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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Since the seminal work of Belavin, Polyakov and Zamolodchikov  much progress has been done in the description of 2d statistical models at the critical point. In particular in all the cases in which the critical point theory can be identified with one of the so called “minimal models” a complete list of all the operators of the theories can be constructed. Moreover, it is possible to write differential equations for the correlators and in some cases find their explicit expression in terms of special functions. Following these remarkable results, in these last years a lot of efforts have been devoted to extend them also outside the critical point. This can be achieved by perturbing the CFT with one (or more) of its relevant operators. Much less is known in this case. The most important result in this context is that for some particular choices of CFT’s and relevant operators these perturbations give rise to integrable models . In these cases again we have a rather precise description of the theory. In particular it is possible to obtain the exact asymptotic expression for the large distance behavior of the correlators . From this information several important results (and in particular all the universal amplitude ratios) can be obtained.

Similar efforts have also been devoted in trying to study vacuum expectation values, amplitude ratios and correlators involving irrelevant operators. However progress in this direction is limited by the lack of results (both numerical and analytical) from actual statistical mechanics realizations of the models.

The only notable exception to this state of art is the 2d Ising model. In this case, thanks to a set of remarkable results on the 2 and 4 point correlators  several interesting results on the contribution of irrelevant operators have been obtained both in the case of the model at its critical point  and for $`TT_c`$  (i.e. for the theory perturbed by the energy operator). Very recently these results have been used to study up to very high orders the contribution of irrelevant operators to the magnetic susceptibility for $`TT_c`$ . In this paper we shall try to extend this analysis to the case of the magnetic perturbation of the Ising model. In particular, we shall look at the contributions due to irrelevant operators to the spin-spin correlator in presence of an external magnetic field. In particular we shall mainly concentrate on the energy momentum tensor $`T\overline{T}`$, and the operator $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ (which appear as a consequence of the breaking due to the lattice of the full rotational symmetry) which are the most important (i.e. those with smallest (in modulus) renormalization group eigenvalue) among the irrelevant operators.

In this case there is no exact expression for the correlators or for the free energy of the model and the only way that we have to judge of the validity of the CFT predictions is to compare them with the results of numerical simulations. Notwithstanding this there is a number of good reasons to choose exactly this model and this observable. Let us look at them in detail.

* The Ising model in a magnetic field is known to be exactly integrable , thus, even if it is not exactly solvable, a lot of important informations can all the same be obtained, in particular very precise large distance expansions exist for the correlators and the vacuum expectation values of the relevant operators are known in the continuum limit .
* The model is an optimal choice from the point of view of numerical simulations, since very fast and efficient algorithms exist to study it.
* The model can also be realized as a particular case of the so called IRF (Interaction Round a Face) models . In this framework several interesting results can be obtained on the spectrum of the model .
* By looking at the spin-spin correlator instead of the susceptibility we may study the effects of the non zero spin operators which appear as a consequence of the breaking of the rotational symmetry due to the lattice (see below for a precise definition). These operators also appear in rotational invariant quantities like the susceptibility, but only at the second order , i.e. at such an high power of the perturbing constant that they can be observed only if the exact solution of the model is known (as in the papers ) and cannot be seen if one can only resort to numerical simulations.
* A very interesting result of  (which had already been anticipated twenty years ago by Aharony and Fisher  and also confirmed in ) is that in the thermal perturbation of the Ising model the energy momentum tensor $`T\overline{T}`$ seems to be absent. The first correction which involves irrelevant operators is thus due to the spin 4 operator $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$. This result should also hold at the critical point where it can be independently observed by using transfer matrix methods . However, apparently, it disagrees with the explicit form of the correlator at the critical point (which is exactly known on the lattice) which contains a scalar correction which can only be interpreted as due to the $`T\overline{T}`$ term. One of the aims of the present paper is to understand this puzzle.
* If one is interested in studying irrelevant operators it is mandatory to look at the short distance behaviour of the correlator. In this respect the natural framework in which one must operate is the so called IRS expansion . This approach has been recently discussed in great detail  exactly in the case of the Ising model in a magnetic field in which we are interested here. It is only by using the results of  as input of our analysis that we shall be able to reach the high level of precision which is needed in order to observe the very small corrections which are the signatures of the irrelevant operators.

This paper is organized as follows. In sect.2 we shall briefly summarize some known results on the 2d Ising model in a magnetic field. In sect.3 we shall discuss the most important contributions due to the irrelevant operators to the spin-spin correlators and shall evaluate their magnitude and behaviour. In sect.4 we shall present the numerical simulations that we have performed and finally in sect.5 we shall discuss the comparison between numerical results and theoretical predictions. Sect. 6 is devoted to some concluding remarks.

## 2 The 2d Ising model in a magnetic field.

We shall be interested in the following in the Ising model defined on a 2d square lattice of size $`L`$ with periodic boundary conditions, in presence of an external magnetic field $`H`$. The model is defined by the following partition function:

$$Z=\underset{\sigma _i=\pm 1}{}e^{\beta (_{i,j}\sigma _i\sigma _j+H_i\sigma _i)}$$
(1)
where the notation $`i,j`$ denotes nearest neighbour sites in the lattice. In order to select only the magnetic perturbation, $`\beta `$ must be fixed to its critical value:

$$\beta =\beta _c=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}(\sqrt{2}+1)=0.4406868\mathrm{}$$

by defining $`h_l=\beta _cH`$ we have

$$Z=\underset{\sigma _i=\pm 1}{}e^{\beta _c_{i,j}\sigma _i\sigma _j+h_l_i\sigma _i}$$
(2)
The magnetization $`M(h)`$ is defined as usual:

$$M(h)\frac{1}{N}\frac{}{h_l}(\mathrm{log}Z)|_{\beta =\beta _c}=\frac{1}{N}\underset{i}{}\sigma _i.$$
(3)
where $`NL^2`$ denotes the number of sites of the lattice.

Eq.(2) is the typical partition function of a perturbed critical model. With the choice $`\beta =\beta _c`$ the only perturbing operator is

$$\sigma _l\frac{1}{N}\underset{i}{}\sigma _i,$$
(4)
We shall call in the following $`\sigma _l`$ as the spin operator (more precisely the lattice discretization of the spin operator). Notice that the mean value of $`\sigma _l`$ coincides with $`M(h)`$:

$$\sigma _lM(h)$$
(5)
Our goal in this paper is to study the contribution of the irrelevant operators to the spin-spin correlator. To this end we shall first study the model at the critical point (sect.2.1), we shall then switch on the magnetic field (see sect.2.2) and discuss the modifications that it induces in the spin-spin correlator

### 2.1 The Ising model at the critical point

#### 2.1.1 Operator content.

The Ising model at the critical point is described by the unitary minimal CFT with central charge $`c=1/2`$ . Its spectrum can be divided into three conformal families characterized by different transformation properties under the dual and $`Z_2`$ symmetries of the model. They are the identity, spin and energy families and are commonly denoted as $`[I],[\sigma ],[ϵ]`$. Each family contains a “primary” field (which gives the name to the entire family) and an infinite tower of “secondary” field (see below). The conformal weights of the primary operators are $`h_I=0`$, $`h_\sigma =1/16`$ and $`h_ϵ=1/2`$ respectively. Thus we see that in the Ising model the set of primary fields coincides with that of the relevant operators of the spectrum (remember that the relationship between conformal weights and renormalization group eigenvalues is: $`y=22h`$). This is a peculiar feature of the Ising model only, and is not shared by any other minimal unitary model. Thus in this case the irrelevant operators are bound to be secondary fields. Since in this paper we are particularly interested in the irrelevant operators, let us study in more detail the structure of the three conformal families.

* Secondary fields

All the secondary fields are generated from the primary ones by applying the generators $`L_i`$ and $`\overline{L}_i`$ of the Virasoro algebra. In the following we shall denote the most general irrelevant operator in the $`[\sigma ]`$ family (which are odd with respect to the $`Z_2`$ symmetry) with the notation $`\sigma _i`$ and the most general operators belonging to the energy $`[ϵ]`$ or to the identity $`[I]`$ families (which are $`Z_2`$ even) with $`ϵ_i`$ and $`\eta _i`$ respectively. It can be shown that, by applying a generator of index $`k`$: $`L_k`$ or $`\overline{L}_k`$ to a field $`\varphi `$ (where $`\varphi =I,ϵ,\sigma `$ depending on the case), of conformal weight $`h_\varphi `$, a new operator of weight $`h=h_\varphi +k`$ is obtained. In general any combination of $`L_i`$ and $`\overline{L}_i`$ generators is allowed, and the conformal weight of the resulting operator will be shifted by the sum of the indices of the generators used to create it. If we denote with $`n`$ the sum of the indices of the generators of type $`L_i`$ and with $`\overline{n}`$ the sum of those of type $`\overline{L}_i`$ the conformal weight of the resulting operator will be $`h_\varphi +n+\overline{n}`$. The corresponding RG eigenvalue will be $`y=22h_\varphi n\overline{n}`$.
* Nonzero spin states

The secondary fields may have a non zero spin, which is given by the difference $`n\overline{n}`$. In general one is interested in scalar quantities and hence in the subset of those irrelevant operators which have $`n=\overline{n}`$. However on a square lattice the rotation group is broken to the finite subgroup $`C_4`$ (cyclic group of order four). Accordingly, only spin $`0,1,2,3`$ are allowed on the lattice. If an operator $`\varphi `$ of the continuum theory has spin $`j𝐍`$, then its lattice discretization $`\varphi _l`$ behaves as a spin $`j(\mathrm{mod}4)`$ operator with respect to the $`C_4`$ subgroup. As a consequence all the operators which in the continuum limit have spin $`j=4N`$ with $`N`$ non-negative integer can appear in the lattice discretization of a scalar operator.
* Null vectors

Some of the secondary fields disappear from the spectrum due to the null vector conditions. This happens in particular for one of the two states at level 2 in the $`\sigma `$ and $`ϵ`$ families and for the unique state at level 1 in the identity family. From each null state one can generate, by applying the Virasoro operators a whole family of null states hence at level 2 in the identity family there is only one surviving secondary field, which can be identified with the stress energy tensor $`T`$ (or $`\overline{T}`$).
* Secondary fields generated by $`L_1`$

Among all the secondary fields a particular role is played by those generated by the $`L_1`$ Virasoro generator. $`L_1`$ is the generator of translations on the lattice and as a consequence it has zero eigenvalue on translational invariant observables.
* Quasiprimary fields

A quasiprimary field $`|Q`$ is a secondary field which is not a null vector (or a descendent of a null vector) and satisfies the equation

$$L_1|Q=0$$
(6)
These fields play a central role in our analysis since they are the only possible candidates to be irrelevant operators of the model.

By imposing eq.(6) it is easy to construct the first few quasiprimary operators for each conformal family. For our analysis however the two lowest ones are enough. They both belong to the conformal family of the identity. Their expression in terms of Virasoro generators is:

$$Q_2^\mathrm{𝟏}=L_2|\mathrm{𝟏}$$
(7)
$$Q_4^\mathrm{𝟏}=(L_2^2\frac{3}{5}L_4)|\mathrm{𝟏}$$
(8)
(we use the notation $`Q_n^\eta `$ to denote the quasiprimary state at level $`n`$ in the $`\eta `$ family).

From these fields we can construct two irrelevant operators, which both have conformal weight $`4`$ and RG eigenvalue $`2`$.

1\] The first combination is $`Q_2^\mathrm{𝟏}\overline{Q_2^\mathrm{𝟏}}`$ which has spin zero and can be identified with the energy momentum tensor $`T\overline{T}`$.

