Statistical Physics Group

The surface critical behavior of the two-dimensional Ising model with homogeneous perturbations in the surface interactions is studied on the one-dimensional quantum version. A transfer-matrix method leads to an eigenvalue equation for the excitation energies. The spectrum at the bulk critical point is obtained using anL –1 expansion, whereL is the length of the Ising chain. It exhibits the towerlike structure which is characteristic of conformal models in the case of irrelevant surface perturbations (h s /J s ne0) as well as for the relevant perturbationh s =0 for which the surface is ordered at the bulk critical point leading to an extraordinary surface transition. The exponents are deduced from the gap amplitudes and confirmed by exact finite-size scaling calculations. Both cases are finally related through a duality transformation.