Phase transitions in a system of hard rectangles on the square lattice

Abstract

The phase diagram of a system of monodispersed hard rectangles of size $m\times m k$ on a square lattice is numerically determined for $m=2,3$ and aspect ratio $k= 1,2,\ldots, 7$. We show the existence of a disordered phase, a nematic phase with orientational order, a columnar phase with orientational and partial translational order, and a solid-like phase with sublattice order, but no orientational order. The asymptotic behavior of the phase boundaries for large $k$ are determined using a combination of entropic arguments and a Bethe approximation. This allows us to generalize the phase diagram to larger $m$ and $k$, showing that for $k \geq 7 $, the system undergoes three entropy driven phase transitions with increasing density. The nature of the different phase transitions are established and the critical exponents for the continuous transitions are determined using finite size scaling.