q-state Potts model from the nonperturbative renormalization group.

Abstract

We study the q-state Potts model for q and the space dimension d arbitrary real numbers using the derivative expansion of the nonperturbative renormalization group at its leading order, the local potential approximation (LPA and LPA^{'}). We determine the curve q_{c}(d) separating the first [q>q_{c}(d)] and second [q<q_{c}(d)] -order phase transition regions for 2.8<d≤4. At small ε=4-d and δ=q-2 the calculation is performed in a double expansion in these parameters, and we find q_{c}(d)=2+aε^{2} with a≃0.1. For finite values of ε and δ, we obtain this curve by integrating the LPA and LPA^{'} flow equations. We find that q_{c}(d=3)=2.11(7), which confirms that the transition is of first order in d=3 for the three-state Potts model.