2\] The second combination is $`Q_4^\mathrm{𝟏}+\overline{Q_4^\mathrm{𝟏}}`$ which has spin 4 and can be identified with the combination $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$.

This last contribution appears as a consequence of the breaking of the full rotational invariance due to the lattice111Notice that if we would be interested in scalar quantities, this term would disappear even on the lattice at the first order and could contribute only at the second order. This is the case for instance of the susceptibility recently discussed in , in which this operator gives a contribution only at order $`t^4`$ and not $`t^2`$. However in the present case since we are interested in a correlator, which defines a preferential direction on the lattice this term can contribute already at the first order. This fact will be discussed in detail sect. 2.1.5 below..

#### 2.1.2 Structure constants.

Once the operator content is known, the only remaining information which is needed to completely identify the theory are the OPE constants. The OPE algebra is defined as

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_i(r)\mathrm{\Phi }_j(0)=\underset{\{k\}}{}C_{ij}^{\{k\}}(r)\mathrm{\Phi }_{\{k\}}(0)$$
(9)
where with the notation $`\{k\}`$ we mean that the sum runs over all the fields of the conformal family $`[k]`$. The structure functions $`C_{ij}^k(r)`$ are c-number functions of $`r`$ which must be single valued in order to take into account locality. In the large $`r`$ limit they decay with a power like behaviour

$$C_{ij}^k(r)|r|^{dim(C_{ij}^k)}$$
(10)
whose amplitude is given by

$$\widehat{C}_{ij}^k\underset{r\mathrm{}}{lim}C_{ij}^k(r)|r|^{dim(C_{ij}^k)}.$$
(11)
Several of these structure constants are zero for symmetry reasons. These constraints are encoded in the so called “fusion rule algebra” which, in the case of the Ising model is.

$$\begin{array}{ccc}[ϵ][ϵ]\hfill & =\hfill & [\mathrm{𝟏}]\hfill \\ [\sigma ][ϵ]\hfill & =\hfill & [\sigma ]\hfill \\ [\sigma ][\sigma ]\hfill & =\hfill & [\mathrm{𝟏}]+[ϵ].\hfill \end{array}$$
(12)
By looking at the fusion rule algebra we can see by inspection which are the non-vanishing structure constants.

The actual value of these constants depends on the normalization of the fields, which can be chosen by fixing the long distance behaviour of, for instance, the $`\sigma \sigma `$ and $`ϵϵ`$ correlators. In this paper we follow the commonly adopted convention which is:

$$\sigma (x)\sigma (0)=\frac{1}{|x|^{\frac{1}{4}}},|x|\mathrm{}$$
(13)
$$ϵ(x)ϵ(0)=\frac{1}{|x|^2},|x|\mathrm{}.$$
(14)
With these conventions we have, for the structure constants among primary fields

$$\widehat{C}_{\sigma ,\sigma }^\sigma =\widehat{C}_{ϵ,ϵ}^\sigma =\widehat{C}_{ϵ,\sigma }^ϵ=0$$
(15)
$$\widehat{C}_{\sigma ,\sigma }^\mathrm{𝟏}=\widehat{C}_{\sigma ,\mathrm{𝟏}}^\sigma =\widehat{C}_{ϵ,ϵ}^\mathrm{𝟏}=\widehat{C}_{ϵ,\mathrm{𝟏}}^ϵ=1$$
(16)
and

$$\widehat{C}_{\sigma ,ϵ}^\sigma =\widehat{C}_{\sigma ,\sigma }^ϵ=\frac{1}{2}.$$
(17)
#### 2.1.3 Continuum versus lattice operators.

Our main interest in this paper is the spin-spin correlator on the lattice. This rises the question of the relationship between the lattice and the continuum definitions of the operator $`\sigma `$. In the following we shall denote the lattice discretization of the operators with the index $`l`$. Thus $`\sigma `$ denotes the continuum operator and $`\sigma _l`$ the lattice one.

In general the lattice operator is the most general combination of continuum operators compatible with the symmetry of the lattice one. If we are exactly at the critical point this greatly simplifies the analysis, since only operators belonging to the $`[\sigma ]`$ family are allowed. Moreover (due to the peculiar null state structure of the spin family) the first quasiprimary operator in the spin family appears at a rather high level and can be neglected in our analysis. Thus as far as we are interested only at the critical point the spin operators on the continuum and on the lattice are simply related by a normalization constant which we shall call in the following $`R_\sigma `$. The simplest way to obtain $`R_\sigma `$ is to look at the analogous of eq.(13) on the lattice. This is a well known result , which we report here for completeness. The large distance behaviour of the correlator at the critical point is

$$\sigma _i\sigma _j_{h=0}=\frac{R_\sigma ^2}{|r_{ij}|^{1/4}}$$
(18)
where $`r_{ij}`$ denotes the distance on the lattice between the sites $`i`$ and $`j`$ and

$$R_\sigma ^2=e^{3\xi ^{}(1)}2^{5/24}=0.70338\mathrm{}$$
(19)
By comparing this result with eq.(13) we find

$$\sigma _l=R_\sigma \sigma =0.83868\mathrm{}\sigma $$
(20)
#### 2.1.4 The lattice Hamiltonian at the critical point

The last step in order to relate the continuum and lattice theories at the critical point is the construction of the lattice Hamiltonian (let us call it $`H_{lat}`$) at the critical point. As above, the lattice Hamiltonian will contain all the operators compatible with the symmetries of the continuum one. In this case all the operators belonging to the $`[\sigma ]`$ family are excluded due to the $`Z_2`$ symmetry. Also the operators belonging to the $`[ϵ]`$ family are excluded for a more subtle reason. The Ising model (both on the lattice and in the continuum) is invariant under duality transformations while the operators belonging to the $`[ϵ]`$ family change sign under duality, thus they also cannot appear in $`H_{lat}(t=0)`$. Thus we expect

$$H_{lat}=H_{CFT}+u_i^0d^2x\eta _i,\eta _i[I],$$
(21)
where $`H_{CFT}`$ is the continuum Hamiltonian and the $`u_i^0`$ are constants. As mentioned above we can keep in this expansion only the first two terms which are respectively $`T\overline{T}`$ and $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$.

