Using the Monte-Carlo method, we study the magnetic properties of the Ashkin-Teller model (ATM) under the effect of the crystal field with spins $S = 1$ and $σ= 3/2$. First, we determine the most stable phases in the phase diagrams at temperature $T = 0$ using exact calculations. For higher temperatures, we use the Monte-Carlo simulation. We have found rich phase diagrams with the ordered phases: a Baxter $3/2$ and a Baxter $1/2$ phases in addition to a $\left\langle σS\right\rangle$ phase that does not show up either in ATM spin 1 or in ATM spin $3/2$ and, lastly, a $\left\langle σ\right\rangle = 1/2$ phase with first and second order transitions.
We find the critical surface of the Ashkin-Teller model on the generic iso-radial graphs by using the results for the anisotropic Ashkin-teller model on the square lattice. Different geometrical aspects of this critical surface are discussed, especially their connection to the anisotropy angle. The free energy of the model on the generic iso-radial graph is extracted using the inversion identities. In addition, lattice holomorphic variables are discussed at some particular points of the critical line. We check our conjectures numerically for the anisotropic triangular-lattice Ashkin-Teller mod…
We consider the Ashkin-Teller model with negative four-spin coupling but still in the region where the ground state is ferromagnetic. We establish the standard Lebowitz inequality as well as the extension that is necessary to prove a divergent susceptibility.
Dynamic behaviour of an isotropic Ashkin-Teller model in the presence of a periodically oscillating magnetic field has been analysed by means of the mean field approximation. The dynamic equation of motion has been constructed with the help of a Glauber type stochastic process and solved for a square lattice. After defining the possible dynamical phases of the system, phase diagrams have been given and the behaviour of the hysteresis loops has been investigated in detail. The hysteresis loop for specific order parameter of isotropic Ashkin-Teller model has been defined and characteristics of t…
The two-dimensional ferromagnetic anisotropic Ashkin-Teller model is investigated through a real-space renormalization-group approach. The critical frontier, separating five distinct phases, recover all the known exacts results for the square lattice. The correlation length $(ν_T)$ and crossover $(ϕ)$ critical exponents are also calculated. With the only exception of the four-state Potts critical point, the entire phase diagram belongs to the Ising universality class.
We show that a class of spin models, containing the Ashkin-Teller model, admits a generalized random-cluster (GRC) representation. Moreover we show that basic properties of the usual representation, such as FKG inequalities and comparison inequalities, still hold for this generalized random-cluster model. Some elementary consequences are given. We also consider the duality transformations in the spin representation and in the GRC model and show that they commute.
The universal critical point ratio $Q$ is exploited to determine positions of the critical Ising transition lines on the phase diagram of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the square lattice. A leading-order expansion of the ratio $Q$ in the presence of a non-vanishing thermal field is found from finite-size scaling and the corresponding expression is fitted to the accurate perturbative transfer-matrix data calculations for the $L\times L$ square clusters with $L\leq 9$.
We perform a rigorous computation of the specific heat of the Ashkin-Teller model in the case of small interaction and we explain how the universality-nonuniversality crossover is realized when the isotropic limit is reached. We prove that, even in the region where universality for the specific heat holds, anomalous critical exponents appear: for instance we predict the existence of a previously unknown anomalous exponent, continuously varying with the strength of the interaction, describing how the difference between the critical temperatures rescales with the anisotropy parameter.
We investigate the scaling properties of the spin interfaces in the Ashkin-Teller model. These interfaces are a very simple instance of lattice curves coexisting with a fluctuating degree of freedom, which renders the analytical determination of their exponents very difficult. One of our main findings is the construction of boundary conditions which ensure that the interface still satisfies the Markov property in this case. Then, using a novel technique based on the transfer matrix, we compute numerically the left-passage probability, and our results confirm that the spin interface is describe…
Exact results are derived relating quantities computable by the so-called damage spreading method and thermodynamic functions for the N-color Ashkin-Teller model. The results are valid for any ergodic dynamics. Since we restrict our analysis to the ferromagnetic case the results are also valid for any translational invariant lattice. The derived relations should be used in order to determine numerically the N-color Ashkin-Teller critical exponents with better accuracy and less computational efforts than standard Monte Carlo simulations.
