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arXiv:hep-ph/9810383 · Physical Review Letters

Fractals at T=Tc due to Instantonlike Configurations

N. G. Antoniou, Yiannis Contoyiannis, F. Κ. Diakonos, Costas G Papadopoulos

Published Nov 16, 1998• 34 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the geometry of the critical fluctuations for a general system undergoing a thermal second order phase transition. Adopting a generalized effective action for the local description of the fluctuations of the order parameter at the critical point ( ${T\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}T}_{c}$) we show that instantonlike configurations, corresponding to the minima of the effective action functional, build up clusters with fractal geometry characterizing locally the critical fluctuations. The connection between the corresponding (local) fractal dimension and the critical exponents is derived. Possible extension of the local geometry of the system to a global picture is also discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.4289

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We investigate the geometry of the critical fluctuations for a general system undergoing a thermal second order phase transition. Adopting a generalized effective action for the local description of the fluctuations of the order parameter at the critical point ( T=Tc{T\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}T}_{c}T=Tc​) we show that instantonlike configurations, corresponding to the minima of the effective action functional, build up clusters with fractal geometry characterizing locally the critical fluctuations. The connection between the corresponding (local) fractal dimension and the critical exponents is derived. Possible extension of the local geometry of the system to a global picture is also discussed.
We investigate the geometry of a critical system undergoing a second-order thermal phase transition. Using a local description for the dynamics characterizing the system at the critical point T=T(c), we reveal the formation of clusters with fractal geometry, where the term cluster is used to describe regions with a nonvanishing value of the order parameter. We show that, treating the cluster as an open subsystem of the entire system, new instanton-like configurations dominate the statistical mechanics of the cluster. We study the dependence of the resulting fractal dimension on the embedding dimension and the scaling properties (isothermal critical exponent) of the system. Taking into account the finite-size effects, we are able to calculate the size of the critical cluster in terms of the total size of the system, the critical temperature, and the effective coupling of the long wavelength interaction at the critical point. We also show that the size of the cluster has to be identified with the correlation length at criticality. Finally, within the framework of the mean field approximation, we extend our local considerations to obtain a global description of the system.
Statistical methods are essential for understanding thermodynamic systems with many degrees of freedom. For systems in equilibrium, a very useful method is that of correlation functions, which establish a correlation between a field phi(x), which depends on the spatial position x, and the same field evaluated at another position, phi(x0). Fisher [Journal of Mathematical Physics 5, 944322 (1964)] introduced the autocorrelation function for fluctuations of the order parameter, which has been an important mathematical tool for understanding second-order phase transitions in equilibrium. However, his analysis is restricted to a Euclidean space of dimension d, and an exponent eta is introduced to correct the spatial behavior of the correlation function at T = Tc. In a recent work, Lima et al. [Phys. Rev. E 110, L062107 (2024)] demonstrated that a modern fractional differential analysis is necessary for a complete description of the correlation function at Tc. In this study, we highlight the deep connection among scaling behavior, critical exponents, and fractal geometry. Our results provide a unified geometric interpretation of critical exponents and fractal dimensions, broadly applicable to thermodynamic phase transitions. However, the approach does not apply to topological phase transitions, which lack local order parameters and the associated scale-invariant fractal geometry. We verify its predictions for several cornerstone thermodynamic models: the Ising, Potts, XY, and Heisenberg systems.
Abstract Understanding phase transitions requires not only identifying order parameters but also characterizing how their correlations behave across scales. By quantifying how fluctuations at distinct spatial or temporal points are related, correlation functions reveal the structural organization of complex systems. In this work, we reexamine the theoretical foundations of these correlations in systems undergoing second-order phase transitions, with emphasis on the Ising model extended to non-integer spatial dimensions. We revisit the hypotesis that, at criticality, the equilibrium dynamics become effectively confined to the fractal edge of spin clusters and redo the analysis using fractional calculus. Within this framework, the fractal dimension that governs the correlations in that subspace is directly related to Fisher’s exponent η\etaη η , which quantifies the singular behavior of the correlation function near criticality. Importantly, this correlation fractal dimension is distinct from the fractal dimension associated with the order parameter. The fractional approach allows us to directly compute the correlation fractal dimension and to establish an explicit geometrical relation connecting the two fractal dimensions. Moreover, the formulation naturally extends to non-integer spatial dimensions, remaining valid below the upper critical dimension and yielding the correct value of Fisher’s exponent η\etaη η for a continuous spatial dimension d . Within this framework, we also provide empirical functions describing how the main critical exponents vary continuously as a function of the space dimension.
General form of the probability distribution function (PDF) of the rescaled fractal dimension characterizing spatial structures of local order parameters in finite but large systems near the critical point is derived. To obtain the PDF, we assume that (i) sample-to-sample fluctuations of global order parameters are described by the generalized Gumbel distribution function, which is known to be valid for many of long-range correlated systems such as critical systems and (ii) spatial structures of local order parameters are always fractal at the critical point. From the obtained PDF, it is elucidated that fluctuations of fractal dimensions do not exhibit a universal character in contrast to the case of fluctuating global order parameters. In addition, we perform numerical calculations of the PDF for two-dimensional percolation systems near the critical concentration and confirm that the analytically calculated PDF well describes numerical results. We also discuss the influence of non-fractal critical clusters neglected under the assumption (ii).
The critical phenomenon of the second order phase transition is considered for temperatures above the critical point. A general phenomenological approach is developed. The generalized free energy F[{η q }: T ] is introduced. It is a functional of the Fourier component η q of the local order parameter η( r ). A general property of the correlation function <η q η - q > is established rigorously. The equilibrium free energy and the wave-number dependent susceptibility χ q are expressed in terms of the linked clusters, large clusters corresponding to highr order fluctuation of the order parameter. The general rule for calculating the contribution of each cluster is given. The rule is shown to be very simple. It is found that the specific heat is expressed as a sum of the temperature derivatives of χ q 's. As an example of the application of the linked cluster method, the susceptibility is calculated in the vicinity of the critical point by summing up the clusters that are most divergent when approaching the criticat point. The linked cluster expansion developed here could be a clue to the whole mystery of the singularity at the critical point.
Abstract The critical behavior of spin systems is fundamentally governed by dimensionality and connectivity. Moving beyond translationally invariant lattices, we explore a new paradigm where fractality itself becomes a tunable parameter, engineering magnetic order and critical behavior. By implementing the classical Ising model on a three-dimensional fractal lattice---a static realization of a spin cluster with Hausdorff dimension dH=2.5d_{\rm H}=2.5dH​=2.5 and boundary dimension d=2d=2d=2---we demonstrate how fractal geometry dictates unique critical phenomena. Using the higher-order tensor renormalization group (HOTRG) method, we identify a finite-temperature phase transition at Tc≈2.65231T_c \approx 2.65231Tc​≈2.65231 with exotic critical exponents (α≈0.09\alpha\approx 0.09α≈0.09, α′≈0.06\alpha'\approx 0.06α′≈0.06, β≈0.059\beta \approx 0.059β≈0.059, δ≈35\delta \approx 35δ≈35) and a diverging specific heat---a hallmark absent in lower-dimensional fractals. This work establishes that fractal geometry serves as a powerful and untapped degree of freedom for spintronics. It provides a blueprint for designing materials with programmable magnetic phase transitions, paving the way for next-generation, geometry-driven devices in magnonics and neuromorphic computing.