Inhomogeneous ground state and the coexistence of two length scales near phase transitions in real solids

Real crystals almost unavoidably contain a finite density of dislocations. We show that this generic type of long--range correlated disorder leads to a breakdown of the conventional scenario of critical behavior and standard renormalization group techniques based on the existence of a simple, homogeneous ground state. This breakdown is due to the appearance of an inhomogeneous ground state that changes the character of the phase transition to that of a percolative phenomenon. This scenario leads to a natural explanation for the appearance of two length scales in recent high resolution small-angle scattering experiments near magnetic and structural phase transitions.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, no figures; also available from http://www.tp3.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/archive/tpiii_archive.htm

Critical behavior of two-dimensional cubic and MN models in the five-loop renormalization-group approximation

The critical thermodynamics of the two-dimensional N-vector cubic and MN models is studied within the field-theoretical renormalization-group (RG) approach. The beta functions and critical exponents are calculated in the five-loop approximation and the RG series obtained are resummed using the Borel-Leroy transformation combined with the generalized Pad\'e approximant and conformal mapping techniques. For the cubic model, the RG flows for various N are investigated. For N=2 it is found that the continuous line of fixed points running from the XY fixed point to the Ising one is well reproduced by the resummed RG series and an account for the five-loop terms makes the lines of zeros of both beta functions closer to each another. For the cubic model with N\geq 3, the five-loop contributions are shown to shift the cubic fixed point, given by the four-loop approximation, towards the Ising fixed point. This confirms the idea that the existence of the cubic fixed point in two dimensions under N>2 is an artifact of the perturbative analysis. For the quenched dilute O(M) models ($MN$ models with N=0) the results are compatible with a stable pure fixed point for M\geq1. For the MN model with M,N\geq2 all the non-perturbative results are reproduced. In addition a new stable fixed point is found for moderate values of M and N.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

Critical Behaviour of 3D Systems with Long-Range Correlated Quenched Defects

A field-theoretic description of the critical behaviour of systems with quenched defects obeying a power law correlations $\sim |{\bf x}|^{-a}$ for large separations ${\bf x}$ is given. Directly for three-dimensional systems and different values of correlation parameter $2\leq a \leq 3$ a renormalization analysis of scaling function in the two-loop approximation is carried out, and the fixed points corresponding to stability of the various types of critical behaviour are identified. The obtained results essentially differ from results evaluated by double $\epsilon, \delta$ - expansion. The critical exponents in the two-loop approximation are calculated with the use of the Pade-Borel summation technique.Comment: Submitted to J. Phys. A, Letter to Editor 9 pages, 4 figure

The theoretical study of the jump-like motion of the plane domain wall in ferroelectric

The research was made possible in part by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (UID RFMEFI59414X0011), by RFBR (Grant 13-02-01391-а) and by Government of the Russian Federation (Act 211, Agreement 02.A03.21.0006)

Depth-dependent ordering, two-length-scale phenomena and crossover behavior in a crystal featuring a skin-layer with defects

Structural defects in a crystal are responsible for the "two length-scale" behavior, in which a sharp central peak is superimposed over a broad peak in critical diffuse X-ray scattering. We have previously measured the scaling behavior of the central peak by scattering from a near-surface region of a V2H crystal, which has a first-order transition in the bulk. As the temperature is lowered toward the critical temperature, a crossover in critical behavior is seen, with the temperature range nearest to the critical point being characterized by mean field exponents. Near the transition, a small two-phase coexistence region is observed. The values of transition and crossover temperatures decay with depth. An explanation of these experimental results is here proposed by means of a theory in which edge dislocations in the near-surface region occur in walls oriented in the two directions normal to the surface. The strain caused by the dislocation lines causes the ordering in the crystal to occur as growth of roughly cylindrically shaped regions. After the regions have reached a certain size, the crossover in the critical behavior occurs, and mean field behavior prevails. At a still lower temperature, the rest of the material between the cylindrical regions orders via a weak first-order transition.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

The stability of a cubic fixed point in three dimensions from the renormalization group

The global structure of the renormalization-group flows of a model with isotropic and cubic interactions is studied using the massive field theory directly in three dimensions. The four-loop expansions of the \bt-functions are calculated for arbitrary $N$. The critical dimensionality $N_c=2.89 \pm 0.02$ and the stability matrix eigenvalues estimates obtained on the basis of the generalized Pad$\acute{\rm e}$-Borel-Leroy resummation technique are shown to be in a good agreement with those found recently by exploiting the five-loop \ve-expansions.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 5 PostScript figure

