The authors study the Ising model on the triangular lattice with nearest-neighbor couplings K(nn) , next-nearest-neighbor couplings K(nnn) >0 , and a magnetic field H . This work is done by means of finite-size scaling of numerical results of transfer matrix calculations, and Monte Carlo simulations. We determine the phase diagram and confirm the character of the critical manifolds. The emphasis of this work is on the antiferromagnetic case K(nn) <0 , but we also explore the ferromagnetic regime K(nn) >/=0 for H=0 . For K(nn) <0 and H=0 we locate a critical phase presumably covering the whole range -infinity< K(nn) <0 . For K(nn) <0 , H not equal 0 we locate a plane of phase transitions containing a line of tricritical three-state Potts transitions. In the limit H-->infinity this line leads to a tricritical model of hard hexagons with an attractive next-nearest-neighbor potential.
The Ising model with nearest and next nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions on the triangular lattice displays, for Jnnn/Jnn = 0.1, three phase transitions in different universality classes as the magnetic field is increased. We have studied this model using Monte Carlo and renormalization group techniques. The transition from the paramagnetic to the 2 × 1 phase (universality class of the Heisenberg model with cubic anisotropy) is found to be first order; the transition from the paramagnetic phase to the [Formula: see text] phase (universality class of the three state Potts model) is continuous; and the transition from the paramagnetic to the 2 × 2 phase (universality class of the four state Potts model) is found to change from first order to continuous as the field is increased. We have mapped out the phase diagram and determined the critical exponents for the continuous transitions. A novel technique, using a Landau-like free energy functional determined from Monte Carlo calculations, to distinguish between first order and continuous transitions, is described.
The phase diagrams of Ising antiferromagnets in a magnetic field
H are investigated for various values of the ratio
R between nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interaction. While meanfield approximations and the existing real-space renormalization-group treatments yield phase diagrams which are sometimes even qualitatively incorrect, accurate results are obtained from Monte Carlo calculations. For
R<0 only an antiferromagnetically ordered phase exists. Its transition to the disordered phase is first order for temperatures below the tricritical point (
Tt,
Ht). For $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ also ${T}_{t}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. For
R=0 we find very good agreement with the results of M\"uller-Hartmann and Zittartz. For
R>0 and
H1<H<H2 a new phase with anomalous high ground-state degeneracy is found (two sublattices have only one-dimensional order). These sublattices undergo order-disorder transitions at
T=0, such that for
T>0 one is left with a "superantiferromagnetic" phase. At low temperatures in this phase a pronounced tendency is observed to form a simpler (2 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} 2) superstructure but with many antiphase domain boundaries. For $R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\frac{1}{2}$ and
H<H1 the regime of the antiferromagnetic phases goes to zero temperature, while for
R>21 the superantiferromagnetic phase exists also for
H<H1. The order-disorder transition associated with this phase seems to have non-Ising critical exponents which vary as a function of
R and
H. Estimates for the exponents lead us to suggest that Suzuki's "weak universality" is valid. The behavior of the model at
T=0 is related to known results on hard-core lattice gases. It is shown that it is useful to interpret the transitions at
T=0 as generalized percolation transitions. Since the model may have applications to adsorbate phases in registered structures at (100) surfaces of cubic crystals, the transcription of our results to temperature-coverage phase diagrams and adsorption isotherms is discussed in detail, and possible experimental applications are mentioned.
Critical properties of the Ising model on a stacked triangular lattice, with antiferromagnetic first- and second-neighbor in-plane interactions, are studied by extensive histogram Monte Carlo simulations. The results, in conjunction with the recently determined phase diagram, strongly suggest that the transition from the period-3 ordered state to the paramagnetic phase remains in the XY universality class. This conclusion is in contrast with a previous suggestion of mean-field tricritical behavior.
The anisotropic triangular nearest-neighbor Ising model, with antiferromagnetic interactions, is studied. The phase diagram, as a function of temperature and field, has a complex structure. Two commensurate ordered phases are found. The transition to one is Ising-type. The second is reached from the disordered phase in one of two ways: either via an intermediate uniaxial incommensurate phase---which is reached at high temperatures by a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and at low temperatures undergoes an incommensurate-commensurate transition---or by a single continuous transition. The latter transition is in the same universality class as the chiral three-state Potts model, with thermal exponent within 4% of that of the three-state Potts model. These two transition regimes are found to be separated by a Lifshitz point. The phase diagram and critical behavior were determined by analytical (symmetry analysis and free-fermion approximation) as well as numerical (phenomenological renormalization-group and Monte Carlo) methods.
The three-state Potts model with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor (NN) and ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) interaction is investigated within a mean-field theory. We find that the phase diagram contains two kinds of ordered phases, the so-called broken-sublattice-symmetry and permutationally-symmetric-sublattice phases, separated by a discontinuous phase transition line. The order-disorder transition is continuous for weak NNN interactions and becomes a discontinuous transition, via a tricritical point, when the strength of the NNN interaction is increased.