Eur. Phys. J. B 21, 251-268 (2001)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510170201

Subleading long-range interactions and violations of finite size scaling

Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev St. Building 4, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria Department of Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA

Corresponding author: ^a jrudnick@physics.ucla.edu

Received: 21 November 2000
Revised: 28 February 2001
Published online: 15 May 2001

Abstract

We study the behavior of systems in which the interaction contains a long-range component that does not dominate the critical behavior. Such a component is exemplified by the van der Waals force between molecules in a simple liquid-vapor system. In the context of the mean spherical model with periodic boundary conditions we are able to identify, for temperatures close above T_c, finite-size contributions due to the subleading term in the interaction that are dominant in this region decaying algebraically as a function of L. This mechanism goes beyond the standard formulation of the finite-size scaling but is to be expected in real physical systems. We also discuss other ways in which critical point behavior is modified that are of relevance for analysis of Monte Carlo simulations of such systems.