We consider the Potts model in a magnetic field on an arbitrary graph $G$. Using a formula of F. Y. Wu for the partition function $Z$ of this model as a sum over spanning subgraphs of $G$, we prove some properties of $Z$ concerning factorization, monotonicity, and zeros. A generalization of the Tutte polynomial is presented that corresponds to this partition function. In this context we formulate and discuss two weighted graph-coloring problems. We also give a general structural result for $Z$ for cyclic strip graphs.
We study the partition function of Potts model in an external (magnetic) field, and its connections with the zero-field Potts model partition function. Using a deletion-contraction formulation for the partition function Z for this model, we show that it can be expanded in terms of the zero-field partition function. We also show that Z can be written as a sum over the spanning trees, and the spanning forests, of a graph G. Our results extend to Z the well-known spanning tree expansion for the zero-field partition function that arises though its connections with the Tutte polynomial.
We present exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function for the q-state Potts antiferromagnet (equivalently, the chromatic polynomial) for two families of arbitrarily long strip graphs of the square lattice with periodic boundary conditions in the transverse direction and (i) periodic (ii) twisted periodic boundary conditions in the longitudinal direction, so that the strip graphs are embedded on a (i) torus (ii) Klein bottle. In the limit of infinite length, we calculate the exponent of the entropy, W(q), show it to be the same for (i) and (ii), and determine its analytic str…
We present exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function of the $q$-state Potts antiferromagnet (equivalently the chromatic polynomial) for Moebius strips, with width $L_y=2$ or 3, of regular lattices and homeomorphic expansions thereof. These are compared with the corresponding partition functions for strip graphs with (untwisted) periodic longitudinal boundary conditions.
We calculate zeros of the $q$-state Potts model partition function on $m$'th-iterate Sierpinski graphs, $S_m$, in the variable $q$ and in a temperature-like variable, $y$. We infer some asymptotic properties of the loci of zeros in the limit $m \to \infty$ and relate these to thermodynamic properties of the $q$-state Potts ferromagnet and antiferromagnet on the Sierpinski gasket fractal, $S_\infty$.
The Yang-Lee, Fisher and Potts zeros of the one-dimensional Q-state Potts model are studied using the theory of dynamical systems. An exact recurrence relation for the partition function is derived. It is shown that zeros of the partition function may be associated with neutral fixed points of the recurrence relation. Further, a general equation for zeros of the partition function is found and a classification of the Yang-Lee, Fisher and Potts zeros is given. It is shown that the Fisher zeros in a nonzero magnetic field are located on several lines in the complex temperature plane and that the…
The partition function of the q-state Potts model with random ferromagnetic couplings in the large-q limit is generally dominated by the contribution of a single diagram of the high temperature expansion. Computing this dominant diagram amounts to minimizing a particular submodular function. We provide a combinatorial optimization algorithm, the optimal cooperation algorithm, which works in polynomial time for any lattice. Practical implementation and the speed of the method is also discussed.
The properties of the partition function zeros in the complex temperature plane (Fisher zeros) and in the complex $Q$ plane (Potts zeros) are investigated for the $Q$-state Potts model in an arbitrary nonzero external magnetic field $H_q$, using the exact partition function of the one-dimensional model.
The distribution of the zeros of the partition function in the complex temperature plane (Fisher zeros) of the two-dimensional Q-state Potts model is studied for non-integer Q. On $L\times L$ self-dual lattices studied ($L\le8$), no Fisher zero lies on the unit circle $p_0=e^{iθ}$ in the complex $p=(e^{βJ}-1)/\sqrt{Q}$ plane for Q<1, while some of the Fisher zeros lie on the unit circle for Q>1 and the number of such zeros increases with increasing Q. The ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic properties of the Potts model are investigated using the distribution of the Fisher zeros. For the Potts…
We calculate the partition function of the $q$-state Potts model on arbitrary-length cyclic ladder graphs of the square and triangular lattices, with a generalized external magnetic field that favors or disfavors a subset of spin values $\{1,...,s\}$ with $s \le q$. For the case of antiferromagnet spin-spin coupling, these provide exactly solved models that exhibit an onset of frustration and competing interactions in the context of a novel type of tensor-product $S_s \otimes S_{q-s}$ global symmetry, where $S_s$ is the permutation group on $s$ objects.
