# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

One of the most-studied variants of the two-dimensional Ising model is the case of random bonds. While realizations of Ising models that include randomness come much closer to approximating reality, they are very much harder to study at any level. Even in two dimensions exact results for random cases (especially for quenched randomness, which is the realistic situation in many experiments) are few and far-between. In fact, the two-dimensional Ising case is especially difficult because of the marginality of the Harris criterion  for this model. This criterion states that quenched randomness is a relevant (irrelevant) perturbation when the critical exponent $`\alpha `$ of the specific heat of the pure system is positive (negative) and therefore when $`\alpha =0`$ as in the two-dimensional Ising model the situation is marginal.

Numerous theoretical investigations \[2-7\] as well as numerical Monte Carlo simulations \[8-15\] and transfer-matrix studies  have addressed the question of whether the critical exponents for the two-dimensional Ising model with quenched, random bond disorder differ from those of the pure model. While a “majority” consensus had probably been achieved in favour of no change, apart from logarithmic corrections \[3-6\] no unambiguous numerical study that confirmed the quantitative predictions of either of the theoretical approaches had been made prior to our recent study of the susceptibility with high-temperature series expansions. In a brief note  we announced the confirmation of the theoretical majority consensus value of the exponent of the logarithmic correction. This quantitative determination of the value of the correction exponent in excellent agreement with the predicted value, using a completely different numerical approach that in no way depends on random numbers, provided additional and incontrovertible support to the previous consensus. In the present paper we present the coefficients of the susceptibility series that we analysed  together with some remarks on their derivation, the details of our analysis, and some additional results for the specific-heat series. We note that a recent simulation of the site-diluted model  also confirms the log-log prediction of \[3-6\].

In the next section, we define the model and the quantities that are studied, and in Sec. 3 the theoretical predictions are briefly recalled. The series generation is described in Sec. 4, and in Sec. 5 we describe the analysis techniques used. Sec. 6 then presents the results, where details of our analyses for the susceptibility give compelling evidence for a singularity of the form predicted by Shalaev, Shankar, and Ludwig \[3-6\]. In Sec. 7 we close with a summary of our conclusions and a few final comments. 

## 2 Model

The Hamiltonian of the random-bond Ising model is given by

$$=\underset{ij}{}J_{ij}\sigma _i\sigma _j,$$
(1)   
where the spins $`\sigma _i=\pm 1`$ are located at the sites of a square lattice, the symbol $`ij`$ denotes nearest-neighbor interactions, and the coupling constants $`J_{ij}`$ are quenched, random variables. As in most previous studies we consider a bimodal distribution,

$$P(J_{ij})=x\delta (J_{ij}J_1)+(1x)\delta (J_{ij}J_2),$$
(2)   
of two ferromagnetic couplings $`J_1`$, $`J_2>0`$. We furthermore specialize to a symmetric distribution with $`x=1/2`$, since in this case the exact critical temperature $`T_c`$ can be computed for any positive value of $`J_1`$ and $`J_2`$ from the (transcendental) self-duality relation ($`k_B=`$ Boltzmann constant) 

$$\left(\mathrm{exp}(2J_1/k_BT_c)1\right)\left(\mathrm{exp}(2J_2/k_BT_c)1\right)=2.$$
(3)   
In both, computer simulations and high-temperature series expansion studies, this exact information simplifies the analysis of the critical behavior considerably.

The free energy per site is given by,

$$\beta f=\underset{V\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{V}\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{V}{}}\underset{\sigma _i=\pm 1}{}\right)\mathrm{exp}(\beta )\right]_{\mathrm{av}},$$
(4)   
where $`\beta =1/k_BT`$ is the inverse temperature in natural units and the bracket $`[\mathrm{}]_{\mathrm{av}}`$ denotes the average over the quenched, random disorder, $`[\mathrm{}]_{\mathrm{av}}=\left(_{ij}𝑑J_{ij}\right)`$ $`(\mathrm{})P(J_{ij})`$. The internal energy and specific heat per site follow by differentiation with respect to $`\beta `$,

$$e=\beta f/\beta ,C/k_B=\beta ^2^2\beta f/\beta ^2.$$
(5)   
In this paper we shall mainly focus on the magnetic susceptibility per site $`\chi `$ which in the high-temperature phase and zero external field is defined as the $`V\mathrm{}`$ limit of

$$\chi _V=\left[\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{V}{}}\sigma _i\right)^2_T/V\right]_{\mathrm{av}},$$
(6)   
where $`\mathrm{}_T`$ denotes the usual thermal average with respect to $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta )`$.

