Abstract
The -state Potts model is studied in the presence of random fields, which locally prefer ordering of any one of the states. In dimensions, the transition is expected to become first-order for . As in the nonrandom case, mean-field theory still yields for all . Fluctuations are argued to shift the nonrandom value, , into a significantly higher value, . For we thus expect random fields to turn the discontinuous transitions into continuous ones. At this probably includes the experimentally realizable cases .
- Received 26 September 1983
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.29.1263
©1984 American Physical Society