Clock Model to the Xy Model: Emergence of Concentration Effects in the Variational Analysis

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Clock Model to the Xy Model: Emergence of Concentration Effects in the Variational Analysis FROM THE N -CLOCK MODEL TO THE XY MODEL: EMERGENCE OF CONCENTRATION EFFECTS IN THE VARIATIONAL ANALYSIS MARCO CICALESE, GIANLUCA ORLANDO, AND MATTHIAS RUF Abstract. We investigate the relationship between the N -clock model (also known as planar Potts model or ZN -model) and the XY model (at zero temperature) through a Γ-convergence analysis as both the number of particles and N diverge. By suitably rescaling the energy of the N -clock model, we illustrate how its thermodynamic limit strongly depends on the rate of divergence of N with respect to the number of particles. The N -clock model turns out to be a good approximation of the XY model only for N sufficiently large; in other regimes of N , we show with the aid of cartesian currents that its asymptotic behavior can be described by an energy which may concentrate on geometric objects of various dimensions. Keywords: Γ-convergence, XY model, N -clock model, cartesian currents, topological singularities. MSC 2010: 49J45, 49Q15, 26B30, 82B20. Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Notation and preliminaries 12 3. Currents 15 4. Proofs in the regime " θ" "j log "j 29 5. Proofs in the regime θ" ∼ "j log "j 66 6. Proofs in the regime "j log "j θ" 1 68 7. Proofs in the regime θ" " 72 References 79 1. Introduction Classical ferromagnetic spin systems on lattices represent fundamental models to under- stand phase transition phenomena. On the one hand, the study of their properties has motivated the introduction of new mathematical tools which have provided useful insights for a number of problems arising in different fields. On the other hand, many techniques borrowed from probability theory, mathematical analysis, topology, and geometry have con- tributed to a better understanding of the properties of these systems. In this paper we make use of fine concepts in geometric measure theory and in the theory of cartesian currents to understand the relationship between the XY -model and the N -clock model (also known as planar Potts model or ZN -model) within a variational framework. The N -clock model is a two-dimensional nearest neighbors ferromagnetic spin model on the square lattice in which the spin field is constrained to take values in a set of N equi-spaced points of S1 . For N large enough, it is usually considered as an approximation of the XY (planar rotator) model, for which the spin field is allowed to attain all the values of S1 . The asymptotic behavior of the N -clock model for large N has been considered by Fr¨ohlich and Spencer in the seminal paper [30]. There the authors have proved that both the N -clock model (for N large enough) and the XY model present Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, i.e., phase transitions mediated by the formation and interaction of topological 1 2 MARCO CICALESE, GIANLUCA ORLANDO, AND MATTHIAS RUF singularities. The microscopic picture leading to the emergence of such topological phase transitions (first introduced in [14, 41, 42]) is a result of a nontrivial interplay between entropic and energetic effects that takes place at different length scales. This paper contributes to precisely relating the N -clock model and the XY model at zero temperature. Specifically, we show that the enhancement of symmetry, from the discrete one of the N -clock model to the continuous one of the XY model, comes along with concentration of energy on geometric objects of various dimension. This is achieved by studying several rescaled versions of the energy of the N -clock model as N diverges, through a coarse graining procedure which is made rigorous by Γ-convergence. A crucial step of this analysis is the choice of the topologies which best identify the relevant variables of the coarse grained model and lead to the effective description of the microscopic/mesoscopic geometry of the spin field. In contrast to the XY model, the sole study of the distributional Jacobian of the spin field turns out to provide not enough information on the concentration effects of the energy; we shall see how these effects can be detected by cartesian currents, for the first time introduced in the context of lattice spin models. In what follows we present the model and our main results. We consider a bounded, open set with Lipschitz boundary Ω ⊂ R2 . Given a small parameter " > 0, we consider the 2 2 square lattice "Z and we define Ω" := Ω \ "Z . The classical XY model is defined on spin 1 fields u:Ω" ! S by X − "2u("i) · u("j) ; (1.1) hi;ji where a · b denotes the scalar product between a; b 2 R2 and the sum is taken over ordered 2 2 pairs of nearest neighbor hi; ji, i.e., (i; j) 2 Z ×Z such that ji − jj = 1 and "i; "j 2 Ω" . The variational analysis of the XY model is part of a larger program devoted to the study of systems of spins with continuous symmetry [4, 7, 8, 13, 23, 26, 27, 49, 25]. 