Weak irreducibility as a spectral criterion for phase coexistence

Abstract

Conventional finite-size theories describe first-order coexistence through free-energy competition and interfacial tunneling, but the distinct spectral roles of sector balance and inter-sector connectivity are not usually explicit. We show that pseudo-transitions and thermodynamic phase coexistence are governed by two spectral coordinates: sector imbalance locates balance, while connectivity determines whether that balance remains avoided. At balance, finite connectivity produces a unique dominant state with equal spectral weights in the symmetrized two-sector representation. For short-range systems with positive interface tension, interfacial costs suppress the connectivity exponentially, close the coexistence splitting, and asymptotically restore reducibility. Thus, genuine phase coexistence emerges as the singular limit of finite-size avoided coexistence, whereas one-dimensional pseudo-transitions retain finite connectivity. In a decorated bilayer Ising model, the coexistence gap at independently est