Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Transfer-matrix approach to the Blume-Capel model on the triangular lattice

Dimitrios Mataragkas, Alexandros Vasilopoulos, and Nikolaos G. Fytas*

Dong-Hee Kim†

  • School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom

  • *Contact author: nikolaos.fytas@essex.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: dongheekim@gist.ac.kr

Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033240 – Published 10 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jfl3-f4kd

Abstract

We investigate the spin-1 Blume-Capel model on an infinite strip of the triangular lattice using the transfer-matrix method combined with a sparse-matrix factorization technique. Through finite-size scaling analysis of numerically exact spectra for strip widths up to L=19, we accurately locate the tricritical point improving upon recent Monte Carlo estimates. In the first-order regime, we observe exponential scaling of the spectral gap, reflecting the linear growth of interfacial tension as the temperature decreases below the tricritical point. Finally, we validate our tricritical point estimate through precise agreement with conformal field theory predictions for the tricritical Ising universality class. Our results underscore the continued utility of the transfer-matrix approach for studying phase transitions in complex lattice models.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (61)

  1. M. Blume, Theory of the first-order magnetic phase change in UO2, Phys. Rev. 141, 517 (1966).
  2. H. Capel, On the possibility transitions of first-order in Ising systems with zero-field phase of triplet ions splitting, Physica 32, 966 (1966).
  3. Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, edited by C. Domb and J. L. Lebowitz (Academic, London, 1984).
  4. W. Selke and J. Oitmaa, Monte Carlo study of mixed-spin S = (1/2, 1) Ising ferrimagnets, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 22, 076004 (2010).
  5. N. G. Fytas and W. Selke, Wetting and interfacial adsorption in the Blume-Capel model on the square lattice, Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 365 (2013).
  6. L. Moueddene, N. G. Fytas, Y. Holovatch, R. Kenna, and B. Berche, Critical and tricritical singularities from small-scale Monte Carlo simulations: The Blume–Capel model in two dimensions, J. Stat. Mech. (2024) 023206.
  7. A. R. S. Macêdo, J. A. Plascak, A. Vasilopoulos, N. G. Fytas, M. Akritidis, and M. Weigel, Universal energy and magnetisation distributions in the Blume–Capel and Baxter–Wu models, J. Stat. Mech. (2024) 103204.
  8. J. Zierenberg, N. G. Fytas, M. Weigel, W. Janke, and A. Malakis, Scaling and universality in the phase diagram of the 2D Blume-Capel model, Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 226, 789 (2017).
  9. N. G. Fytas, Wang-Landau study of the triangular Blume-Capel ferromagnet, Eur. Phys. J. B 79, 21 (2011).
  10. D. Mataragkas, A. Vasilopoulos, N. G. Fytas, and D.-H. Kim, Tricriticality and finite-size scaling in the triangular Blume-Capel ferromagnet, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, 013214 (2025).
  11. P. E. Theodorakis and N. G. Fytas, Monte Carlo study of the triangular Blume-Capel model under bond randomness, Phys. Rev. E 86, 011140 (2012).
  12. N. G. Fytas and P. E. Theodorakis, Universality aspects of the 2d random-bond Ising and 3d Blume-Capel models, Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 30 (2013).
  13. J. Zierenberg, N. G. Fytas, and W. Janke, Parallel multicanonical study of the three-dimensional Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. E 91, 032126 (2015).
  14. A. N. Berker and M. Wortis, Blume-Emery-Griffiths-Potts model in two dimensions: Phase diagram and critical properties from a position-space renormalization group, Phys. Rev. B 14, 4946 (1976).