2π Here we consider an additional parameter N" 2 or, equivalently, θ" := . The N N" 1 integer N" represents the number of points in the discretization S" of the codomain S , while θ" is the smallest non-zero angle between two neighboring spin values. More precisely, we set S" := fexp(ιkθ"): k = 0;:::;N" − 1g ; where ι is the imaginary unit. The admissible spin fields we consider here are only those 1 taking values in the discrete set S" , i.e., we consider the energy defined for every u:Ω" ! S by 8 X 2 <>− " u("i) · u("j) if u:Ω" !S" ; F"(u) := hi;ji :>+1 otherwise: For N" = N 2 N, with N independent of ", the spin system described by the energy F" is usually referred to as N -clock model, cf. [30]. The particular case where N = 2 is the so-called Ising system. The analysis of Ising-type systems with short-range interaction has been the object of many recent papers in analysis and statistical mechanics [38, 17, 24, 22, 3]. See also [2, 5, 9, 19] for the long-range case. The minimum of the functional defined in (1.1) is achieved on constant spin fields. For this reason it is customary in this setting to refer the energy to its minimum (cf. [4, Theorem 2]) and to introduce the functional X 1 X XY (u) = − "2 u("i) · u("j) − 1 = "2ju("i) − u("j)j2: " 2 hi;ji hi;ji This suggests to study the excess energy E"(u) := F"(u) − min F" , under those scalings 1 κ" ! 0 for which E" has a nontrivial variational limit in the sense of Γ-convergence, κ" cf. [28, 18]. In order to understand such scalings, it is convenient to recast the energy as ( XY"(u) if u:Ω" !S" ; E"(u) := (1.2) +1 otherwise: FROM THE N -CLOCK MODEL TO THE XY MODEL 3 One can expect that the relevant scaling κ" is affected by N" , as it emerges in the 1 two limiting scenarios N" = 2 and S" = S (formally corresponding to N" = +1). In fact, for the Ising system, i.e., N" = 2, it has been shown in [3] that, choosing κ" = ", a 1 configuration u" with equibounded energies " E"(u") can be identified, as " ! 0, with a partition of Ω in two regions, in each of which the spin is constantly equal to one of the 1 two values (1; 0),(−1; 0). Moreover, the energy " E"(u") approximates an interfacial-type energy, whose anisotropy reflects the symmetries of the underlying lattice. In contrast, for 1 the XY system, i.e., S" = S , it has been shown in [4, Example 1] that no interfacial-type 2 energy emerges at any scaling κ" " . To show this, the authors provide an example that 1 we recall here. In this example, let Ω = B1=2(0) be the ball of radius 2 centered at 0, let 1 v1 = exp(ιϕ1), v2 = exp(ιϕ2) 2 S , and let us define for x = (x1; x2) ( v if x ≤ 0 ; u(x) := 1 1 (1.3) v2 if x1 > 0 : 1 1 1 2 Then we can construct u" ! u in L (Ω; ) such that XY"(u") ! 0 for all κ" " in S κ" the following way: for "i = ("i1; "i2) 2 Ω" we define 8 >v1 if "i1 ≤ 0 ; <> "i1 u"("i) := exp ι ('1 − '2) 1 − + '2 if 0 < "i1 ≤ η" ; (1.4) η" > :v2 if "i1 > η" ; where η" ! 0 is chosen below. Then 2 1 " η" " XY"(u") ∼ 1 − cos ('1 − '2) ∼ : (1.5) κ" η" κ" η"κ" 2 "2 Thanks to the assumption κ" " , it is always possible to find η" ! 0 such that η" . κ" As a consequence, the angle between two neighboring spins u"("(i + e1)) and u"("i) has " κ" 1 modulus j'1 − '2j . This construction, always possible in the case S" = , may η" " S 1 κ" not be feasible when S" 6= S if the minimal angle θ" satisfies θ" & " . Hence one cannot exclude the possibility of finding a nontrivial scaling κ" such that interfacial-type energies 1 arise in the limit of E"(u"). κ" To better understand the behavior of E" in the constrained setting u" :Ω" !S" , we " modify the construction in (1.4) by choosing η" so that j'1 − '2j = θ" , i.e., η" = η" " j'1 − '2j , see Figure 1. As a result θ" 1 " εθ" E"(u") ∼ 1 − cos(θ") j'1 − '2j ∼ j'1 − '2j : κ" θ"κ" κ" This suggests that the nontrivial scaling κ" = εθ" leads to a finite energy proportional to j'1 − '2j.
