Ordered phase and scaling in $Z_n$ models and the three-state antiferromagnetic Potts model in three dimensions

We study the q-state Potts model on the simple cubic lattice with ferromagnetic interactions in one lattice direction, and antiferromagnetic interactions in the two other directions. As the temperature T decreases, the system undergoes a second-order phase transition that fits in the universality class of the 3D O(n) model with n=q-1. This conclusion is based on the estimated critical exponents, and histograms of the order parameter. At even smaller T we find, for q=4 and 5, ...

The critical behavior of three-state statistical models invariant under the full symmetry group $S_3$ and its dependence on space dimension have been a matter of interest and debate. In particular, the phase transition of the 3-state Potts model in three dimensions is believed to be of the first order, without a definitive proof of absence of scale invariance in three-dimensional field theory with $S_3$ symmetry. This scale invariance should appear as a non-trivial fixed poin...

The antiferromagnetic three-state Potts model on the simple-cubic lattice is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The ordering in a medium temperature range below the critical point is investigated in detail. Two different regimes have been observed: The so-called broken sublattice-symmetry phase dominates at sufficiently low temperatures, while the phase just below the critical point is characterized by an effectively continuous order parameter and by a fully restored rota...

We develop a dynamic field-theoretic renormalization-group (RG) theory for the cooling first-order phase transitions in the Potts model. It is suggested that the well-known imaginary fixed points of the $q$-state Potts model for $q>10/3$ in the RG theory are the origin of the dynamic scaling found recently, apart from the logarithmic corrections. This indicates that the real and imaginary fixed points of the Potts model are both physical and control the scalings of the contin...

Three-dimensional $Z(N)$ lattice gauge theories at zero temperature are studied for various values of $N$. Using a modified phenomenological renormalization group, we explore the critical behavior of the generalized $Z(N)$ model for $N=2,3,4,5,6,8$. Numerical computations are used to simulate vector models for $N=2,3,4,5,6,8,13,20$ for lattices with linear extension up to $L=96$. We locate the critical points of phase transitions and establish their scaling with $N$. The valu...

We report a fairly detailed finite-size scaling analysis of the first-order phase transition in the three-dimensional 3-state Potts model on cubic lattices with emphasis on recently introduced quantities whose infinite-volume extrapolations are governed `only' by exponentially small terms. In these quantities no asymptotic power series in the inverse volume are involved which complicate the finite-size scaling behaviour of standard observables related to the specific-heat max...

We investigate the 2- and 3-state ferromagnetic Potts models on the simple cubic lattice using the tensor renormalization group method with higher-order singular value decomposition (HOTRG). HOTRG works in the thermodynamic limit, where we use the $Z_q$ symmetry of the model, combined with a new measure for detecting the transition, to improve the accuracy of the critical point for the 2-state model by two orders of magnitude, obtaining $T_c = 4.51152469(1)$. The 3-state mode...

The finite-size scaling algorithm based on bulk and surface renormalization of de Oliveira (1992) is tested on q-state Potts models in dimensions D = 2 and 3. Our Monte Carlo data clearly distinguish between first- and second-order phase transitions. Continuous-q analytic calculations performed for small lattices show a clear tendency of the magnetic exponent Y = D - beta/nu to reach a plateau for increasing values of q, which is consistent with the first-order transition val...

The desirability of evaluating the effective potential in field theories near a phase transition has been recognized in a number of different areas. We show that recent Monte Carlo simulations for the probability distribution for the order parameter in an equilibrium Ising system, when combined with low-order renormalization group results for an ordinary $\phi^4$ system, can be used to extract the effective potential. All scaling features are included in the process.

The phase transitions of random-field q-state Potts models in d=3 dimensions are studied by renormalization-group theory by exact solution of a hierarchical lattice and, equivalently, approximate Migdal-Kadanoff solutions of a cubic lattice. The recursion, under rescaling, of coupled random-field and random-bond (induced under rescaling by random fields) coupled probability distributions is followed to obtain phase diagrams. Unlike the Ising model (q=2), several types of rand...