Phase Transitions of a Dilute O(n) Model**The project supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 10105001

Abstract

We investigate tricritical behavior of the O(n) model in two dimensions by means of transfer-matrix and finite-size scaling methods. For this purpose we consider an O(n) symmetric spin model on the honeycomb lattice with vacancies; the tricritical behavior is associated with the percolation threshold of the vacancies. The vacancies are represented by face variables on the elementary hexagons of the lattice. We apply a mapping of the spin degrees of freedom model on a non-intersecting-loop model, in which the number n of spin components assumes the role of a continuously variable parameter. This loop model serves as a suitable basis for the construction of the transfer matrix. Our results reveal the existence of a tricritical line, parametrized by n, which connects the known universality classes of the tricritical Ising model and the theta point describing the collapse of a polymer. On the other side of the Ising point, the tricritical line extends to the n = 2 point describing a tricritical O(2) model.