Recommended publications
  • Correlated Disorder in the 3D XY Model
    2005:202 CIV MASTER’S THESIS Correlated Disorder in the 3D XY Model A model for 4He in aerogel PER BURSTRÖM MASTER OF SCIENCE PROGRAMME Engineering Physics Luleå University of Technology Department of Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering Division of Physics 2005:202 CIV • ISSN: 1402 - 1617 • ISRN: LTU - EX - - 05/202 - - SE Abstract Experiments with superfluid 4He inserted into aerogels have revealed some sur- prising results. Most porous materials, with porosities down to as low as 30%, generally do not change the behaviour of 4He at the superfluid (λ) phase transi- tion. This is also supported by theoretical work about the nature of the disorder structure in most materials. However, when inserted in silica aerogels of vari- ous porosities, the superfluid density exponent ζ is distinctly changed from the undisturbed value of ζ ≈ 0:6740:003 to approximately 0:75−0:81. This is sur- prising as these aerogels are extremely porous, effectively thread-like structures of SiO2 making up 0.1-10% of the material, with the rest being incipient voids of air or, in this case, Helium. The reason for the changes in scaling parameters is believed to be that the disorder structure of aerogel is correlated over cer- tain length scales in the material. The scope of this thesis was to investigate a model for correlated aerogel disorder and its scaling properties via Monte Carlo simulations at the λ transition. i Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Theoretical concepts 2 2.1 Derivation of the XY model . 2 2.2 Statistical mechanics using Monte Carlo methods . 2 2.3 The Metropolis algorithm .
    [Show full text]
  • Investigation of Zero-Temperature Transverse-Field Ising Models With
    INVESTIGATION OF ZERO-TEMPERATURE TRANSVERSE-FIELDISINGMODELSWITH LONG-RANGEINTERACTIONS Untersuchung langreichweitiger Isingmodelle im transversalen Feld bei Temperatur T 0K Æ Der Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades dr. rer. nat. vorgelegt von sebastian fey Als Dissertation genehmigt von der Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 2020-05-07 Vorsitzender des Promotionsorgans: Prof. Dr. Georg Kreimer Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Kai P. Schmidt Prof. Dr. Martin Eckstein ABSTRACT In this thesis I aim to investigate ground-state properties of a quantum-mechanical long- range interacting spin model at temperature T 0K. Paradigmatic models such as the Æ Ising model are mostly limited to nearest-neighbor interactions. However, their long- range counterparts often display a drastically different behavior. Long-range interactions can induce an effective dimensionality into the system, leading to continuously varying critical exponents of quantum phase transitions in ferromagnetic systems and the ap- pearance of multiplicative logarithmic corrections. For antiferromagnetic interactions frustration can result in the appearance of new phases. During the last decades several studies of such models have been performed with various methods. Exact diagonalization and Quantum Monte-Carlo calculations are yet limited to finite system sizes. Density- matrix renormalization-group methods allow handling infinite sizes but results are only available for (quasi-)one-dimensional models. In this thesis, a method is presented which allows the computation of quantitative results for gapped quantum-many-body systems with long-range interactions in the bulk limit based on a perturbative approach. Perturbative continuous unitary transformations are combined with Monte-Carlo methods for an evaluation of nested infinite sums and Padé extrapolations to extract critical behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • The Absence of Phase Transition for the Classical XY-Model On
