1208.6276 (Pavel Bleher et al.)

Exact solution of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary
conditions. Critical line between disordered and antiferroelectric phases    [PDF]

Pavel Bleher, Thomas Bothner

In the present article we obtain the large $N$ asymptotics of the partition function $Z_N$ of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions on the critical line between the disordered and antiferroelectric phases. Using the weights $a=1-x,b=1+x,c=2,|x|<1$, we prove that, as $N\rightarrow\infty$, $Z_N=CF^{N^2}N^{1/12}(1+O(N^{-1}))$, where $F$ is given by an explicit expression in $x$ and the $x$-dependency in $C$ is determined. This result reproduces and improves the one given in the physics literature by Bogoliubov, Kitaev and Zvonarev \cite{BKZ}. Furthermore, we prove that the free energy exhibits an infinite order phase transition between the disordered and antiferroelectric phases. Our proofs are based on the large $N$ asymptotics for the underlying orthogonal polynomials which involve a non-analytical weight function, the Deift-Zhou nonlinear steepest descent method to the corresponding Riemann-Hilbert problem, and the Toda equation for the tau-function.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.6276