Athermal tricriticality.

Abstract

I construct a two dimensional monodisperse lattice gas model with selective geometric constraints featuring a fluid-solid continuous phase transition on the square lattice and a dimerized ground state with fourfold degeneracy. Finite-size scaling analysis confirms that the lattice gas belongs to the universality class of two-dimensional four-state Potts model, and since its thermodynamics is governed by entropy alone, this provides possibly the simplest statistical mechanical realization of an athermal tricritical point.