    February 28, 2018 19:54 Phase Transitions paper Phase Transitions Vol. 00, No. 00, Month 200x, 1–7 RESEARCH ARTICLE The absence of phase transition for the classical XY-model on Sierpi´nski pyramid with fractal dimension D=2 Michelle Przedborski and Boˇzidar Mitrovi´c∗ Department of Physics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1 () For the spin models with continuous symmetry on regular lattices and finite range of interac- tions the lower critical dimension is d=2. In two dimensions the classical XY-model displays Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition associated with unbinding of topological defects (vortices and antivortices). We perform a Monte Carlo study of the classical XY-model on Sierpi´nski pyramids whose fractal dimension is D = log4/log2=2 and the average coordination number per site is ≈ 7. The specific heat does not depend on the system size which indicates the absence of long range order. From the dependence of the helicity modulus on the cluster size and on boundary conditions we draw a conclusion that in the thermodynamic limit there is no Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition at any finite temperature. This conclusion is also supported by our results for linear magnetic susceptibility. The lack of finite temperature phase transition is presumably caused by the finite order of ramification of Sierpi´nski pyramid. Keywords: XY-model; fractals; Sierpi´nski pyramid; Monte Carlo simulations 1. Introduction One of the powerful predictions of the renormalization group theory of critical phenomena is universality according to which the critical behavior of a system is determined by: (1) symmetry group of the Hamiltonian, (2) spatial dimension- ality d and (3) whether or not the interactions are short-ranged [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Physics 682: Quantum Magnetism Homework 3
    3/4/2004. Due: Thursday, March 18, 2004 (in class). Physics 682: Quantum Magnetism Problems with stars are not for credit and will NOT be graded. Homework 3 Exercise 1: Isotropic ferromagnet Consider a three-dimensional classical isotropic ferromagnet described by a micro- scopic Hamiltonian: X ~ ~ H = − JijSiSj, (1) i,j ~2 2 where Si = S is a classical spin at site i of a simple cubic lattice, exchange constants ~ Jij = J are non zero for nearest neighbors only. Let us assume that spin S = (S1,S2,...,SN ) has N-components (N = 1, e.g., corresponds to Ising model). Let us assume that the ordering phase transition is described by Landau free energy 2 4 2 f = αtm + bm + g(∂µ ~m) . a) Extract the values of parameters α, b, and g from an RPA approximation to the theory (1). Hint: See ex. 5-6 from Homework 2. b) Write down Ginzburg-Levanyuk criterion of an applicability of the mean field approximation in the vicinity of critical temperature. Use the values of parameters found in a). c) Is there any small parameter which guarantees the existence of the range where mean field theory works well? Will fluctuation region expand or shrink if one increases (decreases) the dimensionality N of the order parameter? Exercise 2: Real space renormalization group for one-dimensional Ising model Consider partition function for one-dimensional Ising model. N X X ZN (K) = exp K σiσi+1, (2) {σi=±1} i=1 where K = J/T . Summing over Ising spins on odd sites express this partition ˜ ˜ function in terms of ZN/2(K).
