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.
We investigate the interacting-domain-wall model derived from the triangular-lattice antiferromagnetic Ising model with two next-nearest-neighbor interactions. The system has commensurate phases with a domain-wall density of q=2/3 as well as that of q=0 when the interaction is repulsive. The q=2/3 commensurate phase is separated from the incommensurate phase through the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition. The critical interaction strength and the nature of the KT phase transition are studied by the Monte Carlo simulations and numerical transfer-matrix calculations. For strongly attractive interaction, the system undergoes a first-order phase transition from the q=0 commensurate phase to the incommensurate phase with q\ensuremath{\ne}0. The incommensurate phase is a critical phase which is in the Gaussian model universality class. The effective Gaussian coupling constant is calculated as a function of interaction parameters from the finite-size scaling of the transfer-matrix spectra.
A modified density-matrix renormalization-group (DMRG) method is introduced and applied to classical two-dimensional models: the anisotropic triangular nearest-neighbor Ising model and the anisotropic triangular next-nearest-neighbor Ising model. Phase diagrams of both models have complex structures and exhibit incommensurate phases. It was found that the incommensurate phase completely separates the disordered phase from one of the commensurate phases, i.e., the nonexistence of the Lifshitz point is conjectured in phase diagrams of both models with the DMRG method. It is shown that the DMRG method is also an effective-field approximation, but in spite of that it yields the correct value of the domain wall density critical exponent.
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.
We investigate the triangular-lattice antiferromagnetic Ising model with a spatially anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic coupling, which was first discussed by Kitatani and Oguchi. By employing the effective geometric factor, we analyze the scaling dimensions of the operators around the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition lines, and determine the global phase diagram. Our numerical data exhibit that two types of BKT-transition lines separate the intermediate critical region from the ordered and disordered phases, and they do not merge into a single curve in the antiferromagnetic region. We also estimate the central charge and perform some consistency checks among scaling dimensions in order to provide the evidence of the six-state clock universality. Further, we provide an analysis of the shapes of boundaries based on the crossover argument.
A two-dimensional triangular Ising lattice with the nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction J 1 and the next-nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic interaction - J 2 is studied by the Monte Carlo simulation. It is shown that the system with a finite J 2 undergoes the successive phase transition, paramagnetic→Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT)-like→ferrimagnetic phases, as temperature decreases. The sub-lattice switching phenomenon observed in our previous work is shown to be an intrinsic property inherent to the present system which has an XY character. The marginal exponent of the order-parameter correlation function at the KT-like transition point is seen to increase from 1/4 as the ratio J 2 / J 1 decreases, namely, it reveals a deviation from the universal behavior of a genuine XY model.