecular-field-like. (i) For ordinary critical transitions in four dimensions we find the same logarithmic factors previously computed by Larkin and Khmel'nitskii. (ii) For tricritical transitions in three dimensions we compute the logarithmic corrections to the molecularfield tricritical behavior discussed in an earlier publication.
The conventional renormalization-group analysis of the tricritical behavior of a metamagnet is completed by a description of the first-order transition below the tricritical temperature, and the conditions for the discontinuity in the magnetization are explicitly verified in an Ising spin model. The singularity structure of the crossover scaling function is derived from relations between the scaling fields for the critical and tricritical fixed points. Numerical calculations illustrating various aspects of the theory are given for a square-lattice Ising model in a four-cell cluster approximation.
The expectations of phenomenological crossover scaling theory are worked out for two-point correlation functions in zero field above the primary critical point. Renormalization-group recursion relations are then used to construct the two-point correlation function for the changeover from tricritical to critical-line behavior, above the tricritical point, to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$, for $3\ensuremath{\le}d<4$. An explicit expression is obtained for the normalized double-scaling function ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}({q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}, \frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}})$, for the general scaling variable ${q}^{2}{\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}$, and the crossover variable $w=\frac{g}{{t}^{\ensuremath{\phi}}}$, $q\ensuremath{\ll}{a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ being the wave vector; $\ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\gg}a$ is a second-moment correlation length and aaa the lattice spacing. In the tricritical regime, $w\ensuremath{\simeq}0$, ${\stackrel{^}{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{N}$ (x2,w{x}^{2}, wx2,w) has the Ornstein-Zernicke form and the changeover to the critical regime $w\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{\infty}$ is explicitly discussed. The limitation of the results, within our calculations to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$, are pointed out.
The inhomogeneous nature of critical phenomena in semi-infinite systems is studied by calculating the full crossover for both the two-point correlation function and the surface susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{11}$(z) as a function of the distance z from the surface at z=0 for a semi-infinite system near the special transition. We introduce z-dependent counterterms to derive the renormalization-group (RG) equation describing this full crossover. The solution to the RG equation in the one-loop approximation is obtained explicitly and in the long-distance regime is shown to approach bulk behavior exponentially fast. In contrast to the usual approach, our RG equation also contains all information about the short-distance (near-surface) behavior of the theory and its crossover to the bulk. Applications of our method to the descriptions of crossovers for other problems of critical phenomena with several competing lengths are also discussed.