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1611.06019V1 [Math-Ph]
    CORRELATION INEQUALITIES FOR CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM XY MODELS COSTANZA BENASSI, BENJAMIN LEES, AND DANIEL UELTSCHI Abstract. We review correlation inequalities of truncated functions for the classical and quantum XY models. A consequence is that the critical temperature of the XY model is necessarily smaller than that of the Ising model, in both the classical and quantum cases. We also discuss an explicit lower bound on the critical temperature of the quantum XY model. 1. Setting and results The goal of this survey is to recall some results of old that have been rather neglected in recent years. We restrict ourselves to the cases of classical and quantum XY models. Correlation inequalities are an invaluable tool that allows to obtain the monotonicity of spontaneous magnetisation, the existence of infinite volume limits, and comparisons be- tween the critical temperatures of various models. Many correlation inequalities have been established for the planar rotor (or classical XY) model, with interesting applications and consequences in the study of the phase diagram and the Gibbs states [4, 16, 19, 20, 17, 18, 8]. Some of these inequalities can also be proved for its quantum counterpart [10, 25, 22, 2]. Let Λ be a finite set of sites. The classical XY model (or planar rotor model) is a model for interacting spins on such a lattice. The configuration space of the system is defined as 1 ΩΛ = σx x∈Λ : σx S x Λ : each site hosts a unimodular vector lying on a unit circle.{{ It is} convenient∈ to represent∀ ∈ } the spins by means of angles, namely 1 σx = cos φx (1) 2 σx = sin φx (2) with φx [0, 2π].
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1012.0653V3
    Quantum phase transitions in transverse field spin models: From Statistical Physics to Quantum Information Amit Dutta∗ Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208 016, India Uma Divakaran† Theoretische Physik, Universit¨at des Saarlandes, 66041 Saarbr¨ucken, Germany Diptiman Sen‡ Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India Bikas K. Chakrabarti§ Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics Division and Centre for Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700 064, India Thomas F. Rosenbaum¶ Department of Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 Gabriel Aeppli∗∗ London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCL, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom We review quantum phase transitions of spin systems in transverse magnetic fields taking the examples of some paradigmatic models, namely, the spin-1/2 Ising and XY models in a transverse field in one and higher spatial dimensions. Beginning with a brief overview of quantum phase transitions, we introduce the model Hamiltonians and discuss the equivalence between the quantum phase transition in such a model and the finite temperature phase transition in a higher dimensional classical model. We then provide exact solutions in one spatial dimension connecting them to conformal field theoretical studies when possible. We also discuss Kitaev models, and some other exactly solvable spin systems in this context. Studies of quantum phase transitions in the presence of quenched randomness and with frustrating interactions are presented in details. We discuss novel phenomena like Griffiths-McCoy singularities associated with quantum phase transitions of low- dimensional transverse Ising models with random interactions and transverse fields.
    [Show full text]
  • Approaching the Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition for the Classical XY Model with Tensor Networks
    PHYSICAL REVIEW E 100, 062136 (2019) Approaching the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition for the classical XY model with tensor networks Laurens Vanderstraeten,1,* Bram Vanhecke,1 Andreas M. Läuchli,2 and Frank Verstraete1 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Ghent, Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Gent, Belgium 2Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria (Received 6 September 2019; published 26 December 2019) We apply variational tensor-network methods for simulating the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in the classical two-dimensional XY model. In particular, using uniform matrix product states (MPS) with non-Abelian O(2) symmetry, we compute the universal drop in the spin stiffness at the critical point. In the critical low- temperature regime, we focus on the MPS entanglement spectrum to characterize the Luttinger-liquid phase. In the high-temperature phase, we confirm the exponential divergence of the correlation length and estimate the critical temperature with high precision. Our MPS approach can be used to study generic two-dimensional phase transitions with continuous symmetries. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.100.062136 I. INTRODUCTION ρ(T ), which discontinuously drops [7] from a finite value in the critical phase to zero in the gapped phase; from the In contemporary theoretical physics the interplay between renormalization analysis, the size of the drop is known to be symmetry and dimensionality is widely appreciated for giving given by rise to fascinating physical phenomena. Historically, one of 2T the crucial results in establishing this viewpoint was the phase lim ρ(T ) = c , (1) → − π transition in the two-dimensional classical XY model. This T Tc model is introduced by placing continuous angles {θ } on i but the value of T is not known exactly.
    [Show full text]
  • Ising Model and XY Model
    Ising model and XY model 1 Ising Model The Ising model is one of the simplest and most fundamental models of statistical mechanics. It can be used to describe such diverse phenomena as magnets; liquid/gas coexistence; alloys of two metals; and many others, even outside of physics. Each such system can be described by elementary variables si, usually called “spins” with 2 possible values si = ±1. The 2 values stand for, e.g., an elementary magnet pointing up or down; a piece of liquid or gas; an atom of metal A or B; etc.). These variables usually live on the sites i of some lattice. One associates an energy X E = − J si sj (1) neighbors i,j with each configuration of spins, where J is some constant. Each state of the system occurs with probability given by the Boltzmann factor 1 E p = exp(− ) , (2) Z kBT where T is temperature, kB the Boltzmann constant, and Z a normalization factor. Even though the Ising model is drastically simplified from realistic situations, it is able to describe, often quantitatively, the occurence of order at low temperatures and disorder at high temperatures, and especially the phase transition between those situation, in which spin correlations over very large length scales become essential. The Ising model can be solved exactly only in the simplest cases (in one spatial dimension, and on a two-dimensional square lattice). In most cases of practical interest, one has to resort to either analytical approximations like series expansions for high or for low temperature, or to numerical techniques like Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations.
    [Show full text]
  • Approaching the Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition for the Classical XY Model with Tensor Networks
    Approaching the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition for the classical XY model with tensor networks Laurens Vanderstraeten,1, ∗ Bram Vanhecke,1 Andreas M. L¨auchli,2 and Frank Verstraete1 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Ghent, Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Gent, Belgium 2Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria We apply variational tensor-network methods for simulating the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transi- tion in the classical two-dimensional XY model. In particular, using uniform matrix product states (MPS) with non-abelian O(2) symmetry, we compute the universal drop in the spin stiffness at the critical point. In the critical low-temperature regime, we focus on the MPS entanglement spectrum to characterize the Luttinger-liquid phase. In the high-temperature phase, we confirm the exponen- tial divergence of the correlation length and estimate the critical temperature with high precision. Our MPS approach can be used to study generic two-dimensional phase transitions with continuous symmetries. I. INTRODUCTION transition (in the absence of a local order parameter) is the spin stiffness ρ(T ), which discontinuously drops [7] In contemporary theoretical physics the interplay be- from a finite value in the critical phase to zero in the tween symmetry and dimensionality is widely appre- gapped phase; from the renormalization analysis, the size ciated for giving rise to fascinating physical phenom- of the drop is known to be given by ena. Historically, one of the crucial results in estab- 2Tc lishing this viewpoint was the phase transition in the lim ρ(T ) = ; (1) − π two-dimensional classical XY model. This model is in- T !Tc troduced by placing continuous angles fθig on a square but the value of Tc is not known exactly.
    [Show full text]
  • Berezinskii– Kosterlitz–Thouless Phase Transitions in Pbtio3 /Srtio3
    Facultad de Ciencias Berezinskii– Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transitions in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices (Transiciones de fase de Berezinskii– Kosterlitz–Thouless en superredes de PbTiO3/SrTiO3) Trabajo de Fin de Máster para acceder al título de MÁSTER INTERUNIVERSITARIO EN QUÍMICA TEÓRICA Y MODELIZACIÓN COMPUTACIONAL Autor: Fernando Gómez Ortiz Director: Javier Junquera Quintana 03/07/2020 Acknowledgements En primer lugar, agradecer al departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Física de la Materia Condensada por el buen trato recibido siempre, no fue un comienzo de año sencillo en cuanto a lo burocrático, sin embargo, nunca faltó vuestro apoyo y ánimo. Este trabajo no habría sido posible en otras circunstancias, gracias. En especial, a Pablo y cómo no, a Javier por vuestro tiempo, interés y duro trabajo es un placer poder hacer mi tesis junto a vosotros y contagiarme, no sólo de vuestros conocimientos, sino también de vuestra pasión por la física. A mi familia, padres y hermano, que siempre esperan de mi lo máximo; gracias por el apoyo, cariño y preocupación por intentar comprender lo que hago, aunque muchas veces, no sea de fácil explicación. Siempre me habéis dejado dedicarme a lo que me gusta y así, sin quererlo, este trabajo también resulta ser vuestro. Acordarme como siempre también de mi abuelo que sé que estaría orgulloso. A la gente que comparte mi vida, mis compañeros de física, Guridi, Leti, Andrea, Gus. Gracias por todo. Por último, gracias a la beca FPU, que tanto costó disfrutar una vez conseguida, por el sustento económico. Espero que este trabajo marque el inicio de una bonita tesis y, con suerte, carrera académica.
