Phase transitions in two-dimensional classical lattice systems and random matrix theory
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Mathematics
Abstract
Our understanding of the thermodynamics of phase transitions in the matter comes mainly from the study of simple idealized models that are mathematically tractable but still retain the main physical features that characterize real systems. These systems are the two-dimensional classical spin models, of which the best known example is the Ising model. This project proposes to investigate two of the most interesting properties that have attracted the interest of physicists and mathematicians over the past forty years: universality and the scaling hypothesis. Thermodynamical variables in proximity of critical temperatures obey power laws whose exponents seem to depend only on the dimensionality and symmetries of the system; this phenomenon is known as universality. The scaling hypothesis, instead, asserts that the thermodynamical properties of a macroscopic system depend only on few relevant variables that characterize its behaviour on a particular time or length scale.The main part of this project will focus on a new approach that will use mathematical techniques, which go under the name of random matrix theory, to prove universality and the scaling hypothesis for a class of classical spin models whose symmetries can be put in one-to-one correspondence with ensembles of random matrices. Few rigorous results are available in this area. The second part of the project is devoted to using random matrix techniques to compute entanglement of the ground state of families of one-dimensional quantum spin chains associated to appropriate matrix ensembles. Random matrix theory allows a rigorous approach to these important problems that works for families of systems and symmetry classes to which previous methods, involving the renormalization group approach and conformal field theory, do not apply.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Francesco Mezzadri (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bertola M
(2009)
Mesoscopic colonization of a spectral band
in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Cunden F
(2016)
Large- N expansion for the time-delay matrix of ballistic chaotic cavities
in Journal of Mathematical Physics
Cunden F
(2016)
Correlators for the Wigner-Smith time-delay matrix of chaotic cavities
in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Cunden F
(2017)
Density and spacings for the energy levels of quadratic Fermi operators
in Journal of Mathematical Physics
Cunden F
(2016)
Large Deviations of Radial Statistics in the Two-Dimensional One-Component Plasma
in Journal of Statistical Physics
Cunden F
(2015)
A unified fluctuation formula for one-cut ß -ensembles of random matrices
in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Cunden FD
(2015)
Fluctuations in the two-dimensional one-component plasma and associated fourth-order phase transition.
in Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics
Its A
(2008)
Entanglement Entropy in Quantum Spin Chains with Finite Range Interaction
in Communications in Mathematical Physics
Mezzadri F
(2009)
On an Average over the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble
in International Mathematics Research Notices
Mo M
(2009)
Universality in the Two Matrix Model with a Monomial Quartic and a General Even Polynomial Potential
in Communications in Mathematical Physics