Renormalisation group study of a disordered model

Locally self-similar phase diagram of the disordered Potts model on the hierarchical lattice

We study the critical behavior of the random q-state Potts model in the large-q limit on the diamond hierarchical lattice with an effective dimensionality d(eff)>2. By varying the temperature and the strength of the frustration the system has a phase transition line between the paramagnetic and the ferromagnetic phases which is controlled by four different fixed points. According to our renormalization group study the phase boundary in the vicinity of the multicritical point is self-similar; it is well represented by a logarithmic spiral. We expect an infinite number of reentrances in the thermodynamic limit; consequently one cannot define standard thermodynamic phases in this region.

Critical points of quadratic renormalizations of random variables and phase transitions of disordered polymer models on diamond lattices

We study the wetting transition and the directed polymer delocalization transition on diamond hierarchical lattices. These two phase transitions with frozen disorder correspond to the critical points of quadratic renormalizations of the partition function. (These exact renormalizations on diamond lattices can also be considered as approximate Migdal-Kadanoff renormalizations for hypercubic lattices.) In terms of the rescaled partition function z=Z/Z(typ) , we find that the critical point corresponds to a fixed point distribution with a power-law tail P(c)(z) ~ Phi(ln z)/z(1+mu) as z-->+infinity [up to some subleading logarithmic correction Phi(ln z)], so that all moments z(n) with n>mu diverge. For the wetting transition, the first moment diverges z=+infinity (case 0<mu<1 ), and the critical temperature is strictly below the annealed temperature T(c)<T(ann). For the directed polymer case, the second moment diverges z(2)=+infinity (case 1<mu<2 ), and the critical temperature is strictly below the exactly known transition temperature T2 of the second moment. We then consider the correlation length exponent nu : the linearized renormalization around the fixed point distribution coincides with the transfer matrix describing a directed polymer on the Cayley tree, but the random weights determined by the fixed point distribution P(c)(z) are broadly distributed. This induces some changes in the traveling wave solutions with respect to the usual case of more narrow distributions.

Correlated disordered interactions on Potts models

Using a weak-disorder scheme and real-space renormalization-group techniques, we obtain analytical results for the critical behavior of various q-state Potts models with correlated disordered exchange interactions along d(1) of d spatial dimensions on hierarchical (Migdal-Kadanoff) lattices. Our results indicate qualitative differences between the cases d-d(1)=1 (for which we find non-physical random fixed points, suggesting the existence of non-perturbative fixed distributions) and d-d(1)>1 (for which we do find acceptable perturbative random fixed points), in agreement with previous numerical calculations by Andelman and Aharony [Phys. Rev. B 31, 4305 (1985)]. We also rederive a criterion for relevance of correlated disorder, which generalizes the usual Harris criterion.