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Surface tension and phase transition for lattice systems

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Abstract

We introduce the surface tension for arbitrary spin systems and study its general properties. In particular we show that for a large class of systems, the surface tension is zero at high temperature. We also derive a geometrical condition for the surface tension to be zero at all temperature. For discrete spin systems this condition becomes a criterion to establish the existence of a phase transition associated with surface tension. This criterion is illustrated on several examples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique

    J. R. Fontaine

  2. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Ch. Gruber

Authors
  1. J. R. Fontaine
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  2. Ch. Gruber
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Communicated by E. Lieb

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Fontaine, J.R., Gruber, C. Surface tension and phase transition for lattice systems. Commun.Math. Phys. 70, 243–269 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01200054

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01200054

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