We calculate the partition function $Z(G,Q,v)$ of the $Q$-state Potts model exactly for strips of the square and triangular lattices of various widths $L_y$ and arbitrarily great lengths $L_x$, with a variety of boundary conditions, and with $Q$ and $v$ restricted to satisfy conditions corresponding to the ferromagnetic phase transition on the associated two-dimensional lattices. From these calculations, in the limit $L_x \to \infty$, we determine the continuous accumulation loci ${\cal B}$ of the partition function zeros in the $v$ and $Q$ planes. Strips of the honeycomb lattice are also cons…
We calculate the partition function $Z(G,Q,v)$ of the $Q$-state Potts model exactly for self-dual cyclic square-lattice strips of various widths $L_y$ and arbitrarily great lengths $L_x$, with $Q$ and $v$ restricted to satisfy the relation $Q=v^2$. From these calculations, in the limit $L_x \to \infty$, we determine the continuous accumulation locus ${\cal B}$ of the partition function zeros in the $v$ and $Q$ planes. A number of interesting features of this locus are discussed and a conjecture is given for properties applicable for arbitrarily great width. Relations with the loci ${\cal B}$ f…
We present exact calculations of partition function $Z$ of the $q$-state Potts model with next-nearest-neighbor spin-spin couplings, both for the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic case, for arbitrary temperature, on $n$-vertex strip graphs of width $L_y=2$ of the square lattice with free, cyclic, and Möbius longitudinal boundary conditions. The free energy is calculated exactly for the infinite-length limit of these strip graphs and the thermodynamics is discussed. Considering the full generalization to arbitrary complex $q$ and temperature, we determine the singular locus ${\cal B}$ in the …
We calculate complex-temperature (CT) zeros of the partition function for the $q$-state Potts model on the honeycomb and kagomé lattices for several values of $q$. These give information on the CT phase diagrams. A comparison of results obtained for different boundary conditions and a discussion of some CT singularities are given. Among other results, our findings show that the Potts antiferromagnet with $q=4$ and $q=5$ on the kagomé lattice has no phase transition at either finite or zero temperature.
We study the chromatic polynomial P_G(q) for m \times n square- and triangular-lattice strips of widths 2\leq m \leq 8 with cyclic boundary conditions. This polynomial gives the zero-temperature limit of the partition function for the antiferromagnetic q-state Potts model defined on the lattice G. We show how to construct the transfer matrix in the Fortuin--Kasteleyn representation for such lattices and obtain the accumulation sets of chromatic zeros in the complex q-plane in the limit n\to\infty. We find that the different phases that appear in this model can be characterized by a topological…
We present exact results on the partition function of the $q$-state Potts model on various families of graphs $G$ in a generalized external magnetic field that favors or disfavors spin values in a subset $I_s = \{1,...,s\}$ of the total set of possible spin values, $Z(G,q,s,v,w)$, where $v$ and $w$ are temperature- and field-dependent Boltzmann variables. We remark on differences in thermodynamic behavior between our model with a generalized external magnetic field and the Potts model with a conventional magnetic field that favors or disfavors a single spin value. Exact results are also given …
We study the zeros of the $q$-state Potts model partition function $Z(Λ,q,v)$ for large $q$, where $v$ is the temperature variable and $Λ$ is a section of a regular $d$-dimensional lattice with coordination number $κ_Λ$ and various boundary conditions. We consider the simultaneous thermodynamic limit and $q \to \infty$ limit and show that when these limits are taken appropriately, the zeros lie on the unit circle $|x_Λ|=1$ in the complex $x_Λ$ plane, where $x_Λ=v q^{-2/κ_Λ}$. For large finite sections of some lattices we also determine the circular loci near which the zeros lie for large $q$.
We present exact calculations of the partition function $Z$ of the $q$-state Potts model and its generalization to real $q$, the random cluster model, for arbitrary temperature on $n$-vertex ladder graphs with free, cyclic, and Möbius longitudinal boundary conditions. These partition functions are equivalent to Tutte/Whitney polynomials for these graphs. The free energy is calculated exactly for the infinite-length limit of these ladder graphs and the thermodynamics is discussed.