## 3 Theoretical predictions

Let us briefly recall two contradicting theoretical predictions for the critical behavior of the model (1), (2). The first is based on renormalization-group techniques developed by Dotsenko and Dotsenko (DD) . For the specific heat DD find close to the transition point a double logarithmic behavior,

$$C(t)\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{ln}(1/|t|)),$$
(7)   
where $`t=(TT_c)/T_c`$ denotes the reduced temperature. For the susceptibility they obtain in the high-temperature phase ($`t0`$)

$$\chi t^2\mathrm{exp}\left[a\left(\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1}{t}\right)\right)^2\right].$$
(8)   
The second approach by Shalaev, Shankar, and Ludwig (SSL) \[3-6\] makes use of bosonisation techniques and the method of conformal invariance. While the prediction (7) for the specific heat can be reproduced (which, however, is not undisputed ), SSL derive quite a different behavior for the susceptibility,

$$\chi t^{7/4}|\mathrm{ln}t|^{7/8}.$$
(9)   
This is the same leading singularity as in the pure case ($`J_1=J_2`$), but modified by a multiplicative logarithmic correction.

High-precision Monte Carlo simulations and transfer-matrix studies \[8-16\] favor the latter form, but due to well-known inherent limitations of this method it has been impossible to confirm the value of the exponent of the multiplicative logarithmic correction in (9) quantitatively. Similar problems have been reported in simulation studies of other models exhibiting multiplicative logarithmic corrections such as, e.g., the two-dimensional 4-state Potts  and XY  model. We found it therefore worthwhile to investigate this problem yet again with an independent method. In the following we report high-temperature series expansions for the free energy and susceptibility and enquire whether series analyses can yield a more stringent test of the theoretical predictions.

## 4 Series generation

For the generation of the high-temperature series expansions of the free energy (4), and hence the internal energy and specific heat, as well as the infinite-volume limit of the susceptibility (6) we made use of a program package developed at Mainz originally for the $`q`$-state Potts spin-glass problem \[23-27\] In this application the spin-spin interaction is generalized from $`\sigma _i\sigma _j`$ to $`\delta _{\sigma _i,\sigma _j}`$ with $`\sigma _i`$ being an integer between 1 and $`q`$, and the coupling constants $`J_{ij}`$ can take the values $`\pm J`$ with equal probability. Since here the coupling constants also can take negative values, frustration effects play an important role and the physical properties of spin glasses  are completely different than those of the random-bond system. Technically, however, precisely the same enumeration scheme for the high-temperature graphs can be employed in both cases. The only difference is in the last step where the quenched averages over the $`J_{ij}`$ are performed. The details of the employed star-graph expansion technique and our specific implementation are described elsewhere \[23-25, 27, 29\] Here we only note that slight modifications of this program package enabled us to generate the high-temperature series expansion for $`\beta f`$ and $`\chi `$ up to the 11th order in $`k=2\beta J_1`$ for

* hypercubic lattices of arbitrary dimension $`d`$,
* arbitrary number of Potts states $`q`$,
* arbitrary probability $`x`$ in the bimodal distribution, and
* arbitrary ratios $`R=J_2/J_1`$, characterizing the strength of the disorder.

In this paper we shall concentrate on the two-dimensional ($`d=2`$) random-bond Ising model ($`q=2`$) for a symmetric ($`x=1/2`$) bimodal distribution of two positive coupling strengths $`J_1`$ and $`J_2`$. The series coefficients of the free energy and susceptibility expansions for various coupling-strength ratios $`R=J_2/J_1`$ are given in Tables 1 and 2. Of course, in principle it would be also straightforward to adapt the present program package to more general probability distributions $`P(J_{ij})`$.

