Mermin-Wagner at the Crossover Temperature

Abstract

Mermin-Wagner excludes spontaneous (staggered) magnetization in isotropic ferromagnetic (antiferromagnetic) Heisenberg models at finite temperature in spatial dimensions $d \le 2$. While the proof relies on the Bogoliubov inequality, here we illuminate the theorem from an effective field theory point of view. We estimate the crossover temperature $T_c$ and show that, in weak external fields $H$, it tends to zero: $T_c \propto \sqrt{H}$ ($d=1$) and $T_c \propto 1/|\ln H|$ ($d=2$). Including the case $d$=3, we derive upper bounds for the (staggered) magnetization by combining microscopic and effective perspectives -- unfortunately, these bounds are not restrictive.