We present and analyze low-temperature series and complex-temperature partition function zeros for the $q$-state Potts model with $q=4$ on the honeycomb lattice and $q=3,4$ on the triangular lattice. A discussion is given as to how the locations of the singularities obtained from the series analysis correlate with the complex-temperature phase boundary. Extending our earlier work, we include a similar discussion for the Potts model with $q=3$ on the honeycomb lattice and with $q=3,4$ on the kagomé lattice.
A new algorithm is presented, which allows to calculate numerically the partition function Z_q of the d-dimensional q-state Potts models for arbitrary real values q>0 at any given temperature T with high precision. The basic idea is to measure the distribution of the number of connected components in the corresponding Fortuin-Kasteleyn representation and to compare with the distribution of the case q=1 (graph percolation), where the exact result Z_1=1 is known. As application, d=2 and d=3-dimensional ferromagnetic Potts models are studied, and the critical values q_c, where the transition chan…
The Yang-Lee zeros of the Q-state Potts model are investigated in 1, 2 and 3 dimensions. Analytical results derived from the transfer matrix for the one-dimensional model reveal a systematic behavior of the locus of zeros as a function of Q. For 1<Q<2 the zeros in the complex $x=\exp(βH_q)$ plane lie inside the unit circle, while for Q>2 they lie outside the unit circle for finite temperature. In the special case Q=2 the zeros lie exactly on the unit circle as proved by Lee and Yang. In two and three dimensions the zeros are calculated numerically and behave in the same way. Results are also p…
We study the relationship between Q-state Potts models and staggered RSOS models of the A\_{p-1} type on a torus, with sqrt(Q)=2 cos(pi / p). In general the partition functions of these models differ due to clusters of non-trivial topology. However we find exact identities, valid for any temperature and any finite size of the torus, between various modified partition functions in the two pictures. The field theoretic interpretation of these modified partition function is discussed.
The microcanonical transfer matrix and its extensions offer a new way of obtaining exact partition functions on finite two dimensional lattices. We show the density of the partition function zeros in the complex x- plane for the Ising model at $y=y_c$ and $y=0.5y_c$, and the density of the partition function zeros in the complex y-plane for the three-state Potts model.
The zeros of the partition function of the ferromagnetic q-state Potts model with long-range interactions in the complex-q plane are studied in the mean-field case, while preliminary numerical results are reported for the finite 1d chains with power-law decaying interactions. In both cases, at any fixed temperature, the zeros lie on the arc-shaped contours, which cross the positive real axis at the value for which the given temperature is transition temperature. For finite number of particles the positive real axis is free of zeros, which approach to it in the thermodynamic limit. The converge…
We extend our combinatorial approach of decomposing the partition function of the Potts model on finite two-dimensional lattices of size L x N to the case of toroidal boundary conditions. The elementary quantities in this decomposition are characters K\_{l,D} labelled by a number of bridges l=0,1,...,L and an irreducible representation D of the symmetric group S\_l. We develop an operational method of determining the amplitudes of the eigenvalues as well as some of their degeneracies.
Here we observe that list coloring in graph theory coincides with the zero-temperature antiferromagnetic Potts model with an external field. We give a list coloring polynomial that equals the partition function in this case. This is analogous to the well-known connection between the chromatic polynomial and the zero-temperature, zero-field, antiferromagnetic Potts model. The subsequent cross fertilization yields immediate results for the Potts model and suggests new research directions in list coloring.
We present exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function for the $q$-state Potts antiferromagnet (equivalently, the chromatic polynomial) for families of arbitrarily long strip graphs of the square and triangular lattices with width $L_y=4$ and boundary conditions that are doubly periodic or doubly periodic with reversed orientation (i.e. of torus or Klein bottle type). These boundary conditions have the advantage of removing edge effects. In the limit of infinite length, we calculate the exponent of the entropy, $W(q)$ and determine the continuous locus ${\cal B}$ where it is …
A new duality relation is derived for the Potts model in one dimension. It is shown that the partition function is self-dual with the nearest-neighbor interaction and the external field appearing as dual parameters. Zeroes of the partition function are analyzed. Particularly, we show that the new duality relation implies a circle theorem in the complex temperature plane for the one-dimensional Ising model.
