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Published on: July 9, 2020
Mapping distinct phase transitions to a neural network
Dimitrios Bachtis1, Gert Aarts2, Biagio Lucini1,3
1Department of Mathematics, Swansea University, Bay Campus, SA1 8EN, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We demonstrate, by means of a convolutional neural network, that the features learned in the two-dimensional Ising model are sufficiently universal to predict the structure of symmetry-breaking phase transitions in considered systems irrespective of the universality class, order, and the presence of discrete or continuous degrees of freedom. No prior knowledge about the existence of a phase transition is required in the target system and its entire parameter space can be scanned with multiple histogram reweighting to discover one. We establish our approach in q-state Potts models and perform a calculation for the critical coupling and the critical exponents of the ϕ^{4} scalar field theory using quantities derived from the neural network implementation. We view the machine learning algorithm as a mapping that associates each configuration across different systems to its corresponding phase and elaborate on implications for the discovery of unknown phase transitions.
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