Magnetization Profile in the D= 2 Semi-Infinite Ising Model and Crossover Between Ordinary and Normal Transition

Abstract

We study the two-dimensional semi-infinite Ising model with a free surface at or near bulk criticality. Special attention is paid to the influence of a boundary magnetic field h1 on the surface-near regime and the crossover between the fixed points at h1=0 and h1=∞. Near the surface, a smallh1 causes a steeply increasing magnetization m(z)~z3/8 log z as the distance z increases away from the surface. By means of a phenomenological scaling analysis, this phenomenon can be related to the well-known logarithmic dependence of the surface magnetization m1 on h1. Our analysis provides a deeper understanding of the existing exact results on m(z) and relates the short-distance phenomena in d=2 to those in higher dimensions. Both the results of the scaling analysis and the exact analytic profiles are corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations.