Geometry of the order-disorder surface of the mean-field square lattice Ising model with up to third-neighbor interactions

We revisit the field-free Ising model on a square lattice with up to third-neighbour (nnnn) interactions, also known as the $J_1$–$J_2$–$J_3$ model, in the mean-field approximation. Using a systematic enumeration procedure, we show that the region of phase space in which the high-temperature disordered phase is stable against all modes representing periodic magnetisation patterns up to a given size is a convex polytope that can be obtained by solving a standard vertex enumeration problem. Each face of this polytope corresponds to a set of coupling constants for which a single set of modes, equivalent up to a symmetry of the lattice, bifurcates from the disordered solution. While the structure of this polytope is simple in the halfspace $J_3>0$, where the nnnn-interaction is ferromagnetic, it becomes increasingly complex in the halfspace $J_3<0$, where the antiferromagnetic nnnn-interaction induces strong frustration. We characterize a few salient properties of these disorder polytopes' in terms of the geometry of the space of contributing modes. We then consider the limit $N\rightarrow\infty$ giving a closed form description of the order-disorder surface in the thermodynamic limit, which shows that for $J_3 <0$ the emergent ordered phases will have a devil’s surface’-like mode structure. Finally, using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that for small periodic systems the mean-field analysis correctly predicts the dominant modes of the ordered phases that develop for coupling constants associated with the centroid of the faces of the disorder polytope.