## 5 Series analysis techniques

In the literature many different series analysis techniques have been discussed which, depending on the type of critical singularity at hand, all have their own merits and drawbacks . In the course of this work we have tested quite a few of them . Here, however, we will confine ourselves to only those which turned out to be the most useful for our specific problem at hand.

To simplify the notation we denote a thermodynamic function generically by $`F(z)`$ and assume that its Taylor expansion around the origin is known up to the $`N`$-th order,

$$F(z)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}a_nz^n+\mathrm{}.$$
(10)   
If the singularity of $`F(z)`$ at the critical point $`z_c`$ is of the simple form ($`zz_c`$)

$$F(z)A(1z/z_c)^\lambda ,$$
(11)   
with $`A`$ being a constant, then the ratios of consecutive coefficients approach for large $`n`$ the limiting behavior

$$r_n\frac{a_n}{a_{n1}}\left[1+\frac{\lambda 1}{n}\right]\frac{1}{z_c}.$$
(12)   
From the offset ($`1/z_c`$) and slope ($`(\lambda 1)/z_c`$) of this sequence as a function of $`1/n`$ both the critical point $`z_c`$ and the critical exponent $`\lambda `$ can be determined. This is the basis of the so-called ratio method . If the critical point $`z_c`$ is known from other sources (in our case exactly from self-duality), then one may consider biased extrapolants for the critical exponent,

$$\lambda _n=nr_nz_cn+1,$$
(13)   
which simply follow by rearranging eq. (12). In the following this method will be denoted as “Biased Ratio I”.

If the singularity of $`F(z)`$ contains a multiplicative logarithmic correction (as, e.g., in the SSL prediction for $`\chi `$),

$$F(z)A(1z/z_c)^\lambda |\mathrm{ln}(1z/z_c)|^p,$$
(14)   
then one forms the ratios $`r_n`$ as before, but considers in addition the auxiliary function 

$$z^p^{}(1z)^\lambda (\mathrm{ln}[1/(1z)])^p^{}=\underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}b_nz^n+\mathrm{},$$
(15)   
and computes the ratios $`r_n^{}=b_n/b_{n1}`$. Let us first assume that the critical exponent $`\lambda `$ of the leading term is known. Then it can be shown that the sequence $`R_n=r_n/r_n^{}`$ approaches $`1/z_c`$ with zero slope in the limit $`n\mathrm{}`$, if and only if $`p^{}=p`$. This determines $`p`$, if also $`z_c`$ is known. If $`\lambda `$ is not known, then one may vary both exponents until above relation is satisfied. In the following we refer to this special ratio method as “Ln-Ratio”.

Another method  suitable for a singularity of the form (14) is based on Padé approximants . Here one generates the series expansion for the auxiliary function

$$G(z)=(z_cz)\mathrm{ln}(z_cz)(\frac{F^{}(z)}{F(z)}\frac{\lambda }{z_cz}),$$
(16)   
which can easily be shown to satisfy

$$\underset{zz_c}{lim}G(z)=p.$$
(17)   
If $`z_c`$ is known, the value of $`G(z)`$ at $`z=z_c`$ can be obtained by forming Padé approximants,

$$G(z)[L/M]\frac{P_L(z)}{Q_M(z)}\frac{p_0+p_1z+p_2z^2+\mathrm{}+p_Lz^L}{1+q_1z+q_2z^2+\mathrm{}+q_Mz^M},$$
(18)   
with $`L+MN1`$. Note that one order of the initial series is lost due to the differentiation in (16).

With a small modification this method can also be applied to a purely logarithmic singularity of the form

$$F(z)A|\mathrm{ln}(1z/z_c)|^p.$$
(19)   
In this case one defines the auxiliary function

$$G(z)=(z_cz)\mathrm{ln}(z_cz)\frac{F^{}(z)}{F(z)},$$
(20)   
which again satisfies

$$\underset{zz_c}{lim}G(z)=p.$$
(21)   
The two analysis methods based on Padé approximants will be called “Ln-Padé”.

