Critical behavior of models with infinite disorder at a star junction of chains

Abstract

We study two models having an infinite-disorder critical point --- the zero temperature random transverse-field Ising model and the random contact process --- on a star-like network composed of $M$ semi-infinite chains connected to a common central site. By the strong disorder renormalization group method, the scaling dimension $x_M$ of the local order parameter at the junction is calculated. It is found to decrease rapidly with the number $M$ of arms, but remains positive for any finite $M$. This means that, in contrast with the pure transverse-field Ising model, where the transition becomes of first order for $M>2$, it remains continuous in the disordered models, although, for not too small $M$, it is hardly distinguishable from a discontinuous one owing to a close-to-zero $x_M$. The scaling behavior of the order parameter in the Griffiths-McCoy phase is also analyzed.