We show that suppression of vortices in the Ashkin Teller ferromagnet on a square lattice splits the order-disorder transition and opens up an intermediate phase where the macroscopic symmetry enhances to U(1). When we selectively suppress the formation of non-chiral vortices, chiral vortices proliferate and replace the U(1) phase with a new phase where chiral symmetry is restored. This result demonstrates a fascinating phenomenon in which the symmetry information encoded in topological defects manifests itself in the symmetry of the phase where the defects proliferate. We also show that this …
We consider the critical spin-spin correlation function of the Ashkin-Teller and Baxter models. By using path-integral techniques in the continuum description of these models in terms of fermion fields, we show that the correlation decays with distance with the same critical exponent as the Ising model. The procedure is straightforwardly extended to take into account the presence of a line defect. Thus we find that in these altered models the critical index of the magnetic correlation on the defect coincides with the one of the defective 2D Ising or Bariev's model.
The study of the Ashkin-Teller model (ATM) of spin-3/2 on a hypercubic lattice is undertaken via Monte Carlo simulation. The phase diagrams are displayed and discussed in the physical parameter space. Rich physical properties are recovered, namely the second order transition and multicritical points. The phase diagrams have been obtained by varying the strength describing the four spin interaction and the single ion potential. This model shows a new high temperature partially ordered phase, called $\langle S\rangle$ and a new Baxter 3/2 ground state which do not exist either in the spin-1/2 AT…
The Ashkin-Teller model can be formulated as a pair of 2D Ising models, interacting via a four-spin interaction. I consider the case of weak anisotropy (slight a-symmetry between the two Ising layers) and weak coupling. I show that the system admits two critical temperatures whose difference varies continuously with the strength of the coupling, scaling with an anomalous exponent as one let the a-symmetry parameter go to zero. The specific heat diverges logarithmically at the critical points (as for Ising) but the constant in front of the logarithm is renormalized by an anomalous critical expo…
We show that critical exponents of the transition to columnar order in a {\em mixture} of $2 \times 1$ dimers and $2 \times 2$ hard-squares on the square lattice {\em depends on the composition of the mixture} in exactly the manner predicted by the theory of Ashkin-Teller criticality, including in the hard-square limit. This result settles the question regarding the nature of the transition in the hard-square lattice gas. It also provides the first example of a polydisperse system whose critical properties depend on composition. Our ideas also lead to some interesting predictions for a class o…
We consider two critical semi-infinite subsystems with different critical exponents and couple them through their surfaces. The critical behavior at the interface, influenced by the critical fluctuations of the two subsystems, can be quite rich. In order to examine the various possibilities, we study a system composed of two coupled Ashkin-Teller models with different four-spin couplings epsilon, on the two sides of the junction. By varying epsilon, some bulk and surface critical exponents of the two subsystems are continuously modified, which in turn changes the interface critical behavior. I…
The random quantum Ashkin-Teller chain is studied numerically by means of time-dependent Density-Matrix Renormalization Group. The critical lines are estimated as the location of the peaks of the integrated autocorrelation times, computed from spin-spin and polarization-polarization autocorrelation functions. Disorder fluctuations of magnetization and polarization are observed to be maximum on these critical lines. Entanglement entropy leads to the same phase diagram, though with larger Finite-Size effects. The decay of spin-spin and polarization-polarization autocorrelation functions provides…
We consider the Ashkin-Teller model on the square lattice, which is represented by two Ising models ($σ$ and $τ$) having a four-spin coupling of strength, $ε$, between them. We introduce an asymmetric defect line in the system along which the couplings in the $σ$ Ising model are modified. In the Hamiltonian version of the model we study the scaling behavior of the critical magnetization at the defect, both for $σ$ and for $τ$ spins by density matrix renormalization. For $ε>0$ we observe identical scaling for $σ$ and $τ$ spins, whereas for $ε<0$ one model becomes locally ordered and the other l…
Recently, diverse phase transition (PT) types have been obtained in multiplex networks, such as discontinuous, continuous, and mixed-order PTs. However, they emerge from individual systems, and there is no theoretical understanding of such PTs in a single framework. Here, we study a spin model called the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model in a mono-layer scale-free network; this can be regarded as a model of two species of Ising spin placed on each layer of a double-layer network. The four-spin interaction in the AT model represents the inter-layer interaction in the multiplex network. Diverse PTs emerg…
We present an extensive study of interfaces defined in the Z_4 spin lattice representation of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model. In particular, we numerically compute the fractal dimensions of boundary and bulk interfaces at the Fateev-Zamolodchikov point. This point is a special point on the self-dual critical line of the AT model and it is described in the continuum limit by the Z_4 parafermionic theory. Extending on previous analytical and numerical studies [10,12], we point out the existence of three different values of fractal dimensions which characterize different kind of interfaces. We argu…
We show how the Hintermann-Merlini-Baxter-Wu model (which is a generalization of the well-known Baxter-Wu model to a general Eulerian triangulation) can be mapped onto a particular infinite-coupling-limit of the Ashkin-Teller model. We work out some mappings among these models, also including the standard and mixed Ashkin-Teller models. Finally, we compute the phase diagram of the infinite-coupling-limit Ashkin-Teller model on the square, triangular, hexagonal, and kagome lattices.
