Universality, frustration, and conformal invariance in two-dimensional random Ising magnets

Abstract

We consider long, finite-width strips of Ising spins with randomly distributed couplings. Frustration is introduced by allowing both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Free energy and spin-spin correlation functions are calculated by transfer-matrix methods. Numerical derivatives and finite-size scaling concepts allow estimates of the usual critical exponents $\ensuremath{\gamma}/\ensuremath{\nu},$ $\ensuremath{\alpha}/\ensuremath{\nu},$ and $\ensuremath{\nu}$ to be obtained, whenever a second-order transition is present. Low-temperature ordering persists for suitably small concentrations of frustrated bonds, with a transition governed by pure-Ising exponents. Contrary to the unfrustrated case, subdominant terms do not fit a simple, logarithmic-enhancement form. Our analysis also suggests a vertical critical line at and below the Nishimori point. Approaching this point along either the temperature axis or the Nishimori line, one finds nondiverging specific heats. A percolationlike ratio $\ensuremath{\gamma}/\ensuremath{\nu}$ is found upon analysis of the uniform susceptibility at the Nishimori point. Our data are also consistent with frustration inducing a breakdown of the relationship between correlation-length amplitude and critical exponents, predicted by conformal invariance for pure systems.