Highly Nonlinear Ising Model and Social Segregation

Abstract

The usual interaction energy of the random field Ising model in statistical physics is modified by complementing the random field by added to the energy of the usual Ising model a nonlinear term S^n were S is the sum of the neighbor spins, and n=0,1,3,5,7,9,11. Within the Schelling model of urban segregation, this modification corresponds to housing prices depending on the immediate neighborhood. Simulations at different temperatures, lattice size, magnetic field, number of neighbors and different time intervals showed that results for all n are similar, expect for n=3 in violation of the universality principle and the law of corresponding states. In order to find the critical temperatures, for large n we no longer start with all spins parallel but instead with a random configuration, in order to facilitate spin flips. However, in all cases we have a Curie temperature with phase separation or long-range segregation only below this Curie temperature, and it is approximated by a simple formula: Tc is proportional to 1+m for n=1, while Tc is roughly proportional to m for n >> 1.