  15. D. P. Landau, Magnetic tricritical points in Ising antiferromagnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 28, 449 (1972).
  16. M. Kaufman, R. B. Griffiths, J. M. Yeomans, and M. E. Fisher, Three-component model and tricritical points: A renormalization-group study. Two dimensions, Phys. Rev. B 23, 3448 (1981).
  17. W. Selke and J. Yeomans, Interface properties of the two-dimensional Blume-Emery-Griffiths model, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 16, 2789 (1983).
  18. W. Selke, D. A. Huse, and D. M. Kroll, Interfacial adsorption in the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 17, 3019 (1984).
  19. D. P. Landau and R. H. Swendsen, Monte Carlo renormalization-group study of tricritical behavior in two dimensions, Phys. Rev. B 33, 7700 (1986).
  20. J. C. Xavier, F. C. Alcaraz, D. P. Lara, and J. A. Plascak, Critical behavior of the spin-32 Blume-Capel model in two dimensions, Phys. Rev. B 57, 11575 (1998).
  21. Y. Deng, W. Guo, and H. W. J. Blöte, Percolation between vacancies in the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. E 72, 016101 (2005).
  22. C. J. Silva, A. A. Caparica, and J. A. Plascak, Wang-Landau Monte Carlo simulation of the Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. E 73, 036702 (2006).
  23. D. Hurt, M. Eitzel, R. T. Scalettar, and G. G. Batrouni, Analysis of the Blume-Capel model with the Wang-Landau algorithm, in Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed-Matter Physics XVIII, edited by D. P. Landau, S. P. Lewis, and H.-B. Schüttler (Springer, New York, 2007), Vol. 105, pp. 101–106.
  24. A. Malakis, A. N. Berker, I. A. Hadjiagapiou, and N. G. Fytas, Strong violation of critical phenomena universality: Wang-Landau study of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model under bond randomness, Phys. Rev. E 79, 011125 (2009).
  25. A. Malakis, A. N. Berker, I. A. Hadjiagapiou, N. G. Fytas, and T. Papakonstantinou, Multicritical points and crossover mediating the strong violation of universality: Wang-Landau determinations in the random-bond d = 2 Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. E 81, 041113 (2010).
  26. W. Kwak, J. Jeong, J. Lee, and D.-H. Kim, First-order phase transition and tricritical scaling behavior of the Blume-Capel model: A Wang-Landau sampling approach, Phys. Rev. E 92, 022134 (2015).
  27. M. J. Stephen and J. L. McCauley Jr., Feynman graph expansion for tricritical exponents, Phys. Lett. A 44, 89 (1973).
  28. T. S. Chang, G. F. Tuthill, and H. E. Stanley, Renormalization-group calculations of exponents for critical points of higher order, Phys. Rev. B 9, 4882 (1974).
  29. G. F. Tuthill, J. F. Nicoll, and H. E. Stanley, Renormalization-group calculation of the critical-point exponent η for a critical point of arbitrary order, Phys. Rev. B 11, 4579 (1975).
  30. F. J. Wegner, Exponents for critical points of higher order, Phys. Lett. A 54, 1 (1975).
  31. P. F. Fox and A. J. Guttmann, Low temperature critical behaviour of the Ising model with spin S>1/2, J. Phys. C 6, 913 (1973).
  32. W. J. Camp and J. P. Van Dyke, High-temperature series for the susceptibility of the spin-s Ising model: Analysis of confluent singularities, Phys. Rev. B 11, 2579 (1975).
  33. T. W. Burkhardt and R. H. Swendsen, Critical temperatures of the spin-s Ising model, Phys. Rev. B 13, 3071 (1976).
  34. P. D. Beale, Finite-size scaling study of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. B 33, 1717 (1986).
  35. M. Jung and D.-H. Kim, First-order transitions and thermodynamic properties in the 2D Blume-Capel model: The transfer-matrix method revisited, Eur. Phys. J. B 90, 245 (2017).
  36. X. Qian, Y. Deng, and H. W. J. Blöte, Dilute Potts model in two dimensions, Phys. Rev. E 72, 056132 (2005).