We present a set of general results on structural features of the $q$-state Potts model partition function $Z(G,q,v)$ for arbitrary $q$ and temperature Boltzmann variable $v$ for various lattice strips of arbitrarily great width $L_y$ vertices and length $L_x$ vertices, including (i) cyclic and Möbius strips of the square and triangular lattice, and (ii) self-dual cyclic strips of the square lattice. We also present an exact solution for the chromatic polynomial for the cyclic and Möbius strips of the square lattice with width $L_y=5$ (the greatest width for which an exact solution has been ob…
We present exact calculations of the Potts model partition function $Z(G,q,v)$ for arbitrary $q$ and temperature-like variable $v$ on $n$-vertex strip graphs $G$ of the honeycomb lattice for a variety of transverse widths equal to $L_y$ vertices and for arbitrarily great length, with free longitudinal boundary conditions and free and periodic transverse boundary conditions. These partition functions have the form $Z(G,q,v)=\sum_{j=1}^{N_{Z,G,λ}} c_{Z,G,j}(λ_{Z,G,j})^m$, where $m$ denotes the number of repeated subgraphs in the longitudinal direction. We give general formulas for $N_{Z,G,j}$ fo…
We derive some new structural results for the transfer matrix of square-lattice Potts models with free and cylindrical boundary conditions. In particular, we obtain explicit closed-form expressions for the dominant (at large |q|) diagonal entry in the transfer matrix, for arbitrary widths m, as the solution of a special one-dimensional polymer model. We also obtain the large-q expansion of the bulk and surface (resp. corner) free energies for the zero-temperature antiferromagnet (= chromatic polynomial) through order q^{-47} (resp. q^{-46}). Finally, we compute chromatic roots for strips of wi…
We study the Potts model (defined geometrically in the cluster picture) on finite two-dimensional lattices of size L x N, with boundary conditions that are free in the L-direction and periodic in the N-direction. The decomposition of the partition function in terms of the characters K\_{1+2l} (with l=0,1,...,L) has previously been studied using various approaches (quantum groups, combinatorics, transfer matrices). We first show that the K\_{1+2l} thus defined actually coincide, and can be written as traces of suitable transfer matrices in the cluster picture. We then proceed to similarly decom…
We study, using transfer-matrix methods, the partition-function zeros of the square-lattice q-state Potts antiferromagnet at zero temperature (= square-lattice chromatic polynomial) for the special boundary conditions that are obtained from an m x n grid with free boundary conditions by adjoining one new vertex adjacent to all the sites in the leftmost column and a second new vertex adjacent to all the sites in the rightmost column. We provide numerical evidence that the partition-function zeros are becoming dense everywhere in the complex q-plane outside the limiting curve B_\infty(sq) for th…
The $Q$-state Potts model on the simple-cubic lattice is studied using the zeros of the exact partition function on a finite lattice. The critical behavior of the model in the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases is discussed based on the distribution of the zeros in the complex temperature plane. The characteristic exponents at complex-temperature singularities, which coexist with the physical critical points in the complex temperature plane for no magnetic field ($H_q=0$), are estimated using the low-temperature series expansion. We also study the partition function zeros of the Potts …
The q-state Potts model can be defined on an arbitrary finite graph, and its partition function encodes much important information about that graph, including its chromatic polynomial, flow polynomial and reliability polynomial. The complex zeros of the Potts partition function are of interest both to statistical mechanicians and to combinatorists. I give a pedagogical introduction to all these problems, and then sketch two recent results: (a) Construction of a countable family of planar graphs whose chromatic zeros are dense in the whole complex q-plane except possibly for the disc |q-1| < 1.…
In this paper we present exact calculations of the partition function $Z$ of the $q$-state Potts model and its generalization to real $q$, for arbitrary temperature on $n$-vertex strip graphs, of width $L_y=2$ and arbitrary length, of the triangular lattice with free, cyclic, and Möbius longitudinal boundary conditions. These partition functions are equivalent to Tutte/Whitney polynomials for these graphs. The free energy is calculated exactly for the infinite-length limit of the graphs, and the thermodynamics is discussed. Considering the full generalization to arbitrary complex $q$ and tempe…
We present exact calculations of the partition function of the $q$-state Potts model on (i) open, (ii) cyclic, and (iii) Möbius strips of the honeycomb (brick) lattice of width $L_y=2$ and arbitrarily great length. In the infinite-length limit the thermodynamic properties are discussed. The continuous locus of singularities of the free energy is determined in the $q$ plane for fixed temperature and in the complex temperature plane for fixed $q$ values. We also give exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function (chromatic polynomial) and $W(q)$, the exponent of the ground-state …
