Probability Seminar
Tuesday, 12 December 2023, 4:00 PM
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Venue: Ramanujan hall
Host: Harsha Hutridurga
Speaker: Trishen Gunaratnam
Affiliation: University of Geneva
Title: Tricritical phenomena in the Blume-Capel model.
Abstract: The Blume-Capel model is a ferromagnetic spin model that was
introduced in the '60s to model an exotic phase transition in uranium dioxide. Mathematically speaking, it is an Ising model coupled to a site percolation, combining two of the most beautiful models in statistical physics. It has a line of critical points - the Curie temperatures whereby the magnetisation demagnetisation transition occurs. Along this critical line, the model is expected to undergo a further phase transition at the so-called tricritical point. Despite many fascinating physics conjectures concerning the tricritical universality class, there are few rigorous results. In this talk, I will discuss these conjectures and touch upon recent results joint with Dmitry Krachun (Princeton University) and Christoforos Panagiotis (University of Bath) in establishing the existence of a tricritical phenomenon in all dimensions.