  37. H. W. J. Blöte and Y. Deng, Revisiting the field-driven edge transition of the tricritical two-dimensional Blume-Capel model, Phys. Rev. E 99, 062133 (2019).
  38. G. D. Mahan and S. M. Girvin, Blume-Capel model for plane-triangular and fcc lattices, Phys. Rev. B 17, 4411 (1978).
  39. A. Du, Y. Q. Yü, and H. J. Liu, Expanded Bethe-Peierls approximation for the Blume-Capel model, Physica A 320, 387 (2003).
  40. Conformal Invariance and Critical Phenomena, edited by M. Henkel (Springer, Berlin, 2013).
  41. K. Wu and H. Simon, Thick-restart Lanczos method for large symmetric eigenvalue problems, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 22, 602 (2000).
  42. H. W. J. Blöte, F. Y. Wu, and X. N. Wu, Critical point of the honeycomb antiferromagnetic Ising model in a nonzero magnetic field: Finite-size analysis, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 04, 619 (1990).
  43. P. A. Rikvold, W. Kinzel, J. D. Gunton, and K. Kaski, Finite-size-scaling study of a two-dimensional lattice-gas model with a tricritical point, Phys. Rev. B 28, 2686 (1983).
  44. B. Derrida and H. J. Herrmann, Collapse of branched polymers, J. Phys. France 44, 1365 (1983).
  45. H. J. Herrmann, Finite size scaling approach to a metamagnetic model in two dimensions, Phys. Lett. A 100, 256 (1984).
  46. P. D. Beale, Finite-size scaling at an Ising tricritical point, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 17, L335 (1984).
  47. B. Derrida and L. De Seze, Application of the phenomenological renormalization to percolation and lattice animals in dimension 2, J. Phys. France 43, 475 (1982).
  48. J. M. Luck, Corrections to finite-size-scaling laws and convergence of transfer-matrix methods, Phys. Rev. B 31, 3069 (1985).
  49. H. W. J. Blöte and M. P. Nightingale, Critical behaviour of the two-dimensional Potts model with a continuous number of states; A finite size scaling analysis, Physica A 112, 405 (1982).
  50. H. W. J. Blöte and M. P. M. den Nijs, Corrections to scaling at two-dimensional Ising transitions, Phys. Rev. B 37, 1766 (1988).
  51. V. Privman and M. E. Fisher, Finite-size effects at first-order transitions, J. Stat. Phys. 33, 385 (1983).
  52. S. L. A. de Queiroz, Finite-size scaling corrections in two-dimensional Ising and Potts ferromagnets, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33, 721 (2000).
  53. M. P. Nightingale, Scaling theory and finite systems, Physica A 83, 561 (1976).
  54. H. Ballesteros, L. Fernández, V. Martín-Mayor, and A. Muñoz Sudupe, New universality class in three dimensions?: The antiferromagnetic RP2 model, Phys. Lett. B 378, 207 (1996).
  55. D. J. Amit and V. Martín-Mayor, Field Theory, the Renormalization Group and Critical Phenomena, 3rd ed. (World Scientific, Singapore, 2005).
  56. N. C. Bartelt, T. L. Einstein, and L. D. Roelofs, Transfer-matrix approach to estimating coverage discontinuities and multicritical-point positions in two-dimensional lattice-gas phase diagrams, Phys. Rev. B 34, 1616 (1986).
  57. F. C. Alcaraz, J. R. Drugowich de Felício, R. Köberle, and J. F. Stilck, Hamiltonian studies of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model, Phys. Rev. B 32, 7469 (1985).
  58. Y. Deng and H. W. J. Blöte, Edge phase transitions of the tricritical Potts model in two dimensions, Phys. Rev. E 71, 026109 (2005).
  59. I. Mandal, S. Inglis, and R. G. Melko, Geometrical mutual information at the tricritical point of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model, J. Stat. Mech. (2016) 073105.
  60. P. A. Belov, A. A. Nazarov, and A. O. Sorokin, Determination of the conformal-field-theory central charge by the Wang-Landau algorithm, Phys. Rev. E 95, 063308 (2017).
  61. M. Henkel and G. Schutz, Finite-lattice extrapolation algorithms, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 21, 2617 (1988).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation