Criticality in the randomness-induced second-order phase transition of the triangular Ising antiferromagnet with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions

Abstract

Using a Wang-Landau entropic sampling scheme, we investigate the effects of quenched bond randomness on a particular case of a triangular Ising model with nearest- ($J_{nn}$) and next-nearest-neighbor ($J_{nnn}$) antiferromagnetic interactions. We consider the case $R=J_{nnn}/J_{nn}=1$, for which the pure model is known to have a columnar ground state where rows of nearest-neighbor spins up and down alternate and undergoes a weak first-order phase transition from the ordered to the paramagnetic state. With the introduction of quenched bond randomness we observe the effects signaling the expected conversion of the first-order phase transition to a second-order phase transition and using the Lee-Kosterlitz method, we quantitatively verify this conversion. The emerging, under random bonds, continuous transition shows a strongly saturating specific heat behavior, corresponding to a negative exponent $α$, and belongs to a new distinctive universality class with $ν=1.135(11)$, $γ/ν=1.744(9)$, and $β/ν=0.124(8)$. Thus, our results for the critical exponents support an extensive but weak universality and the emerged continuous transition has the same magnetic critical exponent (but a different thermal critical exponent) as a wide variety of two-dimensional (2d) systems without and with quenched disorder.

17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physica A