Phase diagram and critical behavior of the square-lattice Ising model with competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions

Using the parallel tempering algorithm and GPU accelerated techniques, we have performed large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of the Ising model on a square lattice with antiferromagnetic (repulsive) nearest-neighbor(NN) and next-nearest-neighbor(NNN) interactions of the same strength and subject to a uniform magnetic field. Both transitions from the (2x1) and row-shifted (2x2) ordered phases to the paramagnetic phase are continuous. From our data analysis, reentrance behavior of the (2x1) critical line and a bicritical point which separates the two ordered phases at T=0 are confirmed. Based on the critical exponents we obtained along the phase boundary, Suzuki’s weak universality seems to hold.