A first-order phase transition in the face-centered-cubic Ising antiferromagnet

Abstract

The nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Ising model on a face-centered-cubic lattice and in zero magnetic field is investigated by the methods of series analysis. The low-temperature free-energy series is extended to seventh order. Low- and high-temperature free energies are extrapolated and their crossing locates a first-order phase transition at temperature 1.746 (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3%) in units of the nearest-neighbor coupling constant. The energy, susceptibility, and staggered magnetization are also investigated. A ``second-order Clausius-Clapeyron'' equation is derived which enables the curvature of the phase coexistence line to be determined from the above data.