Combining tree decomposition and transfer matrix techniques provides a very general algorithm for computing exact partition functions of statistical models defined on arbitrary graphs. The algorithm is particularly efficient in the case of planar graphs. We illustrate it by computing the Potts model partition functions and chromatic polynomials (the number of proper vertex colourings using Q colours) for large samples of random planar graphs with up to N=100 vertices. In the latter case, our algorithm yields a sub-exponential average running time of ~ exp(1.516 sqrt(N)), a substantial improvem…
We present exact calculations of the Potts model partition function $Z(G,q,v)$ for arbitrary $q$ and temperature-like variable $v$ on $n$-vertex square-lattice strip graphs $G$ for a variety of transverse widths $L_t$ and for arbitrarily great length $L_\ell$, with free longitudinal boundary conditions and free and periodic transverse boundary conditions. These have the form $Z(G,q,v)=\sum_{j=1}^{N_{Z,G,λ}} c_{Z,G,j}(λ_{Z,G,j})^{L_\ell}$. We give general formulas for $N_{Z,G,j}$ and its specialization to $v=-1$ for arbitrary $L_t$ for both types of boundary conditions, as well as other general…
partial abstract: The $q$-state Potts model partition function (equivalent to the Tutte polynomial) for a lattice strip of fixed width $L_y$ and arbitrary length $L_x$ has the form $Z(G,q,v)=\sum_{j=1}^{N_{Z,G,λ}}c_{Z,G,j}(λ_{Z,G,j})^{L_x}$, where $v$ is a temperature-dependent variable. The special case of the zero-temperature antiferromagnet ($v=-1$) is the chromatic polynomial $P(G,q)$. Using coloring and transfer matrix methods, we give general formulas for $C_{X,G}=\sum_{j=1}^{N_{X,G,λ}}c_{X,G,j}$ for $X=Z,P$ on cyclic and Möbius strip graphs of the square and triangular lattice. Combinin…
Counting problems, determining the number of possible states of a large system under certain constraints, play an important role in many areas of science. They naturally arise for complex disordered systems in physics and chemistry, in mathematical graph theory, and in computer science. Counting problems, however, are among the hardest problems to access computationally. Here, we suggest a novel method to access a benchmark counting problem, finding chromatic polynomials of graphs. We develop a vertex-oriented symbolic pattern matching algorithm that exploits the equivalence between the chroma…
We present exact calculations of the Potts model partition function Z(G,q,v) for arbitrary q and temperature-like variable v on n-vertex strip graphs G of the triangular lattice for a variety of transverse widths equal to L vertices and for arbitrarily great length equal to m vertices, with free longitudinal boundary conditions and free and periodic transverse boundary conditions. These have the form Z(G,q,v)=\sum_{j=1}^{N_{Z,G,λ}} c_{Z,G,j}(λ_{Z,G,j})^{m-1}. We give general formulas for N_{Z,G,j} and its specialization to v=-1 for arbitrary L. The free energy is calculated exactly for the inf…
We study the chromatic polynomials (= zero-temperature antiferromagnetic Potts-model partition functions) P_G(q) for m \times n rectangular subsets of the square lattice, with m \le 8 (free or periodic transverse boundary conditions) and n arbitrary (free longitudinal boundary conditions), using a transfer matrix in the Fortuin-Kasteleyn representation. In particular, we extract the limiting curves of partition-function zeros when n \to\infty, which arise from the crossing in modulus of dominant eigenvalues (Beraha-Kahane-Weiss theorem). We also provide evidence that the Beraha numbers B_2,B_3…
We present exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function of the $q$-state Potts antiferromagnet on arbitrarily long strips of the square, triangular, and kagomé lattices with width $L_y=2$ or 3 vertices and with periodic longitudinal boundary conditions. From these, in the limit of infinite length, we obtain the exact ground-state entropy $S_0=k_B \ln W$. These results are of interest since this model exhibits nonzero ground state entropy $S_0 > 0$ for sufficiently large $q$ and hence is an exception to the third law of thermodynamics. We also include results for homeomorphic e…
We report exact results concerning the zeros of the partition function of the Potts model in the complex $q$ plane, as a function of a temperature-like Boltzmann variable $v$, for the $m$'th iterate graphs $D_m$ of the Diamond Hierarchical Lattice (DHL), including the limit $m \to \infty$. In this limit we denote the continuous accumulation locus of zeros in the $q$ planes at fixed $v = v_0$ as ${\mathcal B}_q(v_0)$. We apply theorems from complex dynamics to establish properties of ${\mathcal B}_q(v_0)$. For $v=-1$ (the zero-temperature Potts antiferromagnet, or equivalently, chromatic polyno…
We study the chromatic polynomials for m \times n square-lattice strips, of width 9 <= m <= 13 (with periodic boundary conditions) and arbitrary length n (with free boundary conditions). We have used a transfer matrix approach that allowed us also to extract the limiting curves when n \to \infty. In this limit we have also obtained the isolated limiting points for these square-lattice strips and checked some conjectures related to the Beraha numbers.