## 6 Results

### Susceptibility:

In a first step we investigated whether our series expansions for the susceptibility are consistent with a pure power-law behavior according to the DD prediction (8) (ignoring the exponentially small multiplicative correction term). Assuming thus the behavior $`\chi t^\gamma `$ and using the method “Biased Ratio I” we obtained the critical exponents $`\gamma `$ shown in Fig. 2 as a function of $`J_2/J_1`$. Here and in the following the error bars are estimated by varying the length of the series and/or the type of Padé approximants used. Starting with $`\gamma =1.738\pm 0.014`$ for the pure case ($`J_2/J_1=1`$), being consistent with the exact value of $`\gamma =7/4`$, we observe a steady increase to $`\gamma =2.37\pm 0.11`$ for the strongest investigated disorder ($`J_2/J_1=10`$). We will argue below that the apparent crossover from weak to strong disorder is due to the finite length of our series expansion which naturally has a much more dramatic influence for weak disorder. At any rate, for strong disorder the DD prediction of $`\gamma =2`$ is clearly outside the error margins of the series analysis estimates.

So far no multiplicative logarithmic corrections were taken into account. If the SSL prediction (9) was correct we would, therefore, expect to observe “effective” critical exponents which according to

$$\chi t^{7/4}|\mathrm{ln}t|^{7/8}=t^{(7/4)[1+\frac{1}{2}\frac{\mathrm{ln}(|\mathrm{ln}t|)}{\mathrm{ln}(1/t)}]}$$
(22)   
should indeed be larger than $`7/4`$. The results in Fig. 2 could thus be well consistent with a critical exponent of $`\gamma =7/4`$ in the presence of a multiplicative logarithmic correction.

This possibility suggested a more careful analysis based on the qualitative form of the SSL prediction (9). Our series are too short to employ a general ansatz with both exponents as free parameters. We rather fixed the exponent $`\gamma =7/4`$ of the leading term to the (predicted) pure Ising model value and enquired if our series expansions are compatible with the ansatz

$$\chi t^{7/4}|\mathrm{ln}t|^p,$$
(23)   
and $`p=7/8`$. Employing the two special methods for this type of singularity described in Sec. 5 we obtained well converging results. The resulting estimates for the exponent $`p`$ are shown in Fig. 2. We see that the two methods yield consistent results which start in the pure case ($`J_2/J_1=1`$) around $`p=0`$, as they should do. With increasing disorder the estimates exhibit again an apparent crossover, until around $`J_2/J_1=58`$ they settle at a plateau value in very good agreement with the theoretical prediction of $`p=7/8`$. This is the main result of our series analysis. We claim that compared with previous methods this is thus far the clearest quantitative confirmation of the SSL prediction (9).

As before we attribute the apparent crossover for intermediate strength of the disorder to the shortness of our series expansions, i.e., we interpret the crossover as an unavoidable artifact of high-temperature series expansion analyses and not as an indication that the exponent $`p`$ really is a function of the disorder strength. We thus take the view that already a small amount of disorder drives the system into a new universality class different from the pure case which, however, only becomes visible in the very vicinity of the transition point $`T_c`$ (or $`t=0`$). This in turn translates into the need of extremely long series expansions in order to be detectable.

