Inhomogeneous Ising models with diagonal structure on a square lattice

Abstract

We study inhomogeneous Ising models on a square lattice. The nearest neighbour couplings are allowed to be of arbitrary strength and sign such that the coupling distribution is translationally invariant in diagonal direction. We calculate the partition function and free energy for a random coupling distribution of finite period. The phase transition is universally of Ising type. The transition temperature is independent of specific details of the coupling distribution. In particular, unexpected results for the absence of a phase transition are derived. Special examples are considered in detail, phase diagrams and critical temperature are determined. We calculate ground state energy and ground state degeneracy or, equivalently, rest entropy for “pure” frustration models, i.e. models with couplings of fixed strength but arbitrary sign, which never show a phase transition at a finite temperature.