The techniques proposed in I of this series are applied to the calculation of the sum of the correlation functions of one fixed spin on one surface and spins on the opposite surface of the Ising model on a two-dimensional lattice of finite width and infinite length. Some arguments are given to claim that the present method provides a simple method of calculating the correlation length in the paramagnetic phase; the transition temperature being obtained at the same time.
The techniques proposed in I of this series are applied to the calculation of the sum of the correlation functions of one fixed spin on one surface and spins on the opposite surface of the Ising model on a two-dimensional lattice of finite width and infinite length. Some arguments are given to claim that the present method provides a simple method of calculating the correlation length in the paramagnetic phase; the transition temperature being obtained at the same time.
We calculate the two-point correlation function and magnetic susceptibility in the anisotropic 2D Ising model on a lattice with one infinite and the other finite dimension, along which periodic boundary conditions are imposed. Using exact expressions for a part of lattice form factors, we propose the formulas for arbitrary spin matrix elements, thus providing a possibility to compute all multipoint correlation functions in the anisotropic Ising model on cylindrical and toroidal lattices. The scaling limit of the corresponding expressions is also analyzed.
Transfer-matrix methods are used to calculate spin-spin correlation functions (G), Helmholtz free energies (f) and magnetizations (m) in the two-dimensional random-field Ising model close to the zero-field bulk critical temperature T(c 0), on long strips of width L=3-18 sites, for binary field distributions. Analysis of the probability distributions of G for varying spin-spin distances R shows that describing the decay of their averaged values by effective correlation lengths is a valid procedure only for not very large R. Connections between field and correlation function distributions at high temperatures are established, yielding approximate analytical expressions for the latter, which are used for computation of the corresponding structure factor. It is shown that, for fixed R/L, the fractional widths of correlation-function distributions saturate asymptotically with L-2.2. Considering an added uniform applied field h, a connection between f(h), m(h), the Gibbs free energy g(m) and the distribution function for the uniform magnetization in a zero uniform field, P0(m), is derived and first illustrated for pure systems, and then applied for nonzero random field. From finite-size scaling and crossover arguments, coupled with numerical data, it is found that the width of P0(m) varies against (nonvanishing, but small) random-field intensity H0 as H(-3/7)(0).
Phase transitions in Ising models with tree surfaces are studied from various points of view, including a phenomenological Landau theory, high-temperature series expansions, and a scaling theory for thermodynamic quantities and correlation functions. In the presence of a surface a number of new critical exponents must be defined. These arise because of the existence of "surface" terms in the thermodynamic functions, and because of the anisotropy of space and lack of translational symmetry introduced by the surface. The need for these new critical exponents already appears in the phenomenological theory, which is discussed in detail and related to the microscopic mean-field approximation. The essential new parameter appearing in this theory is an extrapolation length $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ which enters the boundary condition on the magnetization at the surface. For magnetic systems this length is of the order of the interaction range, in contrast to superconductors, where it is usually much larger. In order to go beyond the mean-field theory, high-temperature series expansions are carried out for the Ising half-space, to tenth order in two dimensions and to eighth order in three dimensions. A scaling theory is developed both for thermodynamic functions and for spin correlations near the surface, and relations are found among the exponents of the half-space. Both the scaling theory and the numerical calculations are compared with the exact solution of the Ising half-plane (two dimensions) by McCoy and Wu, and agreement is found wherever the theory is applicable. In analogy to the bulk situation, the scaling theory is found to agree with mean-field theory in four dimensions. The prediction of the present work which is most easily accessible to experiment is the temperature dependence of the magnetization at the surface, with critical exponent estimated to be ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{1}=\frac{2}{3}$. The mean-field result, ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{1}=1$, seems to agree more closely with presently available experiment, and more work is needed to clarify the situation.
An approximation for calculating the thermodynamic properties of spin-\textonehalf{} Ising models is described. The method is based on the formulation of Kramers and Wannier for the square lattice, and involves expressing the free energy in terms of the limiting maximum eigenvalue of a matrix sequence which represents the contribution from a single spin of the lattice. The application of this formulation to various two- and three-dimensional lattices shows that many of these are characterized by an identically structured matrix sequence with exactly two nonvanishing elements in each row and column. To explore the potential of using this similarity and its simplicity for analyzing Ising models we consider the two-dimensional square lattice in an external field and approximate the doubly infinite lattice by a semi-infinite one consisting of $n (\ensuremath{\le}10)$ infinitely long rows. Calculations are carried out and compared with (1) Onsager's formula for the free energy, (2) the Onsanger-Yang formula for the spontaneous magnetization, and (3) values calculated from series. Except for the region around the critical point where the correlation length exceeds n lattice spacings, substantial agreement---to better than 12 places of decimals in some cases---is obtained. As an additional measure of the potential of this method, a value for the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\delta}$ is computed by the extrapolation of the magnetization along the critical isotherm. The result is found to be in excellent agreement with the known value for $\ensuremath{\delta}$.
Abstract In undergraduate statistical mechanics courses the Ising model always plays an important role because it is the simplest non-trivial model used to describe magnetic systems. The one-dimensional model is easily solved analytically, while the two-dimensional one can be solved exactly by the Onsager solution. For this reason, numerical simulations are usually used to solve the two-dimensional model. Keeping in mind that the two-dimensional model is the platform for studying phase transitions, it is usually an exercise in computational undergraduate courses because its numerical solution is relatively simple to implement and its critical exponents are perfectly known. The purpose of this article is to present a detailed numerical study of the second-order phase transition in the two-dimensional Ising model at an undergraduate level, allowing readers not only to compare the mean-field solution, the exact solution and the numerical one through a complete study of the order parameter, the correlation function and finite-size scaling, but to present the techniques, along with hints and tips, for solving it themselves. We present the elementary theory of phase transitions and explain how to implement Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations and perform them for different lattice sizes with periodic boundary conditions. Energy, magnetization, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility and the correlation function are calculated and the critical exponents determined by finite-size scaling techniques. The importance of the correlation length as the relevant parameter in phase transitions is emphasized.