To justify this claim we have investigated a model function simulating the “true” susceptibility ($`g_00`$), where $`g_0`$ is a constant that depends on the strength of the disorder,

$$\chi _{\mathrm{model}}=\dot{t}^{7/4}\left[1+\frac{4g_0}{\pi }\mathrm{ln}(1/\dot{t})\right]^{7/8},$$
(24)   
with $`\dot{t}=(TT_c)/T`$, which for any $`g_00`$ reproduces the SSL form (9) in the limit $`TT_c`$ ($`\dot{t}=tt^2+t^3+\mathrm{}0`$). Notice the discontinuity in the asymptotic behavior at $`g_0=0`$. For any $`g_00`$ the asymptotic region is reached when $`\mathrm{ln}(1/t)`$ is much larger than $`\pi /4g_0`$, i.e., for $`t\mathrm{exp}(\pi /4g_0)`$. Since $`g_0=0`$ corresponds to the pure case it is intuitively clear that the parameter $`g_0`$ is an increasing function of the degree of disorder. For weak disorder this implies that $`g_0`$ is very small and therefore, due to the exponential dependence, that the asymptotic region in $`t`$ is extremely narrow.

Strictly speaking the model function (24) should resemble the “true” susceptibility only for weak disorder, but it is commonly believed that it is a reasonable qualitative approximation also for strong disorder. To relate the parameter $`g_0`$ at least heuristically to the ratio $`J_2/J_1`$ we used the weak disorder result $`g_0=c_2a^2/(1+ab)^2`$, where $`c_2=1x`$ (with $`x`$ as defined in eq. (2)) is assumed to be small, $`c_21`$, i.e., the analytic calculation assumes that there are only few $`J_2`$-bonds in a background of $`J_1`$-bonds. The parameters $`a`$ and $`b`$ are given by $`a=(v_c^{}v_c^{(0)})/v_c^{(0)}`$ and $`b=v_c^{(0)}/2\sqrt{2}`$, where $`v_c^{(0)}=\mathrm{tanh}(\beta _c^{(0)}J_1)=\sqrt{2}1`$ and $`v_c^{}=\mathrm{tanh}(\beta _c^{(0)}J_2)`$, with $`\beta _c^{(0)}`$ denoting the inverse critical temperature of the pure system with all $`J_{ij}=J_1`$. Of course, employing this formula to the present case with $`c_2=1/2=x`$ is a bold step which even creates an ambiguity since the exact symmetry $`J_1J_2`$ for $`x=1/2`$ is violated. For weak disorder ($`J_2/J_11`$), however, the inconsistency turns out to be very mild. For $`J_2/J_1=1.2`$ we obtain $`g_0=0.013700\mathrm{}`$, and for $`J_2/J_1=1/1.2`$ we find a slightly smaller value of $`g_0^{}=0.011958\mathrm{}`$. This shows that for weak disorder ($`J_2/J_1=1.2`$, $`g_00.013`$) the asymptotic region is bounded by $`t\mathrm{exp}(\pi /4g_0)\mathrm{exp}(1/0.017)10^{26}`$, and thus explains why it is so difficult to observe the asymptotic critical behavior in the weak-disorder limit. For $`J_2/J_1=1.5`$ and $`1/1.5`$ the corresponding numbers are $`g_0=0.070700\mathrm{}`$ and $`g_0^{}=0.052889\mathrm{}`$, leading to a bound of the order of $`t10^5`$.

Using a symbolic computer program it is straightforward to generate the high-temperature series expansion of the model function (24) to any desired order. Applying the same analysis techniques as used for the “true” susceptibility series we obtained the results shown in Fig. 4. If we truncate the model series at low order we observe qualitatively the same crossover effect as for the “true” series. Here we are sure, however, that this must be a pure artifact of the truncation of the model series at a finite order. We also see that the approach of the asymptotic limit of $`p=7/8`$ as a function of the degree of disorder is faster if we consider a longer series (21 terms). It is, however, somewhat discouraging (even though understandable in view of the exponential dependence of the critical regime on $`g_0`$) that at a fixed $`g_0`$ the convergence of the series with increasing order is quite slow. For example, at $`4g_0/\pi =1`$ we obtained $`p=0.7056`$ with the Padé approximant $`[4/4]`$, 0.7178 ($`[5/5]`$), 0.7474 ($`[10/10]`$), 0.7682 ($`[20/20]`$), 0.7777 ($`[30/30]`$), 0.7834 ($`[40/40]`$), 0.7875 ($`[50/50]`$), and 0.7905 ($`[60/60]`$). The convergence behavior for this example and other small values of the parameter $`g_0`$ can be visually inspected in Fig. 4.

