Solvation forces in Ising films with long-range boundary fields: density-matrix renormalization-group study

Abstract

Using the quasi-exact density-matrix renormalization-group method we calculate the solvation forces in two-dimensional Ising films of thickness L subject to identical algebraically decaying boundary fields with various decay exponents p. At the bulk critical point the solvation force acquires a universal contribution which is long-ranged in L due to the critical fluctuations, a phenomenon known as the critical Casimir effect. For p = 2, 3 and 50, we study the scaling behaviour of the solvation force along the pseudo-phase coexistence and along the critical and sub-critical isotherms.