A mathematical theory of the critical point of ferromagnetic Ising systems

Abstract

We develop a theory of the critical point of the ferromagnetic Ising model, whose basic objects are the ergodic (pure) states of the infinite system. It proves the existence of anomalous critical fluctuations, for dimension $\nu =2$ and, under a standard assumption, for $\nu =3$, for the model with nearest-neighbor interaction, in a way which is consistent with the probabilistic approach of Cassandro, Jona-Lasinio, and several others, reviewed in Jona-Lasinio’s article in Phys. Rep. 352,439 (2001). We propose to single out the state at the critical temperature $T_c$, among the ergodic thermal states associated to temperatures $0\le T\le T_c$, by a condition of non-summable clustering of the connected two-point function. The analogous condition on the connected (2r)- point functions, for $r\ge 2$ , together with a scaling hypothesis, natural within our framework, proves that the (macroscopic) fluctuation state is quasi-free, after a proper rescaling, also at the critical temperature, in agreement with a theorem by Cassandro and Jona-Lasinio, whose proof is, however, shown to be incomplete. Other subjects treated include topics relating to universality, including spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetries and violations of universality in problems of energetic and dynamic stability.