Strong-Disorder Renormalization Group (SDRG), despite being a relatively simple real-space renormalization procedure, provides in principle exact results on the critical properties at the infinite-randomness fixed point of random quantum spin chains. Numerically, SDRG can be efficiently implemented as a renormalization of Matrix Product Operators (MPO-RG). By considering larger blocks than SDRG, MPO-RG was recently used to compute non-critical quantities of finite chains that are inaccessible to SDRG. In this work, the accuracy of this approach is studied and two simple and fast improvements a…
We report on the numerical measures on different spin interfaces and FK cluster boundaries in the Askhin-Teller (AT) model. For a general point on the AT critical line, we find that the fractal dimension of a generic spin cluster interface can take one of four different possible values. In particular we found spin interfaces whose fractal dimension is d_f=3/2 all along the critical line. Further, the fractal dimension of the boundaries of FK clusters were found to satisfy all along the AT critical line a duality relation with the fractal dimension of their outer boundaries. This result provide…
We study the thermal phase transitions of the four-fold degenerate phases (the plaquette and single stripe states) in two-dimensional frustrated Ising model on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice using Monte Carlo simulations. The critical Ashkin-Teller-like behavior is identified both in the parameter regions with the plaquette and single stripe phases, respectively. The four-state Potts-critical end points differentiating the continuous transitions from the first-order ones are estimated based on finite-size scaling analyses. Furthermore, similar behavior of the transition to the four-fold single…
We have investigated the three-color Ashkin-Teller model (3AT), on the Wheatstone bridge hierarchical lattice, by means of a Migdal-Kadanoff renormalization group approach. We have obtained the exact recursion relations for the renormalized couplings, which have been used to investigate the phase diagram and to study the corresponding critical points. The phase diagram, represented in terms of the dual transmissivity vector, presents four magnetic phases and nine critical points. We have also numerically calculated the correlation length ($ν_T$) and crossover ($ϕ$) critical exponents, which sh…
We show that for a particular choice of the coupling parameters the Ashkin-Teller spin-glass neural network model with the Hebb learning rule and one condensed pattern yields the same thermodynamic properties as the four-state anisotropic Potts-glass neural network model. This equivalence is not seen at the level of the Hamiltonians.
We propose a new method to numerically calculate transition points that belongs to 2D Ising universality class for quantum spin models. Generally, near the multicritical point, in conventional methods, a finite size correction becomes very large. To suppress the effect of the multicritical point, we use a z-axis twisted boundary condition and a y-axis twisted boundary condition. We apply our method to an S = 1/2 bond-alternating XXZ model. The multicritical point of this model has a BKT transition, where the correlation length diverges singularly. However, with our method, the convergence of c…
The parallel dynamics of the asymmetric extremely diluted Ashkin-Teller neural network is studied using signal-to-noise analysis techniques. Evolution equations for the order parameters are derived, both at zero and finite temperature. The retrieval properties of the network are discussed in terms of the four-spin coupling strength and the temperature. It is shown that the presence of a four-spin coupling enhances the retrieval quality.
