Effective string theory on a torus: the 3d Ising domain wall

Abstract: We use effective string theory (EST) to describe a toroidal 2d domain wall embedded in a 3d torus. In particular, we compute the free energy of the domain wall in an expansion in inverse powers of the area, up to the second non-universal order that involves the Wilson coefficient $\gamma_3$. In order to test our predictions, we simulate the 3d Ising model with anti-periodic boundary conditions, using a two-step flat-histogram Monte Carlo method in an ensemble over the boundary coupling $J$ that delivers high-precision free energy data. The predictions from EST reproduce the lattice results with only two adjustable parameters: the string tension, $1/\ell_s^2$, and $\gamma_3$. We find $\gamma_3 /|\gamma_3^{\text{min}}|= -0.82(15)$, which is compatible with previous estimates.