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.

Density of critical clusters in strips of strongly disordered systems.

We consider two models with disorder-dominated critical points and study the distribution of clusters that are confined in strips and touch one or both boundaries. For the classical random bond Potts model in the large- q limit, we study optimal Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters using a combinatorial optimization algorithm. For the random transverse-field Ising chain, clusters are defined and calculated through the strong-disorder renormalization group method. The numerically calculated density profiles close to the boundaries are shown to follow scaling predictions. For the random bond Potts model, we have obtained accurate numerical estimates for the critical exponents and demonstrated that the density profiles are well described by conformal formulas.

Critical and tricritical singularities of the three-dimensional random-bond Potts model for large.

We study the effect of varying strength delta of bond randomness on the phase transition of the three-dimensional Potts model for large q. The cooperative behavior of the system is determined by large correlated domains in which the spins point in the same direction. These domains have a finite extent in the disordered phase. In the ordered phase there is a percolating cluster of correlated spins. For a sufficiently large disorder delta>deltat this percolating cluster coexists with a percolating cluster of noncorrelated spins. Such a coexistence is only possible in more than two dimensions. We argue and check numerically that deltat is the tricritical disorder, which separates the first- and second-order transition regimes. The tricritical exponents are estimated as betat/vt=0.10(2) and vt=0.67(4). We claim these exponents are q independent for sufficiently large q. In the second-order transition regime the critical exponents betat/vt=0.60(2) and vt=0.73(1) are independent of the strength of disorder.

Disorder-induced rounding of the phase transition in the large-q-state Potts model.

The phase transition in the q -state Potts model with homogeneous ferromagnetic couplings is strongly first order for large q, while it is rounded in the presence of quenched disorder. Here we study this phenomenon on different two-dimensional lattices by using the fact that the partition function of the model is dominated by a single diagram of the high-temperature expansion, which is calculated by an efficient combinatorial optimization algorithm. For a given finite sample with discrete randomness the free energy is a piecewise linear function of the temperature, which is rounded after averaging, however, the discontinuity of the internal energy at the transition point (i.e., the latent heat) stays finite even in the thermodynamic limit. For a continuous disorder, instead, the latent heat vanishes. At the phase transition point the dominant diagram percolates and the total magnetic moment is related to the size of the percolating cluster. Its fractal dimension is found d(f) = ( 5 + square root of 5)/4 and it is independent of the type of the lattice and the form of disorder. We argue that the critical behavior is exclusively determined by disorder and the corresponding fixed point is the isotropic version of the so-called infinite randomness fixed point, which is realized in random quantum spin chains. From this mapping we conjecture the values of the critical exponents as beta=2- d(f), beta(s) =1/2, and nu=1.

Phase transition in the 2D random Potts model in the large-q limit.

Phase transition in the two-dimensional q-state Potts model with random ferromagnetic couplings is studied in the large-q limit by a combinatorial optimization algorithm and by approximate mappings. We conjecture that the critical behavior of the model is controlled by the isotropic version of the infinite randomness fixed point of the random transverse-field Ising spin chain and the critical exponents are exactly given by beta=(3-sqrt[5])/4, beta(s)=1/2, and nu=1. The specific heat has a logarithmic singularity, but at the transition point there are very strong sample-to-sample fluctuations. Discretized randomness results in discontinuities in the internal energy.