Coarse-grained models of stripe forming systems: phase diagrams, anomalies, and scaling hypothesis

Two coarse-grained models which capture some universal characteristics of stripe forming systems are studied. At high temperatures, the structure factors of both models attain their maxima on a circle in reciprocal space, as a consequence of generic isotropic competing interactions. Although this is known to lead to some universal properties, we show that the phase diagrams have important differences, which are a consequence of the particular k dependence of the fluctuation spectrum in each model. The phase diagrams are computed in a mean field approximation and also after inclusion of small fluctuations, which are shown to modify drastically the mean field behavior. Observables like the modulation length and magnetization profiles are computed for the whole temperature range accessible to both models and some important differences in behavior are observed. A stripe compression modulus is computed, showing an anomalous behavior with temperature as recently reported in related models. Also, a recently proposed scaling hypothesis for modulated systems is tested and found to be valid for both models studied.