Researchers Pinpoint Critical Inverse Temperature in Potts Model on Sparse Graphs with Pareto Weights

The behaviour of complex systems at critical points remains a fundamental challenge in statistical physics, and recent work by A. J. E. M. Janssen focuses on understanding the critical inverse temperature within the annealed Potts model, a mathematical framework used to model magnetism and other phase transitions. This research investigates how the distribution of weights assigned to the vertices of sparse random graphs influences this critical temperature, a key determinant of when the system undergoes a dramatic shift in its properties. Janssen’s analysis reveals precise relationships between various quantities governing this transition, establishing new upper bounds and clarifying the behaviour of the system as it approaches a homogeneous state, offering valuable insights into the stability and characteristics of complex networks. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of phase transitions in disordered systems and have implications for diverse fields including materials science and information theory.

The critical temperature, tc, represents the unique positive zero of a function K, derived from a combination of stationarity and criticality conditions when the external field is zero, with specific parameters q ≥3 and τ ≥4. Researchers established this critical temperature, alongside its proof, demonstrating that the first and second derivatives of K, denoted K′ and K′′, also possess unique positive zeros, identified as t′c and t′′c, respectively, directly corresponding to parameters that characterize the model’s behavior.

Inhomogeneous Potts Models and Critical Temperatures

This document explores the critical behavior of annealed Potts models on inhomogeneous graphs, focusing on the critical temperature and related quantities. The research employs mathematical analysis, drawing on probability, statistics, and real analysis to understand these complex systems, deriving and analyzing expressions for the critical temperature and comparing results across different parameter settings. The study also considers a simplified case where the model becomes homogeneous, providing a detailed analysis of this scenario. The annealed Potts model is a statistical mechanics model used to study phase transitions and critical phenomena, while inhomogeneous graphs introduce complexity due to varying vertex connections.

Determining the critical temperature is a central challenge in statistical physics, and this work investigates this temperature alongside critical exponents, the Pareto distribution, and the behavior of the model in a homogeneous limit. The research relies heavily on mathematical techniques such as differentiation, integration, and the analysis of functions, with a focus on asymptotic behavior, the study of how functions behave as parameters approach certain limits. The document addresses model setup, derivation of key equations, analysis of the Pareto case, and the homogeneous limit, with appendices providing proofs for specific inequalities. This document requires a strong background in calculus, probability, real analysis, statistical mechanics, and graph theory, presenting a detailed analysis of the annealed Potts model on inhomogeneous graphs for researchers and graduate students with a strong background in mathematical physics and statistical mechanics.

Critical Temperature Determined by Function Zeroes

Researchers have made significant progress in understanding the critical behavior of the Potts model on sparse random graphs, specifically focusing on determining the critical inverse temperature. Their work centers on analyzing a function, K(t), which plays a crucial role in identifying this critical point, demonstrating that this critical temperature is uniquely determined by the zero of this function. They further established relationships between its derivatives, K’(t) and K’’(t), and key parameters of the model, meticulously characterizing the behavior of these functions, proving that K(t), K’(t), and K’’(t) transition from negative to positive values as the variable ‘t’ increases, providing a clear indication of the location of the critical point. The study delivers precise bounds for the critical inverse temperature, tc, and related parameters, t’c and t’’c, proving that tc is less than 2 ln(q-1), t’c is less than 3/2 ln(q-1), and t’’c is less than ln(q-1), where ‘q’ represents a state variable.

These inequalities establish upper limits for these critical values, offering a quantifiable understanding of the system’s behavior, refined for cases with larger values of ‘q’, demonstrating that tc is less than 2τ-2/τ-1 ln(q-1), where τ represents a parameter defining the vertex weight distribution. The data confirms a consistent relationship between these critical parameters and the model’s characteristics, specifically showing that as ‘q’ approaches infinity, tc/ln(q-1) converges to 2τ-2/τ-1, and both t’c and t’’c approach a value of 1. These limiting behaviors provide valuable insights into the system’s long-term stability and its response to changes in the state variable, developed using iterative methods utilizing the properties of the K(t) function to refine these bounds and achieve greater precision in determining the critical parameters.

Potts Model Critical Temperature on Random Graphs

This work investigates the critical inverse temperature within the Potts model on sparse random graphs, specifically focusing on networks with Pareto-distributed weights. Researchers determined key quantities that define this critical temperature, establishing that they represent unique solutions to specific equations derived from stationarity and criticality conditions, demonstrating the existence of simple upper bounds, which are confirmed to be precise in the limiting case of homogeneous networks. Furthermore, the study examines the transition to a homogeneous network by considering the limit as the Pareto parameter approaches infinity, deriving explicit expressions for relevant functions and identifying the points where these functions vanish, corresponding to critical temperatures. They demonstrated that inequalities previously established for the general Pareto case remain sharp even in this homogeneous limit. The authors acknowledge that while they have identified critical temperatures for certain cases, a general characterization remains an open problem, suggesting future work could focus on developing such a comprehensive understanding.

👉 More information
🗞 Analysis of quantities determining the critical inverse temperature in the annealed Potts model with Pareto vertex weights
🧠 ArXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21409

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