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arXiv:cond-mat/0204366 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Site percolation and phase transitions in two dimensions

Santo Fortunato

Published Aug 19, 2002• 31 citations
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Abstract

The properties of the pure-site clusters of spin models, i.e., the clusters which are obtained by joining nearest-neighbor spins of the same sign, are here investigated. In the Ising model in two dimensions it is known that such clusters undergo a percolation transition exactly at the critical point. We show that this result is valid for a wide class of bidimensional systems undergoing a continuous magnetization transition. We provide numerical evidence for discrete as well as for continuous spin models, including $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ lattice gauge theories. The critical percolation exponents do not coincide with the ones of the thermal transition, but they are the same for models belonging to the same universality class.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.66.054107

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We consider the cluster-size statistics of two types of site-bond-correlated percolation. In model A (B) [see Phys. Rev. B 40, 10 986 (1989)], the activation of a bond between two first-neighbor occupied sites is also dependent on the occupancy of both (either) of their own nearest neighbors, along the line joining them. The critical concentration for models A and B, obtained from simulations on square lattices of sizes up to $2000\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2000$, is found to be $0.7405\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0005$ and $0.6145\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0005$, respectively. The resulting critical exponents indicate that both models are in the same universality class as ordinary independent (site or bond) percolation.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Jul 1, 1997•14 citations
The properties of the pure-site clusters of spin models, i.e., the clusters which are obtained by joining nearest-neighbor spins of the same sign, are here investigated. In the Ising model in two dimensions it is known that such clusters undergo a percolation transition exactly at the critical point. We show that this result is valid for a wide class of bidimensional systems undergoing a continuous magnetization transition. We provide numerical evidence for discrete as well as for continuous spin models, including SU(N)\mathrm{SU}(N)SU(N) lattice gauge theories. The critical percolation exponents do not coincide with the ones of the thermal transition, but they are the same for models belonging to the same universality class.
In two space dimensions, the percolation point of the pure-site clusters of the Ising model coincides with the critical point Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ of the thermal transition and the percolation exponents belong to a special universality class. By introducing a bond probability pB<1,{p}_{B}<1,pB​<1, the corresponding site-bond clusters keep on percolating at Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ and the exponents do not change, until ${p}_{B}{=p}_{\mathrm{CK}}=1\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}2J/kT):$ for this special expression of the bond weight the critical percolation exponents switch to the two-dimensional Ising universality class. We show here that the result is valid for a wide class of bidimensional models with a continuous magnetization transition: there is a critical bond probability pc{p}_{c}pc​ such that, for any pB> pc,{p}_{B}>~{p}_{c},pB​> pc​, the onset of percolation of the site-bond clusters coincides with the critical point of the thermal transition. The percolation exponents are the same for pc<pB< 1{p}_{c}<{p}_{B}<~1pc​<pB​< 1 but, for pB=pc,{p}_{B}{=p}_{c},pB​=pc​, they suddenly change to the thermal exponents, so that the corresponding clusters are critical droplets of the phase transition. Our result is based on Monte Carlo simulations of various systems near criticality.
The critical behaviour of several spin models can be simply described as percolation of some suitably defined clusters or droplets: the onset of the geometrical transition coincides with the critical point, and the percolation exponents are equal to the thermal exponents. It is still unknown whether, given a model, one can define at all the droplets. In the cases where this is possible, the droplet definition depends in general on the specific model at study and can be quite involved. We propose here a simple general definition for the droplets: they are clusters obtained by joining nearest-neighbour spins of the same sign with some bond probability p CK , which is the minimal probability that still allows the existence of a percolating cluster at the critical temperature T c . This definition has been recently introduced and indeed satisfies the conditions required for the droplets, for many classical spin models, discrete and continuous, in two dimensions. By means of lattice Monte Carlo simulations we show here that the definition works as well in three dimensions. In particular, our prescription allows us to describe exactly the confinement–deconfinement transition of SU ( N ) gauge theories as Polyakov loop percolation.