We investigate the short-time universal behavior of the two dimensional Ashkin-Teller model at the Baxter line by performing time-dependent Monte Carlo Simulations. First, as preparatory results, we obtain the critical parameters by searching the optimal power law decay of the magnetization. Thus, the dynamic critical exponents $θ_{m}$ and $θ_{p}$, related to the magnetic and electric order parameters, as well as the persistence exponent $θ_{g}$, are estimated using heat-bath Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, we estimate the dynamic exponent $z$ and the static critical exponents $β$ and $ν…
We study magnetic critical behavior in the Ashkin-Teller model with an asymmetric defect line. This system is represented by two Ising lattices of spins $σ$ and $τ$ interacting through a four-spin coupling $ε$. In addition, the couplings between $σ$-spins are modified along a particular line, whereas couplings between $τ$-spins are kept unaltered. This problem has been previously considered by means of analytical field-theoretical methods and by numerical techniques, with contradictory results. For $ε> 0$ field-theoretical calculations give a magnetic critical exponent corresponding to $σ$-spi…
The Ashkin-Teller (AT) model is a generalization of Ising 2-d to a four states spin model; it can be written in the form of two Ising layers (in general with different couplings) interacting via a four-spin interaction. It was conjectured long ago (by Kadanoff and Wegner, Wu and Lin, Baxter and others) that AT has in general two critical points, and that universality holds, in the sense that the critical exponents are the same as in the Ising model, except when the couplings of the two Ising layers are equal (isotropic case). We obtain an explicit expression for the specific heat from which we…
We propose numerical simulations of the Ashkin-Teller model as a foil for theoretical techniques for studying very weakly first-order phase transitions in three dimensions. The Ashkin-Teller model is a simple two-spin model whose parameters can be adjusted so that it has an arbitrarily weakly first-order phase transition. In this limit, there are quantities characterizing the first-order transition which are universal: we measure the relative discontinuity of the specific heat, the correlation length, and the susceptibility across the transition by Monte Carlo simulation.
We find discrete holomorphic parafermions of the Ashkin-Teller model on the critical line, by mapping appropriate interfaces of the model to the $O(n=1)$ model. We give support to the conjecture that the curve created by the insertion of parafermionic operators at two points on the boundary is $SLE(4,ρ,ρ)$, where $ρ$ varies along the critical line.
We study the effects of quenched disorder on the first-order phase transition in the two-dimensional three-color Ashkin-Teller model by means of large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that the first-order phase transition is rounded by the disorder and turns into a continuous one. Using a careful finite-size-scaling analysis, we provide strong evidence for the emerging critical behavior of the disordered Ashkin-Teller model to be in the clean two-dimensional Ising universality class, accompanied by universal logarithmic corrections. This agrees with perturbative renormalization-gr…
We investigate the classical chiral Ashkin-Teller model on a square lattice with the corner transfer matrix renormalisation group (CTMRG) algorithm. We show that the melting of the period-4 phase in the presence of a chiral perturbation takes different forms depending on the coefficient of the four-spin term in the Ashkin-Teller model. Close to the clock limit of two decoupled Ising models, the system undergoes a two-step commensurate-incommensurate transition as soon as the chirality is introduced, with an intermediate critical floating phase bounded by a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition at hig…
The thermodynamic and retrieval properties of the Ashkin-Teller neural network model storing an infinite number of patterns are examined in the replica-symmetric mean-field approximation. In particular, for linked patterns temperature-capacity phase diagrams are derived for different values of the two-neuron and four-neuron coupling strengths. This model can be considered as a particular non-trivial generalisation of the Hopfield model and exhibits a number of interesting new features. Some aspects of replica-symmetry breaking are discussed.
We study the fractal properties of interfaces in the 2d Ashkin-Teller model. The fractal dimension of the symmetric interfaces is calculated along the critical line of the model in the interval between the Ising and the four-states Potts models. Using Schramm's formula for crossing probabilities we show that such interfaces can not be related to the simple SLE$_κ$, except for the Ising point. The same calculation on non-symmetric interfaces is performed at the four-states Potts model: the fractal dimension is compatible with the result coming from Schramm's formula, and we expect a simple SLE$…
We study the challenging thermal phase transition to stripe order in the frustrated square-lattice Ising model with couplings J1<0 (nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic) and J2>0 (second-neighbor, antiferromagnetic) for g=J2/|J1|>1/2. Using Monte Carlo simulations and known analytical results, we demonstrate Ashkin-Teller criticality for g>= g*, i.e., the critical exponents vary continuously between those of the 4-state Potts model at g=g* and the Ising model for g -> infinity. Thus, stripe transitions offer a route to realizing a related class of conformal field theories with conformal charge c=1 …
