Ising

Our discussion of solids and alloys is mainly confined to the Ising model and to systems that are isomorphic to it. This model considers a periodic lattice of N sites of any given symmetry in which a spin variable. S j = 1 is associated with each site and interactions between sites are confined only to those between nearest neighbours. The total potential energy of interaction... 

An alternative fomuilation of the nearest-neighbour Ising model is to consider the number of up f T land down [i] spins, the numbers of nearest-neighbour pairs of spins IT 11- U fl- IT Hand their distribution over the lattice sites. Not all of the spin densities are independent since... 

The Ising model is isomorphic with the lattice gas and with the nearest-neighbour model for a binary alloy, enabling the solution for one to be transcribed into solutions for the others. The tlnee problems are thus essentially one and the same problem, which emphasizes the importance of the Ising model in developing our understanding not only of ferromagnets but other systems as well. 

The relationship between tlie lattice gas and the Ising model follows from the observation that the cell occupation number... 

The relationship between tlie lattice gas and the Ising model is also transparent in the alternative fomuilation of the problem, in temis of the number of down spins [i] and pairs of nearest-neighbour down spins [ii]. For a given degree of site occupation [i]. 

A binary alloy of two components A and B with nearest-neighbour interactions respectively, is also isomorphic with the Ising model. This is easily seen on associating spin up with atom A and spin down with atom B. There are no vacant sites, and the occupation numbers of the site are defined by... 

Our discussion shows that the Ising model, lattice gas and binary alloy are related and present one and the same statistical mechanical problem. The solution to one provides, by means of the transcription tables, the solution to the others. Flistorically, however, they were developed independently before the analogy between the models was recognized. 

We now turn to a mean-field description of these models, which in the language of the binary alloy is the Bragg-Williams approximation and is equivalent to the Ciirie-Weiss approxunation for the Ising model. Botli these approximations are closely related to the van der Waals description of a one-component fluid, and lead to the same classical critical exponents a = 0, (3 = 1/2, 8 = 3 and y = 1. 

As a prelude to discussing mean-field theory, we review the solution for non-interacting magnets by setting J = 0 in the Ising Flamiltonian. The PF... 

Iiifomiation about the behaviour of the 3D Ising ferromagnet near the critical point was first obtained from high- and low-temperatnre expansions. The expansion parameter in the high-temperatnre series is tanli K, and the corresponding parameter in the low-temperatnre expansion is exp(-2A ). A 2D square lattice is self-dual in the sense that the bisectors of the line joining the lattice points also fomi a square lattice and the coefficients of the two expansions, for the 2D square lattice system, are identical to within a factor of two. The singularity occurs when... 

Figure A2.3.29 Calculation of the critical temperature and the critical exponent y for the magnetic susceptibility of Ising lattices in different dimensions from high-temperature expansions.

The Ising model has been solved exactly in one and two dimensions Onsager s solution of the model in two dimensions is only at zero field. Infomiation about the Ising model in tliree dunensions comes from high- and low-temperature expansions pioneered by Domb and Sykes [104] and others. We will discuss tire solution to the 1D Ising model in the presence of a magnetic field and the results of the solution to the 2D Ising model at zero field. 

Onsager s solution to the 2D Ising model in zero field (H= 0) is one of the most celebrated results in theoretical chemistry [105] it is the first example of critical exponents. Also, the solution for the Ising model can be mapped onto the lattice gas, binary alloy and a host of other systems that have Hamiltonians that are isomorphic to the Ising model Hamiltonian. 

Jacob J, Kumar A, Anisimov M A, Povodyrev A A. and Sengers J V 1998 Crossover from Ising to mean-field critical behavior in an aqueous electrolyte solution Phys. Rev. E 58 2188... 

Lee T D and Yang C N 1952 Statistical theory of equations of state and phase transitions II. Lattice gas and Ising models Phys. Rev. 87 410... 

Onsager L and Kaufman B 1949 Orystal statistics III. Short range order in a binary Ising lattice Phys. Rev. 65 1244... 

Yang 0 N 1952 The spontaneous magnetization of a two-dimensional Ising lattice Phys. Rev. 85 809 (87 404)... 

In 1925 Ising [14] suggested (but solved only for the relatively trivial ease of one dunension) a lattiee model for magnetism m solids that has proved to have applieability to a wide variety of otiier, but similar, situations. The mathematieal solutions, or rather attempts at solution, have made the Ising model one of tlie most famous problems in elassieal statistieal meehanies. 

The standard analytic treatment of the Ising model is due to Landau (1937). Here we follow the presentation by Landau and Lifschitz [H], which casts the problem in temis of the order-disorder solid, but this is substantially the same as the magnetic problem if the vectors are replaced by scalars (as the Ising model assumes). The themiodynamic... 

That analyticity was the source of the problem should have been obvious from the work of Onsager (1944) [16] who obtained an exact solution for the two-dimensional Ising model in zero field and found that the heat capacity goes to infinity at the transition, a logarithmic singularity tiiat yields a = 0, but not the a = 0 of the analytic theory, which corresponds to a finite discontinuity. (Wliile diverging at the critical point, the heat capacity is synnnetrical without an actual discontinuity, so perhaps should be called third-order.)... 

The classical treatment of the Ising model makes no distinction between systems of different dimensionality, so, if it fails so badly for d= 2, one might have expected that it would also fail for [Pg.644]

No system is exactly unifomi even a crystal lattice will have fluctuations in density, and even the Ising model must pemiit fluctuations in the configuration of spins around a given spin. Moreover, even the classical treatment allows for fluctuations the statistical mechanics of the grand canonical ensemble yields an exact relation between the isothemial compressibility K j,and the number of molecules Ain volume V ... 

A2.5.7 THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE ISING MODEL THEORY AND EXPERIMENT... 

There is now agreement between experiment and theory on the Ising exponents. Indeed it is now reasonable to assume that the theoretical values are better, smce their range of uncertainty is less. 

Moreover, some uncertainty was expressed about the applicability to fluids of exponents obtained for tlie Ising lattice. Here there seemed to be a serious discrepancy between tlieory and experiment, only cleared up by later and better experiments. By hindsight one should have realized that long-range fluctuations should be independent of the presence or absence of a lattice. 

Table A2.5.1 shows the Ising exponents for two and tluee dimensions, as well as the classical exponents. The uncertainties are those reported by Guida and Ziim-Justin [27]. These exponent values satisfy the equalities (as they must, considering the scalmg assumption) which are here reprised as functions of p and y ...

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