Forbidden gap argument for phase transitions proved by means of chessboard estimates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that chessboard estimates can be used not only to identify phase coexistence in spin systems but also to exclude certain Gibbs states, thereby providing a more complete understanding of phase transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to rule out the existence of shift-ergodic states differing from known Gibbs states using chessboard estimates.

Findings

Identifies forbidden energy values within the transitional gap.

Shows the method's applicability to various models.

Provides insights into the set of thermodynamic equilibria.

Abstract

Chessboard estimates are one of the standard tools for proving phase coexistence in spin systems of physical interest. In this note we show that the method not only produces a point in the phase diagram where more than one Gibbs states coexist, but that it can also be used to rule out the existence of shift-ergodic states that differ significantly from those proved to exist. For models depending on a parameter (say, the temperature), this shows that the values of the conjugate thermodynamic quantity (the energy) inside the "transitional gap" are forbidden in all shift-ergodic Gibbs states. We point out several models where our result provides useful additional information concerning the set of possible thermodynamic equilibria.