#### 2.1.5 The spin-spin correlator on the lattice at the critical point.

We have already presented above, in eq.(18) the large distance expansion of the spin-spin correlator on the lattice at the critical point.

Thanks to the exact results obtained in  (see  for a review) we have much more informations on this correlator at the critical point. In order to discuss these results let us first introduce a more explicit notation for the spins. We shall denote in the following with $`\sigma _{M,N}`$ the spin located in the site with lattice coordinates $`(M,N)`$. By using the translational invariance of the correlator we can always fix one of the two spin in the origin. Thus the most general correlator can be written as: $`\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{M,N}`$. A particular role will be played in the following by the correlator along the diagonal: $`\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{N,N}`$ and the one along the axis $`\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{0,N}`$.

Among the various results on the critical correlators two are of particular relevance for us:

* Remarkably enough, exact expressions exist for the correlator both along the diagonal and along the axis for any value of $`N`$. These expressions are rather cumbersome and we shall not report them here. They can be found in .
* An asymptotic expansion exists for large values of the separation $`r_{ij}`$. For a square lattice, the first three terms have been explicitly evaluated in .

This expansion takes the following form (for further details see )

$`\mathrm{log}\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{M,N}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{log}A{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathrm{log}r+A_1(\theta )r^2+`$ (22)
$`+`$ $`A_2(\theta )r^4+A_3(\theta )r^6+O(r^8)`$
where

$`A_1(\theta )`$ $`=`$ $`2^8(1+3\mathrm{cos}4\theta )`$
$`A_2(\theta )`$ $`=`$ $`2^{13}(5+36\mathrm{cos}4\theta +36\mathrm{cos}8\theta )`$
$`A_3(\theta )`$ $`=`$ $`3^12^{19}(524324\mathrm{cos}4\theta +24732\mathrm{cos}8\theta +28884\mathrm{cos}12\theta )`$ (23)
and

$`r^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(M^2+N^2)`$
$`M`$ $`=`$ $`r\sqrt{2}\mathrm{sin}\theta `$
$`N`$ $`=`$ $`r\sqrt{2}\mathrm{cos}\theta .`$ (24)
In the following we shall only be interested to the first correction since higher order corrections are beyond the resolution of our data. Hence we end up with

$$\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{M,N}=\frac{A}{r^{1/4}}\left(1+2^8(1+3\mathrm{cos}4\theta )r^2+\mathrm{}\right)$$
(25)
Remarkably enough this expansion perfectly agrees with what one finds by assuming the presence in the Hamiltonian of the model of the two irrelevant operators discussed in sect.2.1.1. In fact both $`T\overline{T}`$ and $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ have RG eigenvalue -2, thus, if they are present, they should contribute to the correlator exactly with a term proportional to $`1/R^2`$. Moreover we expect that the $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ operator, which has spin 4, should give a term proportional to $`\mathrm{cos}(4\theta )`$ while the scalar operator $`T\overline{T}`$ should give a contribution without $`\theta `$ dependence. This is exactly the pattern that we find in eq.(25) (see for instance pag. 218 of  for a detailed discussion of this point). However this remarkable agreement also rises a non trivial problem. In fact the high precision analysis of ,  clearly exclude the presence in the lattice Hamiltonian of the $`T\overline{T}`$ operator (while they both confirm that the $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ is indeed present) It is thus not clear which could be the origin of the scalar term in eq.(25). A possible solution to this puzzle is to notice that the results of eq.(25) and those of of ,  are obtained with two different choices of the coordinates of the 2d plane.

In fact eq.(25) is written in terms of the “continuous” variable $`r`$ (which, is the one that we must choose if we want to match the lattice results with the continuum limit ones). Both the results of  and  are instead obtained in the “lattice reference frame” (which is the most natural variable on the lattice) in which there is no $`\sqrt{2}`$ when comparing the distances along the axes and along the diagonals. Hence, to compare the correction to the spin-spin correlation function with the findings of of ,  we must rewrite (25) it in terms of lattice coordinates. This can be easily performed by using the relations (24).

After some algebra we obtain

* axis correlator

$$\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{0,N}=\frac{A2^{1/8}}{N^{1/4}}\left(1+\frac{1}{64}N^2+O(N^3)\right)$$
(26)
* diagonal correlator

$$\sigma _{0,0}\sigma _{N,N}=\frac{A}{N^{1/4}}\left(1\frac{1}{64}N^2+O(N^3)\right).$$
(27)

These same expansion can also be obtained by directly looking at the exact lattice results for the correlators (see for instance  where these $`1/N^2`$ terms are obtained in full detail).

Looking at eqs.(26, 27) we see that with the lattice choice of coordinates the $`1/N^2`$ term exactly changes its sign as we move from the axis to the diagonal. This is exactly what one would expect for the contribution of a spin 4 operator, and thus it is apparent from eqs.(26, 27) that no scalar correction appears at order $`1/N^2`$ in perfect agreement with the results of of , .

It is only the change of coordinates of eq.(24) which induces in the continuum limit a scalar term (which we may well identify in this limit with a $`T\overline{T}`$ type contribution).

### 2.2 Adding the magnetic field.

#### 2.2.1 The continuum theory.

The continuum theory in presence of an external magnetic field is represented by the action:

$$𝒜=𝒜_0+hd^2x\sigma (x)$$
(28)
where $`𝒜_0`$ is the action of the conformal field theory.

