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arXiv:cond-mat/9511003

Fifty Years of the Exact Solution of the Two-Dimensional Ising Model by Onsager

Somendra M. Bhattacharjee, Avinash Khare

Published Nov 1, 1995• 26 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model by Onsager in 1944 represents one of the landmarks in theoretical physics. On the occassion of the fifty years of the exact solution, we give a historical review of this model. After briefly discussing the exact solution by Onsager, we point out some of the recent developments in this field. The exact solution by Onsager has inspired several developments in various other fields. Some of these are also briefly mentioned.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/9511003

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The exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model by Onsager in 1944 represents one of the landmarks in theoretical physics. On the occassion of the fifty years of the exact solution, we give a historical review of this model. After briefly discussing the exact solution by Onsager, we point out some of the recent developments in this field. The exact solution by Onsager has inspired several developments in various other fields. Some of these are also briefly mentioned.
The Ising model and its applications,the procedure for deriving the exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model,the difficulty for solving explicitly the three-dimensional(3D)Ising model have been introduced briefly.The progresses in studying physical properties and critical phenomena of the 3D Ising model by various approximation methods such as the mean field theory and its extensions,renormalization group theory and Monte Carlo simulations etc.have been reviewed.Finally,our recent advances in the conjectures and the putative exact solution of the 3D Ising model are introduced.
We have mentioned in §1.5 the shattering blow which Onsager's exact calculations for a two-dimensional Ising model delivered to the classical theories, and the challenge it posed in relation to critical behaviour. But Onsager's work had much wider ramifications since detailed aspects of his calculations stimulated important new areas of research and progress. His topological interpretation of the duality transformation discovered by Kramers and Wannier greatly extended its scope, and soon led, in conjunction with his formulation of the star-triangle transformation, to exact solutions for other twodimensional lattices (see e.g. Domb 1960 pp. 211-20). The star-triangle transformation itself initiated a search which revealed other useful transformations of a similar kind (see e.g. Syozi 1972). The simplification of the calculations by the use of spinors led to the discovery of other simplified methods of calculation each of which had its own specific advantages (Temperley 1972, Schultz, Mattis and Lieb 1964). More remotely the existence of exact solutions to the Ising model in two dimensions suggested that other realistic models might give rise to exact solutions. Over 20 years elapsed before a breakthrough occurred (Lieb 1967). Subsequently this area of research has generated results of great interest and importance (Baxter 1982).
The two-dimensional Ising model for a system of interacting spins (or for the ordering of an AB alloy) on a square lattice is one of the very few nontrivial many-body problems that is exactly soluble and shows a phase transition. Although the exact solution in the absence of an external magnetic field was first given almost twenty years ago in a famous paper by Onsager1 using the theory of Lie algebras, the flow of papers on both approximate and exact methods has remained strong to this day.2 One reason for this has been the interest in testing approximate methods on an exactly soluble problem. A second reason, no doubt, has been the considerable formidability of the Onsager method. The simplification achieved by Bruria Kaufman3 using the theory of spinor representations has diminished, but not removed, the reputation of the Onsager approach for incomprehensibility, while the subsequent application of this method by Yang4 to the calculation of the spontaneous magnetization has, if anything, helped to restore this reputation.
From the exact solution of the Ising model by Onsager in 1944 up to that of the hard hexagon model by Baxter in 1980, the statistical mechanics of two-dimensional systems has been enriched by a number of exact results. One speaks (in quick manner) of exact models once a convenient mathematical expression has been obtained for a physical quantity such as the free energy, an order parameter or some correlation, or at the very least once their evaluation is reduced to a problem of classical analysis. Such solutions, often considered as singular curiosities upon their appearance, often have the interest of illustrating the principles and general theorems rigorously established in the framework of definitive theories, and also enabling the control of approximate or perturbative methods applicable to more realistic and complex models. In the theory of phase transitions, the Ising model and the results of Onsager and Yang have eminently played such a reference role. With the various vertex models, the methods of Lieb and Baxter have extended this role and the collection of critical exponents, providing new useful elements of comparison with extrapolation methods, and forcing a refinement of the notion of universality. Intimately linked to two-dimensional classical models (but of less interest for critical phenomena), one-dimensional quantum models such as the linear magnetic chain and Bethe's famous solution have certainly contributed to the understanding of fundamental excitations in many-body systems. One could also mention the physics of one-dimensional conductors.
This article traces the development and study of phase transitions from late last century to the present day. We begin with a brief historical sketch and a description of the statistical mechanics of phase transitions. Particular attention is given to the modern era which began in 1944 with Onsager's celebrated solution of the two-dimensional Ising model. Points of development since Onsager, which are highlighted in this article, include the study of critical exponents, the scaling hypothesis, realisation of the universality of critical exponents and the recent renormalization group approach to critical phenomena. The basic idea of the renormalization group method, rather than the detailed application of the recipe to particular cases, is stressed and is discussed critically in some detail.