1D Three-state mean-field Potts model with first- and second-order phase transitions

TL;DR

This paper studies a three-state mean-field Potts model on a lattice ring and fully connected graph, revealing complex phase transition behaviors including first-order, continuous, and metastable states, with exact solutions obtained.

Contribution

It provides an exact analysis of a three-state Potts model with mixed couplings, uncovering new phase transition phenomena and the effects of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions.

Findings

First-order phase transition with non-zero correlations in paramagnetic phase.

Existence of a hidden continuous transition below the first-order transition.

Critical temperature remains finite for large antiferromagnetic couplings.

Abstract

We analyze a three-state Potts model built over a lattice ring, with coupling $J_0$, and the fully connected graph, with coupling $J$. This model is effectively mean-field and can be exactly solved by using transfer-matrix method and Cardano formula. When $J$ and $J_0$ are both ferromagnetic, the model has a first-order phase transition which turns out to be a smooth modification of the known phase transition of the traditional mean-field Potts model ($J_0=0$), despite, as we prove, the connected correlation functions are now non zero, even in the paramagnetic phase. Furthermore, besides the first-order transition, there exists also a hidden continuous transition at a temperature below which the symmetric metastable state ceases to exist. When $J$ is ferromagnetic and $J_0$ antiferromagnetic, a similar antiferromagnetic counterpart phase transition scenario applies. Quite interestingly, differently from the Ising-like two-state case, for large values of the antiferromagnetic coupling $J_0$, the critical temperature of the system tends to a finite value.