As a consequence of the applied magnetic field the structure functions acquire a $`h`$ dependence so that we have in general

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_i(r)\mathrm{\Phi }_j(0)=\underset{\{k\}}{}C_{ij}^{\{k\}}(h,r)\mathrm{\Phi }_{\{k\}}(0).$$
(29)
Also the mean values of the $`\sigma `$ and $`ϵ`$ operators acquire a dependence on $`h`$. Standard renormalization group arguments (for un updated and thorough review on renormalization group theory applied to critical phenomena see ) allow one to relate this $`h`$ dependence to the scaling dimensions of the operators of the theory and lead to the following expressions:

$$\sigma _h=A_\sigma h^{\frac{1}{15}}+\mathrm{}$$
(30)
$$ϵ_h=A_ϵh^{\frac{8}{15}}+\mathrm{}$$
(31)
The exact value of the two constants $`A_\sigma `$ and $`A_ϵ`$ can be found in  and  respectively

$$A_\sigma =\frac{2𝒞^2}{15(\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{3}+\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi }{5}+\mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi }{15})}=1.27758227..,$$
(32)
with

$$𝒞=\frac{4\mathrm{sin}\frac{\pi }{5}\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{5}\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{8}{15}\right)}\left(\frac{4\pi ^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{3}{4}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }^2\left(\frac{13}{16}\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{4}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }^2\left(\frac{3}{16}\right)}\right)^{\frac{4}{5}},$$
(33)
and

$$A_ϵ=2.00314\mathrm{}.$$
(34)
#### 2.2.2 Continuum versus lattice operators.

In presence of a magnetic field also the fields belonging to the energy and identity families can appear in the relation between the lattice and the continuum version of the spin operator. The most general expression is

$$\sigma _l=f_0^\sigma (h_l)\sigma +h_lf_0^ϵ(h_l)ϵ+f_i^\sigma (h_l)\sigma _i+h_lf_i^ϵ(h_l)ϵ_i+h_lf_i^I(h_l)\eta _i,i𝐍$$
(35)
where $`f_i^\sigma (h_l)`$ $`f_i^ϵ(h_l)`$ and $`f_i^I(h_l)`$ are even functions of $`h_l`$. With the notation $`\sigma _i`$, $`ϵ_i`$ and $`\eta _i`$ we denote the secondary fields in the spin, energy and identity families respectively. This is the most general expression, however, as a matter of fact, only the first term is relevant for our purposes (all the higher terms give negligible contributions)

$$\sigma _l=R_\sigma \sigma +hp_1ϵ$$
(36)
The determination of $`p_1`$ is rather non-trivial. We shall discuss it in the appendix. It turns out that

$$p_10.0345$$
(37)
It is also important to stress that the lattice and continuum values of the magnetic field do not coincide but are related by

$$h_l=R_hh$$
(38)
with $`R_h=1.1923..`$ (see  for details).

#### 2.2.3 The lattice Hamiltonian.

As it happened for the conversion from $`\sigma `$ to $`\sigma _l`$ also in the construction of the perturbed Hamiltonian on the lattice, several new operators belonging to the energy and spin family must now be taken into account. However it turns out that all the quasiprimary fields of these two families appear at rather high level and can be neglected in the present analysis. Thus, as far as we are concerned, the only effect of switching on the magnetic field is that the constants in front of the $`T\overline{T}`$ and $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ terms in eq.(21) acquire an $`h`$ dependence. For symmetry reasons these must be even analytic functions of $`h`$.

#### 2.2.4 The spin-spin correlator.

The short distance behaviour of the spin-spin correlator in presence of a magnetic field can be obtained by using the so called IRS approach. A detailed discussion of this approach can be found in  the particular application to the Ising correlators are discussed in  to which we refer for details. We only list here the results. Setting $`t|h||r|^{15/8}`$ we have up to $`O(t^2)`$

$$\sigma (0)\sigma (r)|r|^{1/4}=B_{\sigma \sigma }^1+B_{\sigma \sigma }^2t^{8/15}+B_{\sigma \sigma }^3t^{16/15}+O(t^2)$$
(39)
with

$`B_{\sigma \sigma }^1`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{C_{\sigma \sigma }^\mathrm{𝟏}}=1`$
$`B_{\sigma \sigma }^2`$ $`=`$ $`A_ϵ\widehat{C_{\sigma \sigma }^ϵ}=1.00157\mathrm{}`$
$`B_{\sigma \sigma }^3`$ $`=`$ $`A_\sigma \widehat{_hC_{\sigma \sigma }^\sigma }=0.51581\mathrm{}`$
This result holds in the continuum theory. By using the known conversion between continuum and lattice units we can obtain the spin-spin correlator on the lattice:

$$\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}=B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1+B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2t_l^{8/15}+B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2)$$
(41)
Where $`r_{ij}`$ is the distance between the two spins on the lattice, measured in units of the lattice spacing, $`t_l`$ is defined as $`t_l|h_l||r_{ij}|^{15/8}`$ and

$`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1`$ $`=`$ $`0.703384\mathrm{}`$
$`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2`$ $`=`$ $`0.641409\mathrm{}`$
$`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3`$ $`=`$ $`0.300749\mathrm{}`$
In the next section we shall see which contributions must be added to this expression as a consequence of the irrelevant fields.

## 3 Contribution from irrelevant operators to the spin-spin correlator in presence of a magnetic field.

There are two main sources of contributions due to irrelevant operator to eq.(41) above. They have different origin and contribute in a different way to the spin-spin correlator. The first correction can be understood as a perturbative contribution to the spin-spin correlator due to irrelevant operators. We shall discuss it in subsec. 3.1. The second correction arises from the new terms in the relation between $`\sigma _l`$ and $`\sigma `$, due to the presence of a magnetic field. We shall discuss it in subsec. 3.2.