An Ashkin-Teller neural network, allowing for two types of neurons is considered in the case of low loading as a function of the strength of the respective couplings between these neurons. The storage and retrieval of embedded patterns built from the two types of neurons, with different degrees of (in)dependence is studied. In particular, thermodynamic properties including the existence and stability of Mattis states are discussed. Furthermore, the dynamic behaviour is examined by deriving flow equations for the macroscopic overlap. It is found that for linked patterns the model shows better r…
We discuss the effects of exponential fragmentation of the Hilbert space on phase transitions in the context of coupled ferromagnetic Ising models in arbitrary dimension with special emphasis on the one dimensional case. We show that the dynamics generated by quantum fluctuations is bounded within spatial partitions of the system and weak mixing of these partitions caused by global transverse fields leads to a zero temperature phase with ordering in the local product of both Ising copies but no long range order in either species. This leads to a natural connection with the Ashkin-Teller univer…
We study the dynamic critical behavior of two algorithms: the Swendsen-Wang algorithm for the two-dimensional Potts model with q=2,3,4 and a Swendsen-Wang-type algorithm for the two-dimensional symmetric Ashkin-Teller model on the self-dual curve. We find that the Li--Sokal bound on the autocorrelation time τ_{{\rm int},{\cal E}} \geq const \times C_H is almost, but not quite sharp. The ratio τ_{{\rm int},{\cal E}}/C_H appears to tend to infinity either as a logarithm or as a small power (0.05 \ltapprox p \ltapprox 0.12). We also show that the exponential autocorrelation time τ_{{\rm exp},{\ca…
We study a quantum double model whose degrees of freedom are Ising anyons. The terms of the Hamiltonian of this system give rise to a competition between single and double topologies. By studying the energy spectra of the Hamiltonian at different values of the coupling constants, we find extended gapless regions which include a large number of critical points described by conformal field theories with central charge c=1. These theories are part of the Z_2 orbifold of the bosonic theory compactified on a circle. We observe that the Hilbert space of our anyonic model can be associated with exten…
Emergent critical phases of the Ashkin-Teller model on the Union-Jack Lattice
College of Physics, Taiyuan University of Technology（太原理工大学物理学院）；DP Technology（大普技术）；School of Science and Engineering of Mathematics and Physics, Anhui University of Technology（安徽工业大学数理科学与工程学院）；Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学微尺度物质科学国家研究中心和近代物理系）；Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学合肥国家实验室）
We study a quantum Ising chain with tailored bulk dissipation, which can be mapped onto a non-Hermitian Ashkin-Teller model. By exploiting the Kohmoto-den Nijs-Kadanoff transformation, we further map it to a staggered XXZ spin chain with pure-imaginary anisotropy parameters. This allows us to study the eigenstates of the original Liouvillian in great detail. We show that the steady state in each parity sector is a completely mixed state. The uniqueness of each is proved rigorously. We then study the decay modes on the self-dual line corresponding to the uniform XXZ chain and obtain an exact fo…
A graphical representation based on duplication is developed that is suitable for the study of Ising systems in external fields. Two independent replicas of the Ising system in the same field are treated as a single four-state (Ashkin-Teller) model. Bonds in the graphical representation connect the Ashkin-Teller spins. For ferromagnetic systems it is proved that ordering is characterized by percolation in this representation. The representation leads immediately to cluster algorithms; some applications along these lines are discussed.
The gonihedric Ising Hamiltonians defined in three and higher dimensions by Savvidy and Wegner provide an extensive, and little explored, catalogue of spin models on (hyper)cubic lattices with many interesting features. In three dimensions the kappa=0 gonihedric Ising model on a cubic lattice has been shown to possess a degenerate low-temperature phase and a first order phase transition, as well as interesting dynamical properties. The dual Hamiltonian to this may be written as an anisotropic Ashkin-Teller model and also has a degenerate low-temperature phase as a result of similar symmetries …
We investigate the symmetric Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the triangular lattice in the antiferromagnetic two-spin coupling region ($J<0$). In the $J \rightarrow -\infty$ limit, we map the AT model onto a fully-packed loop-dimer model on the honeycomb lattice. On the basis of this exact transformation and the low-temperature expansion, we formulate a variant of worm-type algorithms for the AT model, which significantly suppress the critical slowing-down. We analyze the Monte Carlo data by finite-size scaling, and locate a line of critical points of the Ising universality class in the region $J<…
The characterization of an infinite-order quantum phase transition (QPT) by entanglement measures is analyzed. To this aim, we consider two closely related solvable spin-1/2 chains, namely, the Ashkin-Teller and the staggered XXZ models. These systems display a distinct pattern of eigenstates but exhibit the same thermodynamics, i.e. the same energy spectrum. By performing exact diagonalization, we investigate the behavior of pairwise and block entanglement in the ground state of both models. In contrast with the XXZ chain, we show that pairwise entanglement fails in the characterization of th…
