The specific heat of the two-dimensional ±J Ising model

The specific heat of the two-dimensional +/-J Ising model has been investigated by the numerical transfer matrix method and Monte Carlo simulations from a new point of view. The region where a part of the specific heat takes a negative value has been investigated, which is characteristic of frustrated systems and reflects the non-trivial degeneracy of the ground state. The region mentioned above is found to be fairly large in the p-T plane (p is the concentration of the ferromagnetic bond and T is the temperature). Moreover, it includes the Nishimori line. Namely, it includes a part of the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase boundary, on which the specific heat cannot diverge. The present result indicates that the specific heat does not diverge at least on a part of the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase boundary above the multicritical point, which is in conflict with previous results.