### Specific heat:

Series analyses for the specific heat are usually more difficult than for the susceptibility. This is especially pronounced for the Ising model on loose-packed lattices where all odd powers of $`\beta `$ vanish because of symmetry. Consequently our specific-heat series consists only of four non-trivial terms (see Table 1). We nevertheless tried an analysis with the ansatz

$$C|\mathrm{ln}t|^q,$$
(25)   
using the method “Ln-Padé”. The exponent $`q`$ is an effective exponent whose value may, or may not be constant.

The resulting dependence of the exponent $`q`$ on the ratio $`J_2/J_1`$ is shown in Fig. 5. While the quantitative agreement with the exactly known pure case is certainly not convincing, we do see at least a qualitative trend to smaller values of $`q`$ with increasing strength of the disorder (increasing ratios $`J_2/J_1`$), i.e., the singularity of the specific heat becomes apparently weaker for stronger disorder. This may be taken as an indication that the true singularity is of the log-log type (7) as predicted by both, DD and SSL. A recent numerical study  for $`J_2/J_1=4`$ using transfer-matrix methods also observed a behavior in between log and log-log type. These findings are in contradiction to the claim  for a slightly different disordered system (quenched, random site-dilution) that the specific heat stays finite at $`T_c`$, as theoretically suggested in Ref.  (see also Ref. ).

Again we have tried to justify our interpretation by considering a model function,

$$C_{\mathrm{model}}=\frac{1}{g_0}\mathrm{ln}\left[1+\frac{4g_0}{\pi }\mathrm{ln}(1/\dot{t})\right].$$
(26)   
By applying precisely the same type of analysis to the series expansion of the model specific-heat we obtained the results displayed in Fig. 6, which show qualitatively the same trend of decreasing $`q`$ as a function of $`J_2/J_1`$ as the data in Fig. 5.

## 7 Discussion

The main results of our high-temperature series analysis are shown in Fig. 2 which provide at least for strong disorder (large $`J_2/J_1`$) compelling evidence that the singularity of the susceptibility is properly described by $`\chi t^{7/4}|\mathrm{ln}t|^p`$, with $`p=7/8=0.875`$, as theoretically predicted by SSL \[3-6\]. The analysis of the model susceptibility (24) in Figs. 4 and 4 clearly shows that the apparent variation of $`p`$ with the strength of disorder is an artifact caused by the truncation of the series expansions at a finite order. We, therefore, emphasize that the apparent crossover from weak to strong disorder does not imply that the universality class of the random-bond Ising model changes continuously with the strength of disorder.

Let us finally make a few comments on previous Monte Carlo simulations of this model on large but finite square lattices. With the finite-size scaling analysis of Refs. \[8-12, 16\] it is conceptually impossible to detect the multiplicative logarithmic correction of the SSL prediction (9). The reason is that the SSL theory also predicts a logarithmic correction for the scaling behavior of the correlation length, $`\xi t^1|\mathrm{ln}t|^{1/2}`$. In the finite-size scaling behavior the two logarithms thus cancel and one ends up with a pure power-law, $`\chi L^{\gamma /\nu }=L^{7/4}`$, where $`L`$ is the linear lattice size. Thus only the SSL prediction for $`\gamma /\nu `$ can be tested in finite-size scaling analyses. Wang et al.  obtained for $`J_2/J_1=4`$ and 10 an estimate of $`\gamma /\nu =1.7507\pm 0.0014`$, and also the results of Reis et al.  at $`J_2/J_1=2`$, 4, and 10 are consistent with $`\gamma /\nu =1.75`$. Among the two alternatives, the theories of DD and SSL, these estimates thus provide evidence in favor of SSL. Notice, however, that a numerical estimate of $`\gamma /\nu 1.75`$ would also be expected for the pure two-dimensional Ising model. For the specific heat the situation is conceptually clearer. Here the theoretically expected scaling behavior (7), as predicted by both, DD and SSL, translates into a double-logarithmic finite-size scaling behavior, $`C=C_0+C_1\mathrm{ln}(1+b\mathrm{ln}L)`$, which is different from that of the pure case where $`C=C_0+\mathrm{ln}L`$. In the numerical work of Wang et al. , employing lattice sizes up to $`L=600`$, this difference in the asymptotic behavior is clearly observed for $`J_2/J_1=10`$, while for $`J_2/J_1=4`$ the behavior is in between log and log-log type, similar to the findings reported in a recent transfer-matrix study  for the same coupling-constant ratio. For the specific heat these latest finite-size scaling analyses are thus about as conclusive as our series analyses in Fig. 5.

