Distribution of the magnetization of the critical Ising model on sparse random graphs

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the Ising model on random $d$-regular graphs (with $d\ge3$) and Erdös-Rényi graphs $G(n,d/n)$ (with $d>1$) at the critical temperature. We prove that the \textit{magnetization}, i.e.\ the sum of the spins of a configuration, is typically of order $n^{3/4}$ and when multiplied by $n^{-3/4}$ converges in distribution to a non-trivial random variable, whose density we describe. In the regular graph case, the Small Subgraph Conditioning Method applies, and the limiting density is of the form $\frac1{Z}\exp(-C_d z^4)$. Surprisingly, in the Erdös-Rényi case, while the ratio of the second moment and first moment squared is bounded, the short cycle count is not enough to explain the fluctuations of the partition function restricted to a particular magnetization. We identify the additional source of randomness as path counts of slowly diverging length. This quantity is motivated by the heuristic that correlations between distant vertices are proportional to their local branching rate. Augmenting the Small Subgraph Conditioning Method with these path counts allows us to prove convergence of the magnetization to a non-deterministic limiting distribution. To our knowledge, the need to condition on graph observables beyond the cycle counts is a new phenomenon for spin systems. As further corollaries, we derive a polynomial lower bound on the mixing time of the stochastic Ising model on sparse random graphs at the critical temperature complementing recent upper bounds. Moreover, we establish the fluctuations of the free energy in the Erdös-Rényi case, answering a recent question of Coja-Oghlan et. al.