Singular critical endpoint and phase diagrams of the anisotropic 3-state Potts model on square lattice

Zhe Zhang, Gang Su
Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics and Computational Materials Physics Laboratory, School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 4588, Beijing 100049, China

Received 27 January 2013, Accepted 12 February 2013, Available online 13 February 2013.

Abstract

We have studied the ground state and thermodynamic properties of the anisotropic 3-state Potts model on square lattice by means of the tensor network-based numerical method. The phase diagrams of this model in the ground state and at finite temperature are identified. The singular behavior at the critical endpoint along the phase boundary is carefully investigated. It is discovered that the sharp peaks appear in the second-order derivative of the field as well as the first-order derivative of the magnetization with respect to temperature on the phase boundary. Our numerical results confirm the prediction of Fisher et al. about the critical endpoint.