We study the phase diagram of Q-state Potts models, for Q=4 cos^2(PI/p) a Beraha number (p>2 integer), in the complex-temperature plane. The models are defined on L x N strips of the square or triangular lattice, with boundary conditions on the Potts spins that are periodic in the longitudinal (N) direction and free or fixed in the transverse (L) direction. The relevant partition functions can then be computed as sums over partition functions of an A\_{p-1} type RSOS model, thus making contact with the theory of quantum groups. We compute the accumulation sets, as N -> infinity, of partition f…
We present a method for calculating transfer matrices for the $q$-state Potts model partition functions $Z(G,q,v)$, for arbitrary $q$ and temperature variable $v$, on strip graphs $G$ of the square (sq), triangular (tri), and honeycomb (hc) lattices of width $L_y$ vertices and of arbitrarily great length $L_x$ vertices, subject to toroidal and Klein bottle boundary conditions. For the toroidal case we express the partition function as $Z(Λ, L_y \times L_x,q,v) = \sum_{d=0}^{L_y} \sum_j b_j^{(d)} (λ_{Z,Λ,L_y,d,j})^m$, where $Λ$ denotes lattice type, $b_j^{(d)}$ are specified polynomials of degr…
We study the chromatic polynomial P_G(q) for m \times n triangular-lattice strips of widths m <= 12_P, 9_F (with periodic or free transverse boundary conditions, respectively) and arbitrary lengths n (with free longitudinal boundary conditions). The chromatic polynomial gives the zero-temperature limit of the partition function for the q-state Potts antiferromagnet. We compute the transfer matrix for such strips in the Fortuin--Kasteleyn representation and obtain the corresponding accumulation sets of chromatic zeros in the complex q-plane in the limit n\to\infty. We recompute the limiting cur…
We present exact calculations of the partition function for the q-state Potts model for general q, temperature and magnetic field on strips of the square lattices of width $L_{y}=2$ and arbitrary length $L_x = m $ with periodic longitudinal boundary conditions. A new representation of the transfer matrix for the q-state Potts model is introduced which can be used to calculate the determinant of the transfer matrix for an arbirary $m \times m$ lattice with periodic boundary conditions.
A closed-form exact analytical solution for the q-state Potts model on a ladder 2 x oo with arbitrary two-, three-, and four-site interactions in a unit cell is presented. Using the obtained solution it is shown that the finite-size internal energy equation yields an accurate value of the critical temperature for the triangular Potts lattice with three-site interactions in alternate triangular faces. It is argued that the above equation is exact at least for self-dual models on isotropic lattices.
We present exact calculations of the partition function of the q-state Potts model for general q and temperature on strips of the square lattice of width L_y=3 vertices and arbitrary length L_x with periodic longitudinal boundary conditions, of the following types: (i) (FBC_y,PBC_x)= cyclic, (ii) (FBC_y,TPBC_x)= Möbius, (iii) (PBC_y,PBC_x)= toroidal, and (iv) (PBC_y,TPBC_x)= Klein bottle, where FBC and (T)PBC refer to free and (twisted) periodic boundary conditions. Results for the L_y=2 torus and Klein bottle strips are also included. In the infinite-length limit the thermodynamic properties …
We present a method for calculating transfer matrices for the $q$-state Potts model partition functions $Z(G,q,v)$, for arbitrary $q$ and temperature variable $v$, on cyclic and Möbius strip graphs $G$ of the square (sq), triangular (tri), and honeycomb (hc) lattices of width $L_y$ vertices and of arbitrarily great length $L_x$ vertices. For the cyclic case we express the partition function as $Z(Λ,L_y \times L_x,q,v)=\sum_{d=0}^{L_y} c^{(d)} Tr[(T_{Z,Λ,L_y,d})^m]$, where $Λ$ denotes lattice type, $c^{(d)}$ are specified polynomials of degree $d$ in $q$, $T_{Z,Λ,L_y,d}$ is the transfer matrix …
I show that there exist universal constants $C(r) < \infty$ such that, for all loopless graphs $G$ of maximum degree $\le r$, the zeros (real or complex) of the chromatic polynomial $P_G(q)$ lie in the disc $|q| < C(r)$. Furthermore, $C(r) \le 7.963906... r$. This result is a corollary of a more general result on the zeros of the Potts-model partition function $Z_G(q, {v_e})$ in the complex antiferromagnetic regime $|1 + v_e| \le 1$. The proof is based on a transformation of the Whitney-Tutte-Fortuin-Kasteleyn representation of $Z_G(q, {v_e})$ to a polymer gas, followed by verification of the …
The classical relationship between the Tutte polynomial of graph theory and the Potts model of statistical mechanics has resulted in valuable interactions between the disciplines. Unfortunately, it does not include the external magnetic fields that appear in most Potts model applications. Here we define the V-polynomial, which lifts the classical relationship between the Tutte polynomial and the zero field Potts model to encompass external magnetic fields. The V-polynomial generalizes Nobel and Welsh's W-polynomial, which extends the Tutte polynomial by incorporating vertex weights and adaptin…
We determine the general structure of the partition function of the $q$-state Potts model in an external magnetic field, $Z(G,q,v,w)$ for arbitrary $q$, temperature variable $v$, and magnetic field variable $w$, on cyclic, Möbius, and free strip graphs $G$ of the square (sq), triangular (tri), and honeycomb (hc) lattices with width $L_y$ and arbitrarily great length $L_x$. For the cyclic case we prove that the partition function has the form $Z(Λ,L_y \times L_x,q,v,w)=\sum_{d=0}^{L_y} \tilde c^{(d)} Tr[(T_{Z,Λ,L_y,d})^m]$, where $Λ$ denotes the lattice type, $\tilde c^{(d)}$ are specified poly…
We study the metastable equilibrium properties of the Potts model with heat-bath transition rates using a novel expansion. The method is especially powerful for large number of state spin variables and it is notably accurate in a rather wide range of temperatures around the phase transition.
We present exact solutions for the zero-temperature partition function of the $q$-state Potts antiferromagnet (equivalently, the chromatic polynomial $P$) on tube sections of the simple cubic lattice of fixed transverse size $L_x \times L_y$ and arbitrarily great length $L_z$, for sizes $L_x \times L_y = 2 \times 3$ and $2 \times 4$ and boundary conditions (a) $(FBC_x,FBC_y,FBC_z)$ and (b) $(PBC_x,FBC_y,FBC_z)$, where $FBC$ ($PBC$) denote free (periodic) boundary conditions. In the limit of infinite-length, $L_z \to \infty$, we calculate the resultant ground state degeneracy per site $W$ (= ex…
We obtain θ_p(q) = 2θ_s(q) for one-dimensional q-state ferromagnetic Potts models evolving under parallel dynamics at zero temperature from an initially disordered state, where θ_p(q) is the persistence exponent for parallel dynamics and θ_s(q) = -{1/8}+ \frac{2}{π^2}[cos^{-1}{(2-q)/q\sqrt{2}}]^2 [PRL, {\bf 75}, 751, (1995)], the persistence exponent under serial dynamics. This result is a consequence of an exact, albeit non-trivial, mapping of the evolution of configurations of Potts spins under parallel dynamics to the dynamics of two decoupled reaction diffusion systems.
A continuous 3-state Potts model with an analog of spherical constraints is proposed and is shown to have an exact solution in the case of infinite-ranged interactions. "Spherical" 3-state Potts spin glass model is solved using the known properties of a large random matrix. For this model the results are identical to those obtained by the replica approach for replica symmetric solution.