### 3.1 Irrelevant operators in the perturbed Hamiltonian.

The contributions to the scaling function due to the (possible) presence of additional irrelevant operators in the lattice Hamiltonian can be studied by means of standard perturbative expansions around the CFT fixed point.
In order to address the problem in presence of an external magnetic field we must consider the CFT pertaining to the critical Ising model as perturbed by a mixed relevant/irrelevant perturbation. Hence there will appear correction terms to the scaling behaviour which both depend on the external magnetic field and show a non-trivial (i.e. non scaling) dependence on the spin-spin distance $`r_{ij}`$. Moreover if the irrelevant operator in which we are interested breaks the rotational invariance (and this is the case for instance of the $`(T^2+\overline{T}^2)`$ operator discussed above) we must expect a dependence on the angle $`\theta `$ between the principal axes of the lattice and the direction of the correlator. General symmetry arguments and dimensional analysis strongly constrain these terms. If we keep in our analysis only the first two irrelevant operators $`T\overline{T}`$ and $`(T^2+\overline{T}^2)`$ the most general expression for the scaling function turns out to be:

$`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{1+a_1h^2}{|r_{ij}|^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(3+a_2h^2)\mathrm{cos}(4\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}\right)`$ (43)
$`+`$ $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{b(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}\right)t_l^{8/15}`$
$`+`$ $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{c(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}\right)t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2)`$
where $`a_1`$, $`a_2`$ are unknown constants and $`b(\theta )`$, $`c(\theta )`$ are unknown functions of the form

$$b(\theta )=b_1+b_2cos(4\theta ),$$
(44)
$$c(\theta )=c_1+c_2cos(4\theta ),$$
(45)
in the angular variable $`\theta `$.
Let us analyze the above corrections in detail.

* Correction to $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1`$:

At the lowest order in the irrelevant coupling, we can identify a scalar correction proportional to $`|r_{ij}|^2`$ and a spin 4 correction proportional to $`\mathrm{cos}(4\theta )|r_{ij}|^2`$. Both these terms acquire a $`h`$ dependence due to the magnetic relevant perturbation. The most general expression, compatible with the symmetries of the model is:

$$B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1\left(1+\frac{P_1(h)}{|r_{ij}|^2}+\frac{P_2(h)\mathrm{cos}(4\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}\right)$$
(46)
where $`P_1(h)`$ and $`P_2(h)`$ are even polynomials in the magnetic field $`h`$ which in the $`h0`$ limit must agree with the asymptotic expansion reported in eq.(25). Expanding the polynomials up to the first term in $`h`$ we find

$`P_1(h)`$ $`=`$ $`1+a_1h^2`$
$`P_2(h)`$ $`=`$ $`3+a_2h^2.`$ (47)
from which the first term in eq.(43) follows. It is easy to see that the terms proportional to $`a_1`$ and $`a_2`$ are highly suppressed due to the $`h^2`$ power. They behave as the $`O(t^2)`$ that we have systematically neglected in the previous section. As a matter of fact we have not been able to see these terms in our numerical data and we shall neglect them in the following.
* Corrections to $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2`$ and $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3`$:

Following the same line discussed above we find in this case:

$`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2`$ $`\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{b(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}\right)t_l^{8/15}`$ (48)
$`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3`$ $`\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{c(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}\right)t_l^{16/15}`$
where $`b(\theta )`$ and $`c(\theta )`$ are the most general mixture of scalar and spin 4 terms. They can be expanded in powers of $`\mathrm{cos}(4\theta )`$. keeping only the first two orders in the expansion we end up with the expressions reported in eq.s (44) and (45) where $`b_1,b_2,c_1`$ and $`c_2`$ are unknown constants.

While the term proportional to $`c(\theta )`$ cannot be detected within the precision of our data (we shall further discuss this point at the end of the next section), the magnitude of the one proportional to $`b(\theta )`$ is definitely larger than our numerical uncertainties. Thus we expect to be able to observe such a correction.

### 3.2 Irrelevant operators in $`\sigma _l`$.

We have seen above (see eq.(36)) that in presence of a magnetic field the relation between lattice and continuum spin operator becomes more complicated and a term proportional to $`hϵ`$ appears. Strictly speaking $`ϵ`$ is not an irrelevant operator, however this is only an accident, the following terms (those that we neglect) in the correspondence between $`\sigma _l`$ and $`\sigma `$ would indeed be irrelevant operators. Moreover, exactly as it happens for the irrelevant operators, also the $`hϵ`$ term gives a subleading contribution to the spin-spin correlator. For these reasons we have included also this correction in this paper.

Inserting eq. (36) in the spin-spin correlator we find

$$\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)=R_\sigma ^2\sigma (0)\sigma (r)+2hR_\sigma p_1\sigma (0)ϵ(r)+h^2p_1^2ϵ(0)ϵ(r)$$
(49)
Since we are interested in keeping only terms below $`O(t^2)`$ the last term in eq.(49) can be neglected. Using the known result (see  for details)

$$\sigma (0)ϵ(r)|r|^{9/8}=B_{\sigma ϵ}^1t^{1/15}+B_{\sigma ϵ}^2t+B_{\sigma ϵ}^3t^{23/15}+O(t^{31/15})$$
(50)
with

$`B_{\sigma ϵ}^1`$ $`=`$ $`A_\sigma \widehat{C_{\sigma ϵ}^\sigma }=0.63879\mathrm{}`$
$`B_{\sigma ϵ}^2`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{_hC_{\sigma ϵ}^\mathrm{𝟏}}=3.29627\mathrm{}`$
$`B_{\sigma ϵ}^3`$ $`=`$ $`A_ϵ\widehat{_hC_{\sigma ϵ}^ϵ}=1.82085\mathrm{}`$
we can rewrite eq.(49) as

$`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`R_\sigma ^2(B_{\sigma \sigma }^1+B_{\sigma \sigma }^2t^{8/15}+B_{\sigma \sigma }^3t^{16/15})`$ (51)
$`+`$ $`2hR_\sigma p_1|r|^{7/8}(B_{\sigma ϵ}^1t^{1/15}+B_{\sigma ϵ}^2t+B_{\sigma ϵ}^3t^{23/15})`$
Only the first term in the second line of eq.(51) gives a contribution below $`O(t^2)`$ thus we end up with