Weak quenched disorder and criticality: resummation of asymptotic(?) series

In these lectures, we discuss the influence of weak quenched disorder on the critical behavior in condensed matter and give a brief review of available experimental and theoretical results as well as results of MC simulations of these phenomena. We concentrate on three cases: (i) uncorrelated random-site disorder, (ii) long-range-correlated random-site disorder, and (iii) random anisotropy. Today, the standard analytical description of critical behavior is given by renormalization group results refined by resummation of the perturbation theory series. The convergence properties of the series are unknown for most disordered models. The main object of these lectures is to discuss the peculiarities of the application of resummation techniques to perturbation theory series of disordered models.Comment: Lectures given at the Second International Pamporovo Workshop on Cooperative Phenomena in Condensed Matter (28th July - 7th August 2001, Pamporovo, Bulgaria). 51 pages, 12 figures, 1 style files include

Chiral critical behavior in two dimensions from five-loop renormalization-group expansions

We analyse the critical behavior of two-dimensional N-vector spin systems with noncollinear order within the five-loop renormalization-group approximation. The structure of the RG flow is studied for different N leading to the conclusion that the chiral fixed point governing the critical behavior of physical systems with N = 2 and N = 3 does not coincide with that given by the 1/N expansion. We show that the stable chiral fixed point for $N \le N^*$, including N = 2 and N = 3, turns out to be a focus. We give a complete characterization of the critical behavior controlled by this fixed point, also evaluating the subleading crossover exponents. The spiral-like approach of the chiral fixed point is argued to give rise to unusual crossover and near-critical regimes that may imitate varying critical exponents seen in numerous physical and computer experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Fluctuating Stripes in Strongly Correlated Electron Systems and the Nematic-Smectic Quantum Phase Transition

We discuss the quantum phase transition between a quantum nematic metallic state to an electron metallic smectic state in terms of an order-parameter theory coupled to fermionic quasiparticles. Both commensurate and incommensurate smectic (or stripe) cases are studied. Close to the quantum critical point (QCP), the spectrum of fluctuations of the nematic phase has low-energy ``fluctuating stripes''. We study the quantum critical behavior and find evidence that, contrary to the classical case, the gauge-type of coupling between the nematic and smectic is irrelevant at this QCP. The collective modes of the electron smectic (or stripe) phase are also investigated. The effects of the low-energy bosonic modes on the fermionic quasiparticles are studied perturbatively, for both a model with full rotational symmetry and for a system with an underlying lattice, which has a discrete point group symmetry. We find that at the nematic-smectic critical point, due to the critical smectic fluctuations, the dynamics of the fermionic quasiparticles near several points on the Fermi surface, around which it is reconstructed, are not governed by a Landau Fermi liquid theory. On the other hand, the quasiparticles in the smectic phase exhibit Fermi liquid behavior. We also present a detailed analysis of the dynamical susceptibilities in the electron nematic phase close to this QCP (the fluctuating stripe regime) and in the electronic smectic phase.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figure. An error in the calculation of fermion self-energy correction in the smectic phase was corrected, with updated Eq. (7.5) and Eq. (E3) and Table

Stability of a cubic fixed point in three dimensions. Critical exponents for generic N

The detailed analysis of the global structure of the renormalization-group (RG) flow diagram for a model with isotropic and cubic interactions is carried out in the framework of the massive field theory directly in three dimensions (3D) within an assumption of isotropic exchange. Perturbative expansions for RG functions are calculated for arbitrary $N$ up to the four-loop order and resummed by means of the generalized Pad$\acute{\rm e}$-Borel-Leroy technique. Coordinates and stability matrix eigenvalues for the cubic fixed point are found under the optimal value of the transformation parameter. Critical dimensionality of the model is proved to be equal to $N_c=2.89 \pm 0.02$ that agrees well with the estimate obtained on the basis of the five-loop \ve-expansion [H. Kleinert and V. Schulte-Frohlinde, Phys. Lett. B342, 284 (1995)] resummed by the above method. As a consequence, the cubic fixed point should be stable in 3D for $N\ge3$, and the critical exponents controlling phase transitions in three-dimensional magnets should belong to the cubic universality class. The critical behavior of the random Ising model being the nontrivial particular case of the cubic model when N=0 is also investigated. For all physical quantities of interest the most accurate numerical estimates with their error bounds are obtained. The results achieved in the work are discussed along with the predictions given by other theoretical approaches and experimental data.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, 7 PostScript figures. Final version corrected and added with an Appendix on the six-loop stud