    [Show full text]
  • Goldstone Modes and Topological Defects
    Physics 7240: Advanced Statistical Mechanics Lecture 6: Thermal Stability of Ordered Phases: Goldstone modes and topological defects Leo Radzihovsky (Dated: December 5, 2019) Abstract In these lecture notes, we will analyze the stability of ordered phases to thermal fluctuations, focusing particularly on states that break continuous symmetry. Computing the size of these Goldstone-mode fluctuations as a function of temperature and system’s dimensionality, we will derive the so-called Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner-Coleman theorems that inform us when such sys- tems become absolutely unstable to fluctuations, thereby precluding the existence of the ordered state, at least in its mean-field form. We will also discuss topological defects, e.g., vortices, disloca- tions, disclinations, solitons, etc., and their role in destroying ordered phases by way of Kosterlitz- Thouless and related transition. We will also explore dualities, roughening and commensurate- incommensurate phase transitions. Finally we will study the disordering of the O(N) nonlinear σ-model via d − 2 and large N expansions. 1 • States that break continuous symmetries and their Goldstone mode description: O(N) models, superfluids, crystals, membranes, nematics, smectics, superconductors, etc. • Stability of phases: Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner-Coleman theorems • Topological defects: vortices, dislocations, disclinations, solitons • Kosterlitz-Thouless transition via Coulomb gas and sine-Gordon duality, and rough- ening and commensurate-incommensurate phase transitions • Nonlinear O(3) σ-model and the FM-PM transition in d = 2 + dimensions • Large N expansion for the O(N) model FM-PM transition I. INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION Much of our focus so far has been on the phase transition between different states of matter.
    [Show full text]
  • Lecture 1: Date: 30Th July Duration 1Hr Lecture 2: Date: 3Rd Aug. Duration
    Lecture 1: Date: 30 th July Duration 1hr Definition of continuous and discontinuous phase transitions; Critical exponents; Notion of symmetry breaking; Examples of models with continuous symmetry (classical XY model); Transverse Ising Models and idea of quantum phase transitions. Lecture 2: Date: 3 rd Aug. Duration 1hr Discussion on XY model and transverse Ising model; Recapitulation of Weiss mean field theory m=tanh(β Jqm + β h ) ; central limit theorem suggests that it should be exact in the limit of infinite number of nearest neighbors. We then look at an Ising model with infinite-range interaction where all the spins interact with each other = −J − given by the Hamiltonian H∑ sshsi j ∑ i ; where J is scaled by N so N i, j i that the energy is extensive. In the limit N → ∞ , (infinite range interaction) using the saddle point integration, we have shown that mean field theory is exact. Lecture 3: Date: 5 th Aug. Duration 2hrs Recapitulation of the saddle point result; (i) One can show using the expansion of the log(cosh..) term of the effective free energy that the Landau “free” energy expansion can be obtained. (ii) We also discussed Bragg-Williams theory of Ising model and its’ connection to the Landau theory (Chaikin, chapter 4, page 146). (iii) We also address the question whether a thermodynamic limit does always exist? (Goldenfeld, page 26). (iv) Finally, we have introduced the concept of variational mean field theory using the Bogoliubov inequality ( F≤ F + H − H for the 0 0 0 variational free energy; minimizing this we get the mean field Ising results.
    [Show full text]