$`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`R_\sigma ^2(B_{\sigma \sigma }^1+B_{\sigma \sigma }^2t^{8/15}+B_{\sigma \sigma }^3t^{16/15})`$ (52)
$`+`$ $`2R_\sigma p_1t|r|^{22/8}B_{\sigma ϵ}^1t^{1/15}`$
We see that the new term can be considered as a correction, proportional to $`\frac{1}{|r|^{22/8}}`$ to the $`t^{16/15}`$ term of eq.(41):

$`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1+B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2t_l^{8/15}`$ (53)
$`+`$ $`(R_\sigma ^2B_{\sigma \sigma }^3+2R_\sigma p_1|r|^{22/8}B_{\sigma ϵ}^1)/R_h^{16/15}t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2)`$
Inserting the values of the various constants and of $`p_1`$ we end up with

$$\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}=B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^1+B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2t_l^{8/15}+(B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2+a_3|r|^{22/8})t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2)$$
(54)
with $`a_3=0.0307\mathrm{}`$

Unfortunately this new contribution is too small to give a reliable signature within the precision of our data. In fact the amplitude of the correction $`a_3|r|^{22/8}t_l^{16/15}`$ for distances greater than one lattice spacing is always below (or at most of the order of) $`10^4`$ and cannot be disentangled from the other sources of corrections within the precision of our data which ranges from $`10^5`$ to $`10^4`$. The situation is very similar to that of the correction proportional to $`c(\theta )`$ discussed in the previous section which in fact has the same $`t`$ dependence.

However it is interesting to observe that both these corrections are almost in threshold to be observed and it is well possible that with the next generation of simulation they could be detected. For this reason we included also their analysis in the present paper.

## 4 The simulation

We studied the model with a set of Montecarlo simulations using a Swendsen-Wang type algorithm, modified so as to take into account the presence of an external magnetic field. We used the same program and simulation setting of ref.  to which we refer for a detailed discussion of the performances of the algorithm and of finite size effects. We simulated the model for twelve different values of the magnetic field, ranging from $`h_l=4.4069\times 10^4`$ to $`h_l=8.8138\times 10^3`$.

For all the values of $`h_l`$ that we simulated, we studied the correlator: $`\sigma (0)\sigma (r)`$, for $`r=1,\mathrm{},10`$ both in the diagonal direction and along the axes. This is an important feature of the present analysis, since it is exactly by comparing the correlator along the axes versus the diagonal one that we can extract the spin of the perturbing operators.

For all the simulations the lattice size was chosen to be $`L=200`$ (the analysis of  shows that for all the values of $`h_l`$ that we studied this is enough to avoid finite size effects). Each two measures of the correlators were separated by five SW sweeps. For each single correlator we performed $`4\times 10^5`$ measures. The values of $`h_l`$ that we studied are reported in tab.1 where we also listed for completeness the corresponding values of the correlation length $`\xi `$. This quantity is very important , since it defines in a quantitative way what we mean as “short distance behaviour”. Short distance means “smaller than the correlation length”. This is in fact the regime in which we expect that the IRS analysis should hold and in which we may hope to observe effects due to the irrelevant operators. $`\xi `$ is given (in lattice units) by:

$$\xi (h_l)=0.24935\mathrm{}h_l^{\frac{8}{15}}$$
(55)
(see  for details on this equation and on the continuum to lattice conversion of $`\xi `$).

## 5 Comparison between predictions and numerical results.

Let us start this section by writing the expression that we expect for the spin-spin correlator in a magnetic field, according to the analysis performed in the sections 2 and 3 above. We have:

$`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)_{h=0}|r_{ij}|^{1/4}+\left(a_1+{\displaystyle \frac{a_2(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}+\mathrm{}\right)t_l^{8/15}`$ (56)
$`+`$ $`\left(b_1+{\displaystyle \frac{b_2(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}+\mathrm{}\right)t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2)`$
where $`\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)_{h=0}|r_{ij}|^{1/4}`$ is given by eq.(25); $`a_1B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^2`$ and $`b_1B_{\sigma \sigma ,l}^3`$, while $`a_2(\theta )`$ and $`b_2(\theta )`$ are in principle unknown functions of the angular variable $`\theta `$.
In this section we shall compare this expression with our numerical estimates for the correlators along the diagonal and the axis. This will allow us to obtain a rather precise estimate of the function $`a_2(\theta )`$ in the two cases $`\theta =0`$ and $`\theta =\pi /4`$. With these two informations we shall also be able to study the spin content of the operators which generate this contribution.
In the following we shall confine ourselves to the study of $`a_2(\theta )`$ since precision of our data is not enough to extend our analysis also to the function $`b_2(\theta )`$.
We performed our analysis in three steps.

1\] As a first step we constructed the combinations

$$G^\mathrm{\Delta }(r,h_l)\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)\sigma _l(0)\sigma _l(r)_{h=0}$$
(57)
using the fact that the critical point correlator is exactly known. Thus we have:

$`G^\mathrm{\Delta }(r,h_l)|r_{ij}|^{1/4}`$ $`=`$ $`(a_1+{\displaystyle \frac{a_2(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}+\mathrm{})t_l^{8/15}`$ (58)
$`+`$ $`(b_1+{\displaystyle \frac{b_2(\theta )}{|r_{ij}|^2}}+\mathrm{})t_l^{16/15}+O(t_l^2).`$
2\] Then we study, at fixed value of $`r`$, the $`h_l`$ dependence of $`G^\mathrm{\Delta }(r,h_l)`$. According to eq.(58) above we should choose as fitting function

$$G^\mathrm{\Delta }(\overline{r},h_l)=A(\overline{r})h_l^{8/15}+B(\overline{r})h_l^{16/15}$$
(59)
(the notation $`\overline{r}`$ indicates that we are fitting at a fixed value of $`|r_{ij}|`$).
However keeping only the first two terms in the scaling function of the correlator is a too rough approximation. Within the range of values of $`h_l`$ that we studied and with the precision that we obtained, this choice in general led to very high $`\chi ^2`$ values. Fortunately, thanks to the IRS analysis we know the functional form of the next to leading orders in the $`h_l`$ expansion of the correlator. It turns out that adding one more term is enough for the correlators ranging from 1 to 7 lattice spacings both along the axis and the diagonal directions, while for the remaining correlators we have to go up to the fourth term in the expansion. The general form of the scaling function at this order turns out to be:

$$G^\mathrm{\Delta }(\overline{r},h_l)=A(\overline{r})h_l^{8/15}+B(\overline{r})h_l^{16/15}+C(\overline{r})h_l^{30/15}+D(\overline{r})h_l^{32/15}$$
(60)
(see  for a discussion of this scaling function and the origin of the two new exponents $`h_l^{30/15}`$ and $`h_l^{32/15}`$). In this way for all the values of $`r`$ we found good confidence levels. The values of $`A(r)`$ that we obtained in this way can be found in table 2. Notice that the data in each fit are completely uncorrelated since they belong to different simulations.

3\] As a last step we address the $`r`$ dependence of the function $`A(r)`$. According to eq.(58) we expect the following behaviour:

$$\frac{A(r)}{r^{3/4}}=a_1+\frac{a_2(\theta )}{r^2}$$
(61)
Fixing $`a_1`$ to its known IRS value we end up with a one parameter fit which in both cases of $`\theta =0`$ and $`\theta =\pi /4`$ has a very good confidence level. Our final results are:

* axis correlator

$$a_2(0)=(0.062\pm 0.004)$$
(62)
* diagonal correlator

$$a_2(\pi /4)=(0.014\pm 0.007)$$
(63)

These results, and in particular the fact that we have different corrections in the two directions, unambiguously show that the contribution is at least partially due to a spin 4 operator. The natural candidate for this role is again the $`T^2+\overline{T}^2`$ operator. Our result also suggests that a scalar operator is present in the game. We see two possible reasons for this contribution. The first is that, since we are working in the IRS framework we are compelled to use the “continuum limit reference frame”. As we have seen in sect.2.1.5 this choice induces a $`T\overline{T}`$ term and consequently a scalar type correction. The second is that one cannot exclude the presence in the magnetic scaling field of a (rotationally invariant) momentum dependent term, which would manifest itself exactly as a scalar correction of the type that we observe222We thank A.Pelissetto for pointing to us this interesting possibility.. This non trivial possibility has been recently discussed in  (see the note at pag.8161) to explain the corrections of order $`t^2`$ (where $`t`$ is the reduced temperature) in the second moment of the spin spin correlator. Most probably both mechanisms are at work in the present case. We cannot distinguish between them within the precision of our data.

## 6 Concluding remarks

The role of the irrelevant operators in the two dimensional Ising model has attracted much interest in these last months due to the results on the magnetic susceptibility at $`h=0`$ recently reported in . While it is by now clear that contributions due to irrelevant operators are present in the free energy of the Ising model at $`h=0`$ nothing is known on the case in which the magnetic perturbation of the critical model is chosen. Moreover the characterization of these irrelevant operators and, possibly, their identification with quasiprimary fields of the Ising CFT is still an open problem. In this paper we tried to make some progress in this direction. We studied the corrections induced by the presence of irrelevant operators in the spin-spin correlator of the 2d Ising model in presence of an external magnetic field.

Our main results are:

* The $`1/r^2`$ corrections which are present in the correlator at the critical point survive unchanged also if the magnetic field is switched on. The $`h`$ independent part of this contribution is much larger than our statistical errors and can be observed very precisely. It is completely due to the spin 4 irrelevant operator.
* Several new terms appear when the magnetic field is switched on. By using standard perturbative methods one can evaluate the amplitude of the corrections that they induce in the spin-spin correlator. In general these terms are very small. However in one case the amplitude of the expected correction turned out to be definitely larger than our statistical errors. It is the case of the term proportional to

$$\frac{1}{|r|^{1/4}}\left(\frac{t^{8/15}}{r^2}\right).$$
(64)
for which we could indeed observe and measure such correction with good confidence. The comparison between the two values of this correction for the correlator along the diagonal and the one along the axis shows that, besides the expected contribution due to the spin-4 $`(T^2+\overline{T}^2)`$ operator, there is also a scalar term which may have a twofold origin. It could be due the $`T\overline{T}`$ operator, but it could also be the signature of a momentum dependent term in the magnetic scaling field of the model.

Other contributions due to these or other irrelevant operators are for the moment beyond our resolution, but it could be possible to observe them in the next generation of simulations.

## Appendix A Determination of $`p_1`$

The simplest way to fix the value of $`p_1`$ is to look at the expectation value $`\sigma _l`$. We expect:

$$\sigma _l=R_\sigma \sigma +p_1ϵ$$
(A.1)
from which we have (using the notations of )

$$\sigma _l=R_\sigma A_Mh^{\frac{1}{15}}+p_1A_Eh^{\frac{23}{15}}$$
(A.2)
from  we see that

$$\sigma _l=\frac{16}{15}A_f^lh^{\frac{1}{15}}+\frac{38}{15}A_f^lA_{f,2}^lh^{\frac{23}{15}}$$
(A.3)
Using the numerical values reported in , i.e.

$$A_f^l=0.9927995\mathrm{}.$$
(A.4)
$$A_{f,2}^l0.021\mathrm{}$$
(A.5)
we obtain

$$p_10.0345$$
(A.6)
Acknowledgements We thank M. Hasenbusch, A. Pelissetto and E. Vicari for useful discussions and correspondence on the subject.