Phase transition properties via partition function zeros: The Blume-Capel ferromagnet revisited

Since the landmark work of Lee and Yang, locating the zeros of the partition function in the complex magnetic-field plane has become a powerful method for studying phase transitions. Fisher later extended this approach to complex temperatures, and subsequent generalizations introduced other control parameters, such as the crystal field. In previous works (Moueddene et al 2024 J. Stat. Mech. 023206; 2024 Phys. Rev. E 110 064144) we applied this framework to the two- and three-dimensional Blume–Capel model–a system with a rich phase structure where a second-order critical line meets a first-order line at a tricritical point. We showed that the scaling of Lee-Yang, Fisher, and crystal-field zeros yields accurate critical exponents even for modest lattice sizes. In the present study, we extend this analysis and demonstrate that simulations need not be performed exactly at the nominal transition point to obtain reliable exponent estimates. Strikingly, small system sizes are sufficient, which not only improves methodological efficiency but also advances the broader goal of reducing the carbon footprint of large-scale computational studies.