Another set of numerical data that can discriminate between the predictions of DD and SSL comes from direct simulations of the temperature dependence of the magnetization $`m`$ and of the susceptibility $`\chi `$ for $`J_2/J_1=4`$ . Assuming in the analysis a pure power law with an effective exponent (i.e., ignoring the logarithmic correction), one observes an overshooting of the effective exponent to values larger than the prediction by SSL. As discussed above (recall eq. (22)) this may be taken as an indication of a multiplicative logarithmic correction term. For example, Talapov and Shchur  obtained for $`J_2/J_1=4`$ from least-squares fits to $`\chi t^{\gamma _{\mathrm{eff}}}`$ an effective exponent of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eff}}7/4+0.135=1.885`$. This value is quite close to our series estimate of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{eff}}=2.019\pm 0.024`$ for $`J_2/J_1=4`$, if the pure power-law ansatz is used (cp. Fig. 2). Wang et al.  furthermore confirmed that their data is compatible with the SSL ansatz, $`\chi (t)=\chi _0t^{7/4}(1+at)[1+b\mathrm{ln}(1/t)]^{7/8}`$, supplemented by a correction to scaling term $`(1+at)`$ (and similarly for $`m`$; for a recent confirmation, see Ref. ). In these fits both exponents are kept fixed at their predicted values, and $`\chi _0`$, $`a`$, and $`b`$ are free parameters. In contrast to our series analysis, however, no quantitative estimates of the exponent of the logarithmic correction have been reported in Ref. . While the simulation results certainly indicate that among the two conflicting theories of DD and SSL, the SSL prediction is more likely to be correct, it is still fair to conclude that also this set of simulations has not yet unambiguously identified the multiplicative logarithmic correction term.

Monte Carlo simulations of systems with quenched, random disorder require an enormous amount of computing time because many realisations have to be simulated for the quenched average. For this reason it is hardly possible to scan a whole parameter range. Using high-temperature series expansions, on the other hand, one can obtain closed expressions in several parameters (such as the dimension $`d`$, $`x`$, $`J_2/J_1`$, …) up to a certain order in the inverse temperature $`\beta =1/k_BT`$. Here the infinite-volume limit is always implied and the quenched, random disorder can be treated exactly. By analysing the resulting series, the critical behavior of the random-bond system can hence in principle be monitored as a continuous function of several parameters. This is a big advantage over Monte Carlo simulations which usually can only yield a rather small parameter range in one set of simulations. The caveat of the series-expansion approach is that the available series expansions for the random-bond Ising model are still relatively short (at any rate much shorter than for pure systems). This introduces systematic errors of the resulting estimates for critical exponents which are difficult to control. The obvious way out is trying to extend the series expansions as far as possible. This, however, would be extremely cumbersome since the number of algebraic manipulations necessary to calculate the series coefficients blows up dramatically with the order of the series (usually at least exponentially) and, therefore, has to be left for future work.

## Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Kurt Binder for many helpful discussions and his constant interest in this project. JA and WJ are grateful to Walter Selke for a critical discussion of previous numerical simulation results, and thank Dietrich Stauffer for comments on the manuscript. WJ acknowledges support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through a Heisenberg fellowship. Partial support of JA and WJ from the German-Israel-Foundation (GIF) under contract No. I-0438-145.07/95 is also gratefully acknowledged.