Strict monotonicity, continuity, and bounds on the Kertész line for the random-cluster model on Zd

Abstract

Ising and Potts models can be studied using the Fortuin–Kasteleyn representation through the Edwards–Sokal coupling. This adapts to the setting where the models are exposed to an external field of strength h > 0. In this representation, which is also known as the random-cluster model, the Kertész line is the curve that separates two regions of the parameter space defined according to the existence of an infinite cluster in Zd. This signifies a geometric phase transition between the ordered and disordered phases even in cases where a thermodynamic phase transition does not occur. In this article, we prove strict monotonicity and continuity of the Kertész line. Furthermore, we give new rigorous bounds that are asymptotically correct in the limit h → 0 complementing the bounds from the work of Ruiz and Wouts [J. Math. Phys. 49, 053303 (2008)], which were asymptotically correct for h → ∞. Finally, using a cluster expansion, we investigate the continuity of the Kertész line phase transition.