Lattice models in statistical physics are idealized physical systems in which microscopic degrees of freedom (e.g., spins, occupations, or fields) reside on the sites, bonds, or plaquettes of a discrete spatial lattice and interact via specified local Hamiltonians or energy functionals. They provide controlled frameworks for analyzing equilibrium and nonequilibrium phenomena such as phase transitions, critical behavior, and collective ordering via methods like renormalization group, transfer matrices, and Monte Carlo simulation. Typical lattice geometries (e.g., square, cubic, triangular) and boundary conditions strongly influence universality classes and correlation properties, making lattice models central to the systematic study of emergent macroscopic behavior from microscopic interactions.
A joint theoretical study by the University of Innsbruck and Zhejiang University has uncovered the microscopic origin of a striking quantum phenomenon: a periodically driven gas of ultracold atoms that simply refuses to heat ...
Quantum Physics
Apr 20, 2026
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15
In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers used machine learning to discover multiple new classes of two-dimensional memories, systems that can reliably store information despite constant environmental ...
Time-dependent driving has become a powerful tool for creating novel nonequilibrium phases such as discrete time crystals and Floquet topological phases, which do not exist in static systems. Breaking continuous time-translation ...
Quantum Physics
Jan 30, 2026
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71
Physical systems become inherently more complicated and difficult to produce in a lab as the number of dimensions they exist in increases—even more so in quantum systems. While discrete time crystals (DTCs) had been previously ...
A fundamental link between two counterintuitive phenomena in spin glasses—reentrance and temperature chaos—has been mathematically proven for the first time. By extending the Edwards–Anderson model to include correlated disorder, ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 27, 2025
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130
By extending a proof of a physically important behavior in one-dimensional quantum spin systems to higher dimensions, a RIKEN physicist has shown in a new study that the model lacks exact solutions. The research is published ...
Quantum Physics
Sep 18, 2025
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Non-reciprocal interactions can increase the order in an active system. This is the finding of a study by scientists from the department of Living Matter Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization ...
General Physics
Dec 12, 2024
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54
A multi-institutional team exploring the physics of collective behavior has developed and measured a model nanomagnetic array in which the behavior can be best understood as that of a set of wiggling strings. The strings, ...
Nanophysics
May 4, 2023
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