The study of the Ising model from a percolation perspective has played a significant role in the modern theory of critical phenomena. We consider the celebrated square-lattice Ising model and construct percolation clusters by placing bonds, with probability p, between any pair of parallel spins within an extended range beyond nearest neighbors. At the Ising criticality, we observe two percolation transitions as p increases: starting from a disordered phase with only small clusters, the percolation system enters into a stable critical phase that persists over a wide range p_{c_{1}}<p<p_{c_{2}}, and then develops a long-ranged percolation order with giant clusters for both up and down spins. At p_{c1} and for the stable critical phase, the critical behaviors agree well with those for the Fortuin-Kasteleyn random clusters and the spin domains of the Ising model, respectively. At p_{c2}, the fractal dimension of clusters and the scaling exponent along p direction are estimated as y_{h2}=1.9580(6) and y_{p2}=0.552(9), of which the exact values remain unknown. These findings reveal interesting geometric properties of the two-dimensional Ising model that has been studied for more than 100 years.
The phase transition in the Ising model and the percolation transition in the lattice percolation model have many common characteristics which have motivated researchers to explore whether the former is a percolation transition of a correlated percolation model. Previous attempts to draw such a connection have been either unsuccessful or unsatisfactory. Considering each lattice site with an Ising spin occupied and the nearest-neighbor (NN) coupling between occupied sites as a bond with a bond probability ppp depending on the NN coupling constant JJJ and the temperature TTT, we formally show that the partition function of the Ising model is the generating function of bond-correlated percolation model (BCPM) with a bond probability $p=1\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{exp}(\frac{\ensuremath{-}2J}{\mathrm{kT}})$. The BCPM has the Ising critical temperature and exponents, including $\ensuremath{\nu},{\ensuremath{\nu}}^{\ensuremath{'}},\ensuremath{\eta},\ensuremath{\beta},\ensuremath{\alpha},{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ (perhaps also ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$). From the connection between the Ising model and the BCPM, we also derive and hence give a geometrical meaning of the finite-size scaling and broadening at first-order phase transitions of the Ising model. Our approach may easily be extended to many spin models and give geometrical meaning to other properties of spin models.
Abstract In the ordered phase of the 3D Ising model, minority spin clusters are surrounded by a boundary of dual plaquettes. As the temperature is raised, these spin clusters become more numerous, and it is found that eventually their boundaries undergo a percolation transition when about 13% of spins are minority. Boundary percolation differs from the more commonly studied site and link percolation, although it is related to an unusual type of site percolation that includes next to nearest neighbor relationships. Because the Ising model can be reformulated in terms of the domain boundaries alone, there is reason to believe boundary percolation should be relevant here. A symmetry-breaking order parameter is found in the dual theory, the 3D gauge Ising model. It is seen to undergo a phase transition at a coupling close to that predicted by duality from the boundary percolation. This transition lies in the disordered phase of the gauge theory and has the nature of a spin-glass transition. Its critical exponent ν ∼ 1.3 is seen to match the finite-size shift exponent of the percolation transition further cementing their connection. This predicts a very weak specific heat singularity with exponent α ∼ − 1.9 . The third energy cumulant fits well to the expected non-infinite critical behavior in a manner consistent with both the predicted exponent and critical point, indicating a true thermal phase transition. Unlike random boundary percolation, the Ising boundary percolation has two different ν exponents, one associated with largest-cluster scaling and the other with finite-size transition-point shift. This suggests there may be two different correlation lengths present.
We consider the cluster-size statistics of two types of site-bond-correlated percolation. In model A (B) [see Phys. Rev. B 40, 10 986 (1989)], the activation of a bond between two first-neighbor occupied sites is also dependent on the occupancy of both (either) of their own nearest neighbors, along the line joining them. The critical concentration for models A and B, obtained from simulations on square lattices of sizes up to $2000\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2000$, is found to be $0.7405\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0005$ and $0.6145\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0005$, respectively. The resulting critical exponents indicate that both models are in the